OLPCorps Stanford Tanzania
Project Overview
Who
- The team can be reached by e-mail.
- We are a group of five Stanford students with experience working in non-profits and international health as well as technical expertise in setting up computer infrastructure. Cristin, Marlene and Tim have worked in FACE AIDS and Cristin is the managing director of the organization.
| Name | e-mail (@stanford.edu) | Major | Role in the Team |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bernd Bandemer | bandemer | Electrical Engineering (PhD) | Initial deployment, setting up infrastructure, organization, Kigali Training, on site June 17- June 29 |
| Leila Zia | leilaz | Management Science & Engineering (PhD) | same as above |
| Cristin Weekley | cweekley | Human Biology (BA) and Anthropology (BA) | Ongoing deployment, implementation of educational curriculum, on site June 25-August 20 |
| Tim Wolfe | twolfe | Human Biology (BA) | same as above |
| Marlene Kennedy | marlenek | Human Biology (BA) | Project Support |
Where
We are going to work at Upendo English Medium School, Usa River, Tanzania. See the following map:
<googlemap version="0.9" lat="-3.366744" lon="36.854539" zoom="15"> -3.366744,36.854539 Usa River, Tanzania </googlemap>
What
Upendo has 155 students. It has a preparation class of 29 students (younger than 6 years) and Standards 1 to 5 with 126 students. Standards are equivalent to US Grades. We will assign one laptop to each student in Standards 2 to 5 (82 students). The rest of the laptops will remain in the school library for Standard 1 students (44 in total) to borrow and work with. Two of our team members will be on site at all times. The general plan is:
- Before deployment: Upon project approval, we will work closely with the village chairman and Upendo School director, Joseph Kitia, and the teachers at Upendo to refine and implement our curriculum ideas given the teaching reality at the school.
- Deployment weeks 1-2: We will set up the infrastructure, start training of the teachers, and introduce the students, parents and village community to the program. A sustainable deployment is possible only if everyone is involved. We also will establish a library system where students can borrow books and Standard 1 students can borrow laptops. The school owns many books but has no dedicated library so far. Mr. Kitia is very supportive of establishing one.
- Deployment weeks 3-9: With the help of teachers who have already been trained, we will introduce the laptops to the students and implement our education goals. Later, we will ask Standard 2-5 students to share their knowledge with Standard 1 students. As the school has no summer break, students will be in classes during the deployment.
The school has electricity and internet can be provided if required.
When
June 18 to August 20, 2009
Local Partner and Sustainability
Our local partners are AfricAid as the NGO supporting the project and Mr. Joseph Kitia, the village chairman and the founder of Upendo. AfricAid has worked with Mr. Kitia since 2004 through different projects and they are looking forward to continue the collaboration with each other. Both parties are very interested in introducing laptops to supplement teaching and are looking forward to oversee and expand the project after successful deployment. Mr. Kitia has appointed a local project liaison who will work with us during deployment and will be in charge of the project afterwards.
Education and Impact
At Upendo, we will institute an innovative approach to use the laptops not only for educational purposes but to provide a framework in which students can impact the community they live in. According to Mr. Kitia, health and sanitation education has the first priority for the community and that is what our main focus will be. We will provide teachers with a health curriculum which includes student projects. This will address the main health issues in the community (such as AIDS, malaria, and diarrheal diseases) by using specific features of the laptops to teach children how to prevent or respond to these issues, and allow them to create their own solutions. Using the laptop, children will be asked to measure, analyze, and report various factors influencing health. They will interview their family and community members using the video/audio applications, compose a song or write and illustrate a story teaching about health and sanitation issues. The use of laptops will enable children to learn, create, and share with other students. The laptops will also include comprehensive health reference guides and health storybooks. Ownership of these laptops will take the project one step farther. When children take the laptops home, they will be able to share what they have learned and created, truly making them agents of change in their communities as they are empowered to make a real difference in the health of their communities.