OLPCorps UIUC SaoTome
Contents
Name of project
Who what when where
Project summary
Students from the University of Illinois propose to implement the OLPC project Summer 2010 on the island country of Sao Tome e Principe. The team is currently envisioned to have three undergraduate and one graduate student. The students come from library and information science, urban and regional planning and international studies. All have participated in service learning activities in the United States; some have international experience with engaged scholarship.
In addition to the internship team, University of Illinois staff will provide logistical support during the stay on island as part of a larger scholarship of engagement project in country (see http://saotomeproject.wordpress.com for further details on the University projects occurring in collaboration with the São Toméan community). Further, several University students, as part of a service learning course project, will work with the Teachers College in São Tomé to setup a computer lab for the college and to help integrate technology, including XO laptops, and informatics into the curriculum (see http://courseweb.lis.uiuc.edu/~mwolske/lis451/).
Team members
Dates
Where
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Partner organizations
750 Word Proposal
How will we work with children?
The local participants of the project will be young girls. The distribution of the laptops will be blended between urban and rural populations. University student team members will collaborate in part with the University’s youth community informatics project in the United States (see http://yci.illinois.edu for project examples and potential curriculum), a project that seeks to actively engage youth in their communities to take on the issues that affect them the most. As such, training will focus both on essential computer literacy skills as well as experiential learning as citizen scientists/journalists. As citizen scientists, girls will further develop critical inquiry skills and learn scientific research tools and methods, including geographic information systems, through engaged exploration to help bring about positive change in their community. Further, some São Toméan girls will be given the opportunity to work with University researchers as collaborators to study and help their community meet community goals as action researchers. As journalist they will be taught essential interview and storytelling skills using projects that encourage them to interview their elders, create written and multimedia oral histories, and tell about the rich history and present situations of their country, communities and members.
The children are in school until mid-July. School is held in the morning. The first month of implementation will take place in the afternoons. Once school has been dismissed for the year (mid-July) the training will be offered in the morning as well.
Local partner
StepUp
Impact on 6-12 year old schoolchildren
Sustainability
GSLIS
