MVCC

This is the wiki-homepage of the Moraine Valley Chapter. We are a University chapter based at a community college in Palos Hills, Illinois.

Meetups

Next

• Mar 13 2008 - We are going to have a mini-Repair Jam. The objectives of the Jam will be to create a detailed log of issues discovered with the 12 machines from D stock and M stock, attempt to fix some broken components rather than just replace them, and develop and document a Troubleshooting and Repair Plan.

• Mar 29 2008 - Tentatively, we will have another informal meetup. An invitation will be broadcast to the OLPC-Chicago group and MVCC faculty and staff.

If you have any questions, feel free to email Larry Langellier at langellier at morainevalley dot edu.

Past

• Feb 16 2008 - There was a meetup to explore the XO more deeply, specifically the mesh capability. Seven adults and nine children were present. Highlights included introductions to OLPC and the XO for newcomers, an introduction to Scratch and the community site at scratch.mit.edu, and some of the children in attendance showed us how to use the mesh for Chat and Connect.

• OLPC_Chicago/Jan 26 2008 - There was a meetup to introduce the project, play with laptops, and come up with ideas for things the MVCC chapter could work on. Highlights included TamTam demos by an 8-year-old and Record demos by a 10-year-old, as well as a kid-run laptop disassembly session.

Projects and Events

Planned

• Create a One Laptop Per Student Center - the purpose of the center will be to support schools in our district with 1:1 laptop initiatives. Areas of assistance will include deployment and infrastructure planning, publicity and fundraising support, guidance on using 1:1 in a constructionist fashion, dissemination of documented educational activities that deeply utilize the 1:1 availability, help mapping activities to Illinois State Standards, and assistance with developing a repair, support, and maintenance plan.

• Repair Jams and several other do-it-yourself Repair Center options

• A Game Jam in late June or early July

• Obtain funding to create a pilot with 100+ XOs that will be distributed to four different class sections at MVCC. The purposes of the pilot are to develop internal deployment and support expertise, engage college students in a "Pay It Forward" campaign to get them involved in international and local OLPC efforts, engage college faculty to develop deeper local educational expertise with the XOs.

Completed

• Mar 6 2008 - Larry, Steve, and Nancy travelled to Springfield, IL to attend a hearing of the House Computer Technology Committee on the "Children's Low-cost Laptop Act". The act passed from committee by a 6-0 vote and will now move to the full House for debate. After the hearing, we accompanied Ryan Croke, Policy Advisor to Lt. Governor Quinn, to his office where we taught Ryan how to fix an XO of theirs that had a broken screen. We also met with Lt. Governor Quinn to discuss our ideas on how Moraine Valley (and other community colleges throughout Illinois) would be able to train and mentor teachers on how to enhance their teaching strategies if every child had a laptop, advise schools on how to deploy, support, and maintain the necessary server and network infrastructure, and provide publicity and fundraising resources.

• Feb 28 2008 - Presented to 31 college faculty and staff at Learning College Day on the MVCC campus. This was the unofficial kickoff to an effort to create a One Laptop Per Student Center at MVCC. Part of the mission of the Center would be to pilot usage of XOs on our campus so we are better prepared to assist schools in our district when they move to 1:1 laptop initiatives.

• Feb 22 2008 - Larry and Steve worked with Adam at the Libertyville, IL Brightstar facility to finish categorizing the returned XOs.

• Feb 21 2008 - Larry and Steve met Kim, Adam, Jim, Scott, Karen, Hope, and Kevin for dinner to discuss Repair Center models.

XOs on campus

• 3 G1G1 machines with Larry
• 12 broken machines from the Brightstar D stock and M stock with Steve

Contact Information

For additional information, email Larry Langellier at langellier (at) morainevalley (dot) edu or phone 708-974-5627.