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== About ==
== Who We Are ==
Founded in 2008, OLPCsb is an organization at the University of California, Santa Barbara that is a collaboration of interdisciplinary students, faculty, staff, and external partners.


One Laptop per Child Santa Barbara is a student led organization founded at the University of California, Santa Barbara. It is a collaboration of students and faculty who are actively seeking to promote and enhance the mission and scope of the One Laptop per Child organization, both locally and internationally.<br />


Our primary objectives are listed here [[OLPC Santa Barbara Objectives]].<br />


== Mission ==
First and foremost, we will be bringing laptops to local Santa Barbara elementary classrooms, which will serve as a place for us to examine the uses of and effectiveness of the XO in a local, US classroom setting. These classrooms will be a place for us to pilot, test, and evaluate new software that will be developed by UCSB students. We will be utilizing the talent of students and faculty across the disciplines to design and promote educational software that will enhance the elementary student’s educations through the XO. We will be working with teachers to help develop lesson plans around these software programs and the laptops themselves, which can then can be documented and reproduced in classrooms around the world.
One Laptop per Child, Santa Barbara works to utilize the benefits of technology in the education of children on a local and international scale. Our efforts include creating educational software for kids, researching the effects of collaborative technology in the classroom, and connecting children from around the world to interact on a meaningful level. In partnering with other schools, universities, organizations and individuals, we also aim to create synergy with others who are working towards the same goals. And as we move forward, we work to create documentation of how such endeavors can be accomplished, so that others may work towards this brighter future alongside with us.


We have and will continue to develop International Partner Schools, through which we will facilitate and foster Peer 2 Peer interactions. We are aiming to bring children around the world together, providing local elementary school students with a window in to the lives of there peers across the globe, and giving children around the world a chance to see into the lives of our Santa Barbara students. We will be creating an interaction similar to a "pen pal" program but utilizing the XO technology and starting a "video pal" program. We will connect these classrooms at the individual level, where students truly have the chance to learn from one another. This will be done via teachers creating a curriculum that explores their partner school's geography, lifestyle, weather, daily routines, farming techniques, ect...


We will promote awareness of the XO and its global success, and raise funds to put laptops in the hands of our local Santa Barbara County elementary students as well as students around the world through the give one get one program. We will be giving presentations to high profile individual donors, school boards, and local organizations, in hope of having laptops donated to students in our local and international partner schools.

We feel this pilot provides all parties involved with a great opportunity for learning, collaboration, and education. UCSB students will be learning to collaborate across disciplines and with both local and international elementary schools to make this project a success. Our Santa Barbara Elementary school students will have the opportunity to engage in a new type of collaborative education through the XO’s, with their fellow classmates and with their international peers. It will be a window to the world for them and their international counterparts, and give them the chance to learn and develop through groundbreaking technology and innovation in education.


== Website ==
== Website ==


[http://www.olpcsb.com OLPC, SB website]
[http://www.uweb.ucsb.edu/~apm01/OLPCSB_home.htm OLPC, SB website]




(note: www.olpcsb.com domain name has expired and will not be renewed)
== Current Partners ==


Technology Management Program, UC Santa Barbara. http://www.tmp.ucsb.edu <br />
University of California Santa Barbara. http://www.ucsb.edu <br />
Kellogg Elementary School, Goleta, CA.


== Departments ==
[[OLPCsb Programming]]

[[OLPCsb Research]] (currently no content due to the sensitive nature of research protocols)

[[OLPCsb Activity Development]]

[[OLPCsb Outreach]]


== Contact ==
== Contact ==
General: <br>
OLPCSB@gmail.com
OLPCSB@gmail.com


<br>
Andrew McNamara<br />
Jonathan Kalan<br />
Engineering: <br>
olpcsb.engr@gmail.com
Bill Grant<br />

Susannah Scott<br />
== Projects ==
Joshua Chamberlain <br />

Chance Carpenter<br />
=== Software ===
Brittany Howard<br />

We work to create educational software that is wanted by teachers for their classroom, and shown to be useful in the field. This includes utilizing current research on things like reading instruction and multimedia design. Below is some information on software concepts we are working on (note: names are not official).
[[OLPCsb Programming]]



===== Math Minute =====
Based on a math exercise/test used in California 3rd grade classrooms, this program is meant to help both students and teachers quickly gauge the math skills (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division) of a student. In short, success is gauged by the user's ability to correctly complete math problems within a time limit.

[http://www.uweb.ucsb.edu/~apm01/mathminute-demo.exe Concept Demo]. This link is to a conceptual demo for Math minute.



===== Math Buddy =====
This program will be designed to provide users with not only the answers to math problems they incorrectly answer, but to provide them with the option of multiple explanations for how one gets the answer. The key point here is that since different children learn things in different ways, a child trying to learn math should be given a variety of explanations to choose from, so that they may learn in the way that best fits their needs.



===== Reading Buddy =====
''note: We focus our software work on what teachers have specifically told us would be useful to them. The following program idea is a concept one of our members is developing on his own, and thus is not guaranteed any future production. But he thought you might like to hear about it, and thus here it is.''


This software would provide users with practice in reading via stories. The intended benefit is for the user to have the option of having words sounded out, given audio and written definitions, or described using pictures.
[http://www.uweb.ucsb.edu/~apm01/ReadingBuddy-demo.exe Concept Demo]


The designer is also looking into how we may utilize/adapt current UCSB vocabulary-learning research into a software package. This research is currently being used within a local elementary school with much quantitative success, and thus why we are looking into how we could transfer its success to computer format.

=== Pen Pal Program ===
This is an international pen pal program designed to have children interact on a meaningful level, with focus on a project that fits the academic needs of both schools' curriculum.

The foundational-piece connection is between a local Santa Barbara, CA school with a school located in Zambia.


(more to be added soon)






=== Research ===

Research on the effects of XO laptop usage on the dynamics of an elementary school classroom. This includes effects on the spread of ideas within the classroom, children's ownership of education, and collaboration between students.


(more to be added soon) (we are checking on what we have permission to share, in order to stay in line with research protocol requirements).

=== Community Work ===
Work is currently underway to full establish a computer lab within a low-income school in Zambia. This project provides benefits in two levels. First, it provides a school-in-need with access to educational tools that are available through the laptops and the provided internet connection. Second, this school will also become a member of the pen pal program, helping us develop the framework for how to connect schools of varying wealth, location, and curriculum focus in a meaningful way. <br />
''Project funded by a scholarship awarded to Andrew MacNamara by the Donald A. Strauss Public Service Scholarship Foundation [http://www.straussfoundation.org/index.php].''


(more to be added soon)






=== Helping Other Groups ===
An intended goal for us is to help upcoming charity groups with their own endeavors. The following is a link to online resources we have found that can help many groups get started or become more efficient in what they are currently doing:
[[Organizational Resources]]


This resource is currently filed in the
[[University program]]'s "[[Forming a chapter]]" section.

=== Tech Support ===
Getting Flash to work on the XO [[olpcsb flash support]]


== Current Partners ==

Technology Management Program, UC Santa Barbara. http://www.tmp.ucsb.edu <br />
University of California Santa Barbara. http://www.ucsb.edu <br />
Kellogg Elementary School, Goleta, CA. http://www.kellogg.goleta.k12.ca.us/ <br/ >
American International School Lusaka. http://www.aislusaka.org/



== Resources ==
== Resources ==
[[Organizational Resources]] <br />


[[Useful_Links]]<br />


<br />
[[OLPCsb Organization Structure]]<br />
[[OLPC Santa Barbara Objectives]]<br />
[[OLPC Santa Barbara Objectives]]<br />

<br/ >
Old Documents/Plans <br />
[[OLPC Santa Barbara Strategic Planning]]<br />
[[OLPC Santa Barbara Strategic Planning]]<br />
[[OLPC Santa Barbara California Partners Plan]]<br />
[[OLPC Santa Barbara California Partners Plan]]<br />
<br />
[[My New Page]]<br />

Latest revision as of 10:29, 17 November 2014

Who We Are

Founded in 2008, OLPCsb is an organization at the University of California, Santa Barbara that is a collaboration of interdisciplinary students, faculty, staff, and external partners.


Mission

One Laptop per Child, Santa Barbara works to utilize the benefits of technology in the education of children on a local and international scale. Our efforts include creating educational software for kids, researching the effects of collaborative technology in the classroom, and connecting children from around the world to interact on a meaningful level. In partnering with other schools, universities, organizations and individuals, we also aim to create synergy with others who are working towards the same goals. And as we move forward, we work to create documentation of how such endeavors can be accomplished, so that others may work towards this brighter future alongside with us.


Website

OLPC, SB website


(note: www.olpcsb.com domain name has expired and will not be renewed)


Departments

OLPCsb Programming

OLPCsb Research (currently no content due to the sensitive nature of research protocols)

OLPCsb Activity Development

OLPCsb Outreach

Contact

General:
OLPCSB@gmail.com


Engineering:
olpcsb.engr@gmail.com

Projects

Software

We work to create educational software that is wanted by teachers for their classroom, and shown to be useful in the field. This includes utilizing current research on things like reading instruction and multimedia design. Below is some information on software concepts we are working on (note: names are not official). OLPCsb Programming


Math Minute

Based on a math exercise/test used in California 3rd grade classrooms, this program is meant to help both students and teachers quickly gauge the math skills (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division) of a student. In short, success is gauged by the user's ability to correctly complete math problems within a time limit.

Concept Demo. This link is to a conceptual demo for Math minute.


Math Buddy

This program will be designed to provide users with not only the answers to math problems they incorrectly answer, but to provide them with the option of multiple explanations for how one gets the answer. The key point here is that since different children learn things in different ways, a child trying to learn math should be given a variety of explanations to choose from, so that they may learn in the way that best fits their needs.


Reading Buddy

note: We focus our software work on what teachers have specifically told us would be useful to them. The following program idea is a concept one of our members is developing on his own, and thus is not guaranteed any future production. But he thought you might like to hear about it, and thus here it is.


This software would provide users with practice in reading via stories. The intended benefit is for the user to have the option of having words sounded out, given audio and written definitions, or described using pictures. Concept Demo


The designer is also looking into how we may utilize/adapt current UCSB vocabulary-learning research into a software package. This research is currently being used within a local elementary school with much quantitative success, and thus why we are looking into how we could transfer its success to computer format.

Pen Pal Program

This is an international pen pal program designed to have children interact on a meaningful level, with focus on a project that fits the academic needs of both schools' curriculum.

The foundational-piece connection is between a local Santa Barbara, CA school with a school located in Zambia.


(more to be added soon)




Research

Research on the effects of XO laptop usage on the dynamics of an elementary school classroom. This includes effects on the spread of ideas within the classroom, children's ownership of education, and collaboration between students.


(more to be added soon) (we are checking on what we have permission to share, in order to stay in line with research protocol requirements).

Community Work

Work is currently underway to full establish a computer lab within a low-income school in Zambia. This project provides benefits in two levels. First, it provides a school-in-need with access to educational tools that are available through the laptops and the provided internet connection. Second, this school will also become a member of the pen pal program, helping us develop the framework for how to connect schools of varying wealth, location, and curriculum focus in a meaningful way.
Project funded by a scholarship awarded to Andrew MacNamara by the Donald A. Strauss Public Service Scholarship Foundation [1].


(more to be added soon)




Helping Other Groups

An intended goal for us is to help upcoming charity groups with their own endeavors. The following is a link to online resources we have found that can help many groups get started or become more efficient in what they are currently doing: Organizational Resources


This resource is currently filed in the University program's "Forming a chapter" section.

Tech Support

Getting Flash to work on the XO olpcsb flash support


Current Partners

Technology Management Program, UC Santa Barbara. http://www.tmp.ucsb.edu
University of California Santa Barbara. http://www.ucsb.edu
Kellogg Elementary School, Goleta, CA. http://www.kellogg.goleta.k12.ca.us/
American International School Lusaka. http://www.aislusaka.org/


Resources

Organizational Resources


Useful_Links



OLPCsb Organization Structure
OLPC Santa Barbara Objectives


Old Documents/Plans
OLPC Santa Barbara Strategic Planning
OLPC Santa Barbara California Partners Plan