OLPCorps LavalUniversity Gabon

The team

Kaçandre BOURDELAIS is a Master's student in educational technology at Laval University, Canada. As part of a course taught at the École Normale Supérieure de Libreville (ÉNS), he contributed to the development of an instructional guide for the use of the XO laptop.

Monéyi Nko Adrien Joseph is a Master's student in the Laval University education program offered at ÉNS in Libreville. He also contributed to the development of the instructional guide for the use of the XO. He will be involved in the project follow-up team in October 2009.

Doudou Camara is a Ph.D. candidate in educational technology at Laval University. He holds a Master's degree in data processing. He has been teaching computer science for more than ten years. He has an extensive background in the technical aspects of computer networking design.

Students' availability

Exceptionally, students will be available in June, July and early August due to the three-month Gabonese teachers' strike during the school year. Arrangements have been made so that two school hours will initially be devoted to familiarization with the technical use of the XO on a daily basis. Following that, the XO will be used in the classroom context, with an hour set aside every day for optional activities or small-scale projects. Teachers will be assisted by a project team member in both cases.

Local partners

The ÉNS and the Faculty of Education of Laval University have been collaborating for the last ten years. They are currently working on the implementation of a Master's degree in education within the framework of an institutional project. In this context, professors Thérèse Laferrière and Robert Angoue, as well as Kaçandre Bourdelais, have taught an educational technology course aimed at training resource teachers and developing an instructional guide for the use of the XO. The ÉNS is committed to pursuing the integration process. Moreover, the Faculty of Education and the ÉNS will soon submit a grant request for the extension of the scope of the project to the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie.

The project and its potential impact: children and the community

This project builds on work undertaken in Gabon in fall 2008. Within the framework of an educational community project involving the principal, parents and teachers, it focuses on initiating the integration of the XO in the elementary public school of the École Normale Supérieure (ÉNS-B).

About a hundred children in the later stages of their elementary education are at the heart of the project, which will provide them with access to information through the Internet. But beyond the use of the XO as a digital book, we consider its pedagogical application through learners' interactions central to their knowledge-building process (both formal and informal) and the completion of culture-related projects, so that children play a very active role in the educational situation. The goal is the creation of an authentic collaborative context with an open perspective on the social environment. Also, in keeping with the school mandate and the children's will to succeed, XO integration must take account of the mandatory curriculum. In doing so, a large share of the activities will be developed with the students' ownership of concepts in mind, in preparation for the final exams. However, from a more constructionist perspective, they will be asked to carry out team projects of their choice related to problems affecting their community.

The project team, supported by ÉNS faculty members, will work in concert with teachers to help them plan and implement these instructional activities. Special attention will be paid to help the community buy into the project. For instance, evening activities will be organized so both children and their parents can familiarize themselves with the use of the XO. Children then become real agents of change in the community. In short, the aim is:

• to introduce one hundred children to the use of the XO;

• to help three or four teachers familiarize themselves with the use of the XO in the classroom;

• to help the community buy into the project; and

• to ensure project sustainability.

Financing

Aside from the requested contribution of $10,000, financing of the project will be arranged through the participation of the following organizations as per the enclosed budget: ÉNS, Faculty of Education and the Office of International Cooperation (Laval University).