Talk:Main Page

Things to consider before editing this discussion page:

• This page is for the discussion of the Main Page, not for specific questions and comments about the OLPC.
• If you have questions about your XO laptop, please see the Support FAQ.
• If you have questions about One Laptop per Child, please go to the OLPC FAQ; if you still have a question, please goto the Ask OLPC a Question page.
• For questions and comments about specific features, please use the discussion page of the article where that feature is discussed.
• Questions about your Give One Get One order can be found here.
• If you are interested in helping with translations, please go here.
• Please sign all comments using ~~~~.
• Please put new text under old text. Click here to start a new topic.

Archives : 2006 2007 2008

Main page comments go on this page

Please add main page-related comments at the end of this page (by clicking on the 'discussion' link/tab at the top). Please don't add comments that relate to this main page.

Add next comment above here

new look

It is not just that the new home page has dropped on the floor many things that are arguably important, but the fact that it was changed unilaterally, without a more general discussion on this page is really inappropriate. --Walter 07:15, 18 March 2008 (EDT)

I would like to know why the change was made, and it should certainly be reverted until there is discussin. Any major main page changes (or changes to any of the core sidebar pages) should be carried out in temporary space and discussed here first. we had a similar discussion about main page design when Kate was updating the page without discussion; I hope it doesn't come up as an afterthought again. 18.85.46.174 10:47, 18 March 2008 (EDT)

ps - aside from the prominence of the main page, which is cause to reach consensus, boldness is fine to the degree that everyone in the community feels comfortable being bold. Many people who care about the main pages aren't yet comfortable enough to revert design changes they don't like. 18.85.46.174

My apologies. The main page shift was entirely my fault and nobody else's; I wasn't aware a similar conversation had been had with Kate before (and actually, that was part of my basis for thinking "well, I guess being bold on the main page would actually be ok.") Won't happen again. Please do continue to whack me upside the head with the Stick of Enlightenment as needed.

As an attempt to begin a more proper discussion about revising the page, here some things I like about Home draft (incomplete list, but this is a rough first pass).

• Less scrolling, easier on the eyes, and other good things that come with uncluttered simplicity.
• Yes, "all content except news" from the current Home has turned into a (large) portal-style link to that content instead. The home page should not be an intro-about/mission/about-wikis/about-open-source/core-principles/support/get-involved "all-in-one, include all content here" page. Instead, it should link to those pages. They are very important pieces of information to have accessible from the main page so that people (especially first-time visitors) can see them, but being easily findable != being on; it takes up less space and allows those who want an intro to see a dedicated page on the topic (instead of a cluttered page that's also a portal for non-intro stuff) and those who don't (experienced contributors, whoever) to bypass it.
• Why should news / major new things stay on the front?

• New stuff is transient. Updating one page with news is way easier than updating half a dozen subportals with the same.
• Since new stuff changes often, the information will be new information for everyone viewing the page regardless of their interests. In contrast, a long/static "mission" text will only be new info to new visitors.
• Watching new stuff scroll by is a nice opportunity for people to see what's going on right now in other areas they don't work in, in case it will (or can) directly impact or be impacted by their work.

And a few things I don't like yet.

• As SJ pointed out, the picture is larger than warranted.
• The portals pointed to from the main page should be really well-developed and maintained; not all of them are atm.

That's for starters... other (more articulate) thoughts, complaints, comments?

Mchua 17:21, 18 March 2008 (EDT)

Colophon (or), Old, non-main-page-related discussions

Looking for an old, non-main-page-related discussion? Check the archives:

2006 2007 2008

I've moved the bulk of the non-main-page-related content - the G1G1 shipping discussions - to the discussion page of Ask_OLPC_a_Question_about_Give_One_Get_One_orders .

Two/three remaining comments (still available in the history) didn't belong here or there, so I consigned them to the history page (removed them).

Walter had archived the discussions from the page here. There was an active thread regarding Give One Get One orders, which he moved to the Ask_OLPC_a_Question_about_Give_One_Get_One_orders.

MartinDengler 17:32, 13 March 2008 (EDT)

link to cnn on Peru broken

The link you gave for the CNN article on Peru expired. This one still works (3/21/08): http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/12/24/technology/LA-TEC-Peru-One-Laptop-One-Village.php?page=2

OLPC Pilot at Atlas School

OLPC Pilot at Atlas School, OLPC in Pakistan: Started March 15, 2008 (8 weeks)

File:037.JPG

OLPC Pilot at Atlas School

= March 15th at = OLPC Pilot at Atlas School

File:037.JPG

It is a slump area in which the students who are learning are the garbage pickers and they

On the other side of the class, sitting on long, thin mats on the floor, there was a small group of girls and boys working on eToys. Some were trying out all the sample projects while others were making their own. Among them were Ali and jawad, two girls, in third standard, who usually go around the classroom helping others.

File:.JPG

Close to the drinking-water container, were singing songs while recording them on Record, and playing them back.

In the middle of the classroom is Vinod investigating different activities on his XO. and Sooraj are exploring eBooks and different links on the Web application.

Intro

To run the first school implementation with prototype B2 XO's laptops in Pakistan. Our office is in Islamabad and the volunteer are basially working here.

Islamabad is a big city of pakistan. Its streets are busy with lots of people moving from one place to another, with all kinds of vehicles honking at all times and traveling so close to each other that it seems like at any moment they will collide.

Buildings and shops are all over the greenery. It's so alive and dynamic.

OLPC Pilot at Atlas school

OLPC Pilot at Atlas school is a one-room schoolhouse. It is very bad in condition.The idea of having the children of the town education.

File:.JPG First view of OLPC Pilot at Atlas school

File:.JPG Second view of OLPC Pilot at Atlas school

File:.JPG school

The workplace

The first girl to arrive to school early in the morning sweeps the floor. The second girl to arrive helps her remove things from the corners.The older girls go to the village well for water to refill the water bucket and have water to drink during the day.The floor is the seat where the students sit, the surface on which they write, floor is the space they can use to adopt any position they find comfortable as well as to work in pairs or groups, and a classmate—or the teacher—can come and sit next to anyone to help.

There's a plastic chair for the teacher.

File:.JPG Bringing plants inside

File:.JPG Girls stringing flowers to hang on the entrance

File:.JPG Typical way of answering exams

School hours

Children go to school from Monday to Friday from 10.30 AM to 2.00 PM for Pakistani children and from 2.00 to 5.00 for Afghani students.

Grade levels

The school is multilevel. Children from first to fourth standard take classes in the same classroom with the same teacher. Sometimes they all listen to the same explanation or work on the same assignment, but the teacher usually assigns different tasks to each level, and when the younger ones get stuck and he is busy working with other students, children from third and fourth standard help the first and second standard ones. They learn so much by always being in touch with the 'basics' and previously learned facts, knowledge, or skills, and by teaching others, they reinforce their knowledge. With the XO, they help each other by explaining or by pointing a finger at the screen or keyboard or by checking the work done. And it's not necessarily the older ones who help the younger, nor age or grade level what determines how they group together. You can also see children by themselves, focused on their work, oblivious to what is going on around them, even to what the teacher is saying or doing –and in this case it's totally OK to not pay attention to the teacher.

Although the teacher conducts the activities and is the leader and most knowledgeable one in the room, there reigns an atmosphere of independent work and independent grouping and consultations. We are giving the laptops to children to exploring the laptops on their own, and when they find something interesting or need some help, they go to others to show them their findings or be helped out.

File:.JPG

Collaborating and learning together

Languages

The people in Pakistan speaks pashto, dari and urdu. The teacher speaks some English too. The children speaks these three languages. I keep the communication channel open by smiling, which is easy and effective.

Regarding the XOs, the children tell me in Pashto what they want to do or what they can't do as they point their finger here and there. I in turn get across to them by showing and doing on the XOs, or by pointing to objects on the screen and keys on the keyboard, and by simultaneously saying and repeating names and actions in English.Here we use three types of XO's in which have different languages, the child who speaks Pashto, he uses that computer same is the case with other two languages, the XO is so user-friendly that I can manage to get across to them, to show them how to do something with it.

And in little time, and having lots of fun, they doing this or that on their XOs.

We manage to communicate sufficiently well. Children helps me when something is really important, like being careful with the XO power adapters that are loose and that the children time and time again keep on adjusting.

The teacher

[Implementation of the OLPC learning approach by the teacher.]

The teacher is a very proactive person. He loves learning and is very committed to OLPC. Everyday he comes with a new idea or a new discovery of how the XOs could foster children's learning in a more fun way.

He is fascinated with the laptop and devotes a lot of quality time to the XO within class and after class. He does small XO activities with the children and guides them through the different phases or lets them find their way on their own, depending....

He also looks after his students' laptops. If there's a problem with one, he reports it immediately. He helps get them charged, and the children with no electricity at home get higher priority charging their laptops in class. (Some go to their neighbors to charge their laptop.)

File:.JPG Teacher preparing his class on eToys

File:.JPG Teacher explaining how to add

File:.JPG Teacher working while charging

The teacher also keeps a detailed Journal in a Write file of all the important events since OLPC came to school. He made his student list on the laptop and was appalled when he lost it because we hadn't backed it up on the server. Our fault.

He also likes eToys to prepare his classes or do projects on it. He takes photos of local views, people, plants and flowers and tags them all. He explores all the software activities and tries to incorporate them to his classes.

we finds that the teacher is very dedicated and that he's always doing everything he can to give better opportunities to the children.