OLPCorps Oglethorpe University Ghana

Mission

We are a group of undergraduate students who aim to be socially conscious and help to improve the quality of living for those around us.

We believe that the OLPCorps philosophy of empowerment through providing necessary tools and hands on learning is the best way to achieve those goals.

We understand the importance of spreading the knowledge of computer literacy in an ever more technological society. We plan to have careers in education or activism and are willing to learn and teach with the children in our target area.

Rough Proposal

· Where: PRESEC Staff Schools, Legon, Ghana

· What: Laptop initiative and deployment

· When: June-August 2009

· Who: Oglethorpe University

Goals:

· Deploy 100 laptops to the primary school students at the PRESEC Staff School in Legon, Ghana · Teach and promote computer literacy through computer education classes. Work with teachers to develop lesson plans to utilize laptops outside of computer classes. · Establish a sustainable program where all students entering a certain the third grade will receive a laptop. We will partner with Oglethorpe Presbyterian Church as well as the PRESEC School PTO to help with fundraising for laptop purchases. · Implement a program where the children receiving laptops become responsible for aiding in teaching younger grades computer literacy · Establish good communication with partner non-profits and the PRESEC School as well as organizing a PTO committee responsible for helping to continue the laptop initiative.

Local Partners: · Ghana Education Services will support our efforts. · PRESEC Staff Schools Primary headmistress helping to provide support and trying to connect us to non-profits in the area. · The school PTO has agreed to lend it’s support and to sustain the project after we leave. · One of our team members has uncle that travels to the area frequently as part of his work for Ghana Education Services. He can be the follow-up link to keep our group connected and present after we leave.

How will we work with children? · We will work through specialized classes that will aim to give the student’s thorough knowledge of their laptop and its uses. · Our teaching will be very interactive and structured around the idea that the students will become teachers and help to sustain the program. · We will create loose lesson plans but determine the needs of the community and the children before completely determining what they will learn.

How will we impact 6-12 year old? · We will give them the knowledge and tools they need to navigate an increasingly technological world. · A world of possibilities will open in the classroom, the students will be able to create projects using various computer programs that were previously unavailable. · The children will have the opportunity to act as teachers to younger grades and therefore active members in the movement to bring laptops to children in Africa. · They will also be able to spread their knowledge within their community and possibly be able to create new programs to further expand the capabilities of their communities and of the laptops systems themselves.

Sustainability: · Our goal is to include the community outside of the school in the program, we will reach out to local organizations for aid. · Oglethorpe Presbyterian Church will partner with our team to help with raising funds. · The school PTO and our team will meet to discuss possibilities for fundraising and what they can do to help oversee the project. · We are in the process of talking to several non-profits in the Atlanta area as well as researching grants that will also aid in sustaining the project. · The children themselves becoming educators will help in the continuation of the project.