OLPCorps UniveristyofWashington Malawi

About the project

When: After training in Rwanda, we will be there for 9 weeks

Where: Mzuzu, Malawi

Peggy Chau -- University of Washington, Informatics, senior.

• Experience in leading camps, and teaching elementary school for summer

• 3 Years of retail experience in computer store, that build my strong communication skill with people in different age and background

• Worked at Washington Mutual as an IT intern for 3 months. Worked in Microsoft as an information architect/developer for 6 months

Pedro Chau – University of Washington Bothell, sophomore.

• Volunteering in Food bank, library, and elderly home

• Strong communication skill with people in all ages

• Technical oriented and passionate in helping people to learn technology

Objectives

Objectives

• Deploy 100 XOs to students in Mzuzu’s primary schools.

• Setup 1 school server to support collaboration and files backup

• Provide 20~25 hours of hands-on training/activities for teachers and students, as well as the support team

• Working with Luke International Norway to promote XOs and gain public awareness of children education

• Host workshops and information sessions to educate parents how to provide oversight of safe computer usage at home

Local Partners

Luke International Norway and Mzuzu University will be our local partners for this project. Luke International Norway will be in charge of this project after we leave. They have facilities and safe storage room to store the equipments and students from Mzuzu University will be helping us with afterwards support. We will keep in touch through email after we left to provide them support from both technical and financial aspects.  

Working with Children

Before we distribute the XOs, we will meet with the primary school teachers and Principals to discuss the project’s scope, their needs, and how we can work with them in class. Then, we will observe, and go to students’ classes with them to understand the pupils’ needs(what is the current curriculums, which is the most troubling area, what interests the students the most, and etc), and then start implement activities and program to help them learn how to use XOs, and how they can learn through XOs. We will have information session about this project for the pupils’ parents to answer their questions and concerns, and learn about their difficulty and how we can help them be more willing to send children to school.

For most of the time there, we will spend our time with students after distribute the XOs to observe how they learn and how we can help them learn better.

Ps. while we are there students will still be in school because they are located in Southern Hemisphere.

[Execution Plan]http://students.washington.edu/pc1988/OLPC/plan.html

Potential Activities

1. Little Blogger

This will be an outlet for student to practice their writing skill, and will also be an opportunity for them to say something to the world.

This is easy to corporate with all their classes.

2. Class Wiki

Like the Little Blogger activity, this is also away to corporate technology to school work, and this will give the students experiences in terms of searching and sharing information from different sources

3. Group Youtube Project

Compare to the above 2 activities this one is probably more fun for the students, and everyone can participate even if they don't have a computer. The idea is to work with other students in school and make a mini production, sing a song, dance, or just say hello to the world, and put them on youtube. What we want to bring out from this project is bringing in the students that did not get a chance to get a XO this time to have an experiences connect to the outside world.

Impact

By working with school teachers, parents, students from Mzuzu University and leading different activities, we hope to inspire the students to self-learning through XOs to develop their own interests and build on their strength. We will also work with their parents to gain awareness on the importance of education, and how they can also be involve to help provide oversight, and helping their children learn better. We will also work with Luke International Norway to help them gain public health awareness so more students can go to school regularly. As a result of this project, we want to see:

1. Young students are empowered by knowledge , and enjoy learning

2. Students’ parents and the students are aware the importance of education

3. Students become self-motivated, and have the ability of self-learning, or even teach each other

4. Students start to have an idea on owning their own property, and will use love and care to use XOs

5. Students see themselves as an agent of change for their family

Afterwards support

While we are there, we will provide them training on basic skill on maintain, operation, and troubleshooting the server and computers. Luke International Norway’s Africa director, Joseph Wu, who is currently teaching at Mzuzu University will be helping to form the support team to ensure the longevity of the project.

In terms of funding after we left, Luke International Norway will help this project fundraise through their channels, and we will also fundraise from churches, business, local government and other charity organization.

Communication

My brother and I both speak fluent English. In Mzuzu, students are able to speak English around age 12, when working with younger students, we will collaborate with their teachers to help the children understand us. Both of us will be willing to learn their local language to help communication with young children.