OLPC Jamaica

Welcome

Welcome to the starting page for OLPC Jamaica, an open community universal education initiative aligning with Millennium Development Goals nr.2, bringing Universal Primary Education also reaching the adult community via the kids.

To get a good impression on OLPC Jamaica, please view this nice 15' video on OLPC in Jamaica: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&hl=en&v=XMAZlPWCkw4&gl=US

About

OLPC Jamaica is a general interest group for OLPC in Jamaica. The group started at the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, Jamaica on 5th September, 2008. OLPC Jamaica intends to foster interest, generate ideas and learn from experiences about OLPC both on the UWI campus and in its neighboring communities.

Map & Blog

All OLPC-related Jamaica projects are strongly encouraged to post onto olpcMAP.net, which is OLPC's global community map of all projects large and small -- helping volunteers, local champions and schools to connect directly.

The OLPC Jamaica Blog provides critical context around many of these Jamaica initiatives!

Projects

UWI - August Town Primary School

August Town is a residential community in the environs of the University of the West Indies Mona campus and is one of several inner-city communities in Jamaica that has been plagued by poverty, factional violence and crime. The August Town Primary School is located in the heart of the community and serves as an important haven and an oasis for the children of the community, where Education is being positioned as one of the positive means to break the cycle of poverty and violence that has affected many families in the Community.

The August Town OLPC project will involve the installation of 100 XO laptops targeting the Grade 3 and 4 student cohort beginning in September 2009, and a School Server to facilitate the storage and delivery of a range of educational content geared at supporting the program of preparation for the GSAT Examinations. The project will be planned, managed and executed by a multi-disciplinary team drawn from the UWI community, partner institution at SFSU and a Senior member of the A-Town faculty.

UWI/P.A.C.E. Canada - Providence Methodist Basic School

Providence Methodist Basic, located on the premises of the Providence Methodist Church in the heart of Liguanea, is one of the larger Basic schools in the Kingston Zone, with an enrollment of ~172 children between the ages of three to six (3-6) years old. The school emphasizes an approach to early childhood education, aimed at stimulating and motivating young minds to develop to their fullest potential by catering to their cognitive, social, psychological, spiritual and physical needs.

The Providence Basic OLPC project will involve the provision of 75 XO laptops targeting Pre-Kindergarden/Kindergarden Children Ages 5-6, beginning in September 2010. The project will also include implementation of a School Server to provide the School Administrative software, Performance monitoring, and the storage and delivery of a range of educational content geared at supporting the Early Childhood Educational curriculum and Exra-Curricular Learning programs of the School. Funding for the project will be provided by P.A.C.E. (Canada), a non-profit organization founded in 1987 by Dr. Mavis Burke, Ph.D., to support Jamaican Basic (preschools) Schools and early childhood education. The project will be planned, managed and executed by a multi-disciplinary team drawn from the UWI community, partner institution at San Francisco State University and Senior Staff members of Providence Basic.

Mailing List

http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/olpc-jamaica This is a public list and anyone can join.

Event and Media Materials

An article by Marguerite Orane in Jamaica Gleaner from November 2006.

Business card-like information slip with all relevant URLs. get PDF here and original in Open document format here

Imagine: One Laptop Per (Jamaican) Child! A set of slides by Marguerite Orane

OLPC Workshop at UWI Mona Campus (Sept 16, 2008)

We had a meeting/workshop to introduce the project to a wider audience at UWI and around. Slides.

Software Freedom Day (Sept 18, 2008)

At SFD 2008 at UWI Jamaica XO laptops will be around for people to see and try. We'll also try to have Sugar running on some old machines.

ICT4D Jamaica Networking Event (Sept 19, 2008)

We were invited by ICT4D Jamaica to host a table with OLPC Jamaica information. It was one of the busiest tables there. In fact, we had to turn people away so that they could start the presentations! Sorry ICT4D for hogging the attention...the XOs are just way too cute to pass up though :-)

Check out the pictures

OLPC Jamaica at ICT4D Jamaica event

We also passed along a bunch of information slips to people. Feel free to do so yourself as well. Download PDF here

OLPC booth at UWI Research Day (Jan 29 and 30, 2009)

Greg Baker shows off the XOs and their capabilities

The OLPC Jamaica booth at UWI Mona Research Day

Visitors stop to take a look

Potential customers?

OLPC Jamaica was part of the Mona School of Business display

It looks like the girls approve!

List of proposed projects

Project	Description	Contributors	Contact
tamtam-steelpan	The Caribbean is known for its rich culture of music extending from its history of slavery where this was the primary means of free expression. Music has transcended the centuries and is now a major aspect of the Caribbean culture. We intend to integrate the prolific steel pan - an instrument which was developed in the Caribbean, as a part of the TamTam suite of musical activities. One of the main goals of the TamTam project is to provide children with a culturally-informed environment for making music and sound on the OLPC. A steel pan would most definitely provide a localized feel, and familiarity which would encourage usage and creativity. Implementing this task would take some effort, however our location (the University of the West Indies) provides a prime environment where we can collaborate with many Caribbean nationals. There is also a vibrant and talented steel pan band located on the campus who will be our major avenue of musical resource. Our goal is to create digital audio samples of of the many types of steelpan instruments and integrate them in TamTam, thereby providing children the ability to create real Caribbean music.	Rohan Smith, Stewart Panton, Derval Dalley, Leotis Buchanan	Rohan Smith rohanasmith [at] gmail [dot] com