OLPC Slovenia

About OLPC Slovenia

OLPC Slovenia is a group of people trying to educate the people of Slovenia about the OLPC program and promote the program with decision makers to establish a healthy ground on which the program could take root in Slovenia. Everyone's invited to contribute!

Main goals

Short term

• localization of software; if anyone requires laptops for testing, feel free to email me; I have my hands od three units at this time which i am willing to distribute for testing of localized SW
  • working on getting ate least some activities on the Pootle server to be localized with the main package
  • a special section has been set up to discuss localization issues (in Slovenian)
• rising awareness of the program
• getting support from decision makers; The President of the Republic Danilo Türk is already aware of the program and supports the push
• getting our hands on additional computers; some 12 to 15 needed for proper field testing

Medium term

• localization of the hardware; keyboard and charger are main objectives
• a pilot program with three primary school classes
• long term commitment to introducing the laptop in schools
• local development of software
• digitalization of textbooks

Long term

• introduction of the laptop in schools

Other goals

• exchange experience with other OLPC country organizations
• educate the general public about the project via presentations and workshops
• setup and support of European OLPC initiatives
• development of Open Source Software for the laptop
• hardware engineering for peripheral devices and gadgets
• research of new wireless network technologies (Mesh/WLAN)
• coordination of educational know-how and Open Source developers
• production and collection of novel educational content
• hosting of public competitions

News

Great to see political parties recognizing the potential of the XO.

Here you can find the pre-election program of the Social democrats, where on page 36 you can find the following exert:

Z računalniškim izobraževanjem danes začenjamo mnogo prepozno, obenem pa tovrstnemu
izobraževanju v izobraževalnem procesu posvečamo občutno premalo časa. Otroci in mladi
računalniško znanje pogosto dobivajo doma in na neustrezen način ob samostojnem
raziskovanju svetovnega spleta. Slovenija mora v najkrajšem možnem času pripraviti akcijski
načrt, ki bo vključeval uvedbo novih načinov izobraževanja s pomočjo računalnikov v naš
šolski sistem. Z računalniškim opismenjevanjem otrok moramo v okviru izobraževalnega
procesa pričeti prej, najbolje že ob vstopu v obvezno izobraževanje, da bi otrokom že v
prvem razredu osnovne šole uporabo osebnega računalnika približali do te mere, da bi
postal eno ključnih orodij v izobraževalnem procesu, in ne le dodatno orodje izbrane skupine,
ki si osebne računalnike lahko privošči in je računalniško pismena. Zato je smotrno, da se
Slovenija po letih nemega opazovanja z daljave aktivno vključi v projekt En prenosnik na
otroka (One Laptop per Child), katerega namen je zmanjšati razlike med otroki, kar se tiče
dostopa do novih tehnologij in izobraževanja, ter posebej za otroke razviti prenosnik XO,
prilagojen izobraževanju otrok ob vstopu v obvezno izobraževanje.

In brief: Slovenia should get actively involved in the OLPC program.

Media reports on OLPC in Slovenia

• Dnevnik on the XOXO
• Dnevnik on Intel bailing out
• Dnevnik on Slovenia's paritication in the program
• Dnevnik on the production of the XO kicking off

Contact information

Anyone interested in taking part or contributing please e-mail vasja.zupan@pop-tv.si or denis.ostir@pop-tv.si