OLPC Learning Club D.C.

Welcome! This is the home page for the OLPC Learning Club DC. We had briefly deployed a wiki on a hosted system, but it's better that we build our knowledge base here. We'll be posting information here about future plans as it becomes available.

Next meeting

Where: HacDC, on 1525 Newton Street NW in the church sanctuary, Has location city::Washington, D.C. Has location country::USA

When: Tuesday, Start date::September 8th, 7:30pm

Previous meetings

Family XO Mesh Meetup, June 20th 2009

Gallaudet University, Student Academic Center,First Floor Classroom 2 SAC1210 and Classroom 3 SAC1211,

Saturday May 16, 2009: Scratch Day

• 55 attended, 8 schools represented
• Mike Lee introduced services of the OLPC Learning Club DC...
• Keynote video from MIT Scratch team played
• Teachers from Fairfax Schools presented their projects
• HacDC member Todd Fine demonstrated control of a Scratch project using Python and a Nintendo Wii Remote

On display:

• Drawdio musical pencil developed by the MIT Scratch Team
• Intel Classmate laptops running Scratch
• LEGO WeDo Robotics System compatible with Scratch

Sunday, Nov 2, 2008: Jabber Server

The Jabber Server had been offline from September 10th until today due to a system crash, but it's back.

Saturday, April 26, 2008: Jabber Server

We have a Jabber Server for use by D.C. area XO enthusiasts that will let us use our XO laptops together even when we are not in the same room together.

Things we do

XO Family Mesh Meetup

The idea is to bring together three groups of people to work on the following things:

• Kids and parents who want to meet other kids and parents and do cool things together with their XOs.
• Software developers wanted to work on software for the XO.
• Educational materials developers wanting to collaborate on the development of educational materials for the XO.

Having these three groups co-locate will create all kinds of synergistic possibilities. Let the meshing begin!

Keep an eye on the OLPC Learning Club DC website, OLPCnews.com and this wiki-entry for announcements about the next meetup.

XO Bar Meetups

Some people aren't too keen on getting up early on a Saturday morning to attend the XO Family Mesh Meetup. Others just like to cool their mood with a brew after a heated discussion on the latest OLPC developments. To address this audience there are semi-regular XO Bar Meetups. These meetings are announced on both the OLPC Learning Club DC website and OLPCnews.com.

= Other Projects

Apart from these Meetups the OLPC Learning Club DC also want to contribute to the overall "learning learning" efforts by means of sprints, jams, excursions and other projects. Stay tuned for announcements on both the OLPC Learning Club DC website and OLPCnews.com over the coming weeks.

Club Resources

[XO Repair Center]

Club member Luke Faraone, who is also a longtime member of the official OLPC Support Gang has been leading the operation of a local XO laptop repair center. The repair center can perform a variety of parts exchanges, revive some dead laptops and update the software. Visit the repair center wiki page for more information.

Lending library

As of September 2009, the Learning Club is operating its XO Laptop Lending Library. The club will loan attendees of our meetings an XO laptop for up to a month. Ideal patrons of this service are individuals who:

• want to get some hands-on time with an XO "to see if it's for them."
• have an idea for the OLPC Contributor's Program to get granted one or more free laptops, but want to try out an XO in order to test a concept.
• have one XO already and need a second to try our the wireless collaboration features.
• need an XO to do a presentation.

Arrangements need to be made in advance by email to Mike Lee curiouslee [at] gmail.com, Jeff Elkner jeff [at] elkner.net or Kevin Cole dcloco [at] gmail.com. The laptops can be picked up at the next scheduled meeting. Meetings are typically held at the Arlington Career Center or Gallaudet University. We have also made arrangements to store some laptops at HacDC for pick-up, but please do not ask them to arrange for the laptop loans. Use the email addresses above. At the meeting, we will collect your contact information and we reserve the right to check ID if you've never attended before.

If you've borrowed a laptop, please consult this page of information for new laptop patrons with links to basic documentation and resources.

OLPC Contributor's Program

The Learning Club supports the OLPC Contributor's Program. This program operated from OLPC Headquarters, will take grant applications for one or more free laptops to support interesting projects that will be documented to the public. Members of the Learning Club will provide coaching on how to win a grant.

Meeting Places

Our meetings generally occur at either of two places:

• Arlington Career Center, Arlington, VA
• Gallaudet University Student Academic Center (Student Union)

Blog

Currently hosted by Wayan Vota and maintained by Mike Lee.

Discusion Forum

A sub-board on the OLPC News Forum.

Email List

Currently hosted by Wayan Vota and maintained by Mike Lee.

Jabber Server

Maintained for use by D.C. area XO enthusiasts by Richard Bullington-McGuire. The server will let us use our XO laptops together to chat and share Activity sessions even when we are not in the same room together.

Speaker's Bureau

Club members available to give presentations and laptop demos to non-profit organizations, press, OLPC partners and other interested entities.

Presence at NECC 2009 DC

Club members available to give presentations and laptop demos to non-profit organizations, press, OLPC partners and other interested entities.

External links

• Back to the OLPC Users' Groups Page
• OLPC Learning Club site and blog
• OLPC LC-DC Discussion Forum
• OLPC LC-DC Email List