OLPC Afghanistan

Background Country background and overview: OLPC Afghanistan/Background School deployments This is the official Wiki page for "One Laptop Per Child Afghanistan" project. Learning outcomes could be massively improved using technology to overcome obstacles in both mainstream school and community based education environments. The OLPC Afghanistan Pilot is working to overcome technical, content, and cultural issues to harness the power of technology in even the most challenging environments to improve learning outcomes; contributing to the future development and prosperity of Afghanistan. Schools teach in shifts, learning time can be quite short (2.5hrs/day). Blended Learning with OLPC can effectively extend learning time using classroom time to share learning outcomes Teachers often lack time / resources for providing feedback. Enhanced learning content and instant feedback could be provided to guide learning and improve learning outcomes. Library resources are sometimes scarce. Using the offline digital library system even without Internet huge amounts of learning resources can be instantly available. Interactive learning resources and encouraging sharing between learners could lead to improved creativity, problem solving skills and life skills. Especially crucial for rural areas with power constraints, this XO model only uses about 25% of the power usage of a regular laptop, and has the ability to be solar or foot powered. The laptops will be integrated into teaching curricula, providing students with a vast educational resource, access to word processing, educational programs, email, and internet browser software. Families will then have access to training, job information, and resources to develop and improve farms and small businesses. Targeting current and historical conflict zones, including Afghanistan, correlates with OLPC’s mission of offering equal-access education to the most isolated children in the world-- with the additional advantage of promoting world peace. Although providing immediate relief for health and infrastructure appear to be of more critical importance in war ridden areas, in order to fully rebuild a war torn region, educating the youth and future leaders provide the most hope in the construction of a politically stable country. A number of full proposals about how to proceed with a large-scale deployment have been presented, including a 2010 briefing note by the NGO's AIMS and Paiwastoon. Educational Content Hardware is but a gateway to content. The OLPC Afghanistan team has: Completely translated Sugar / standard activities as well as EToys Translated GCompris to Dari and Pashto A digital library in each school Teacher training materials freely available for download Family health information activity Economic Development / Small business activity Currently we are working on the creation of a high speed book scanner in the office in Kabul (as per the archive.org model) and creation of enhanced curriculum books for all subjects to provide mini tests, simulators, etc. Technical Accomplishments OLPC Afghanistan has been working to overcome technical barriers to make the deployment really work... Developed pure wireless deployment system using Freifunk firmware (also writing the documentation for this firmware in English for the first time) Developed a sustainable pedal as you use it table to run the XO OLPC News Article Adapted espeak for Dari (work in progress on refinement / exceptions). Text to speech technology to support literacy, the illiterate and semi literate. Adapted the Renpy Roleplay engine to work better on the XO and worked with developers to support right to left scripts. Software for copying complete websites remotely (webdump) and quickly building, indexing and searching a digital library that works over the local network without the school needing Internet access. Project Goals Mission: To create a fit environment for OLPC, take necessary steps to ensure every child in Afghanistan receives an XO laptop and develop the Local Activities for OLPC laptops that could revolutionize how Afghani children are educated. The Afghanistan OLPC project will revolutionize the way in which children are taught and promote cooperation between the diverse set of communities existing in central Asia. The goal of OLPC Afghanistan is to provide every child with new opportunities to explore, experiment, and express themselves in a collaborative way. Contacts and Further Information • Official OLPC Afghanistan website • Official OLPC Afghanistan Dari Weblog • Contact Salim Hayran, OLPC Afghanistan Project Coordinator • Send inquiries to info@olpc.af OLPC Afghanistan Team Read More about the OLPC Afghanistan team and volunteers [here] Deployments Deployment Wiki Page Read here Information on pilot project, first and second phase of deployment and list of schools selected for implementation. Media Coverage 4/3/09 Huffington Post: “Afghanis Desperately want to Learn and aren't Afraid to Do So: Washington can't be Afraid to Help Them” by Matt Keller, Director of Europe, Middle East and Africa for One Laptop per Child. 3/5/09 CNN: “Laptops bring lessons, maybe even peace” 2/10/09 USAID: “One Laptop per Child Program to be Launched in Afghanistan” 1/31/09 USAID: “One Laptop Per Child program launched in Afghanistan” 9/9/08 Tech World: “How the OLPC can help beat Taliban in Afghanistan” 9/5/08 PC World: “OLPC Seeks ITU's Help to Promote Laptops” 12/12/07 CSR Wire (The Corporate Social Responsibility Newswire): “The Kite Runner Inspires Gift Through One Laptop” Picture Blog via Picassa [1] via Flickr [2] See also OLPC Afghanistan/Job descriptions - jobs needed for the project, not necessarily filled OLPC Afghanistan Stakeholders Technical Structure and Operations External links Lets Explore the XO One Laptop Per Child Afghanistan official website PAIWASTOON OLPC Afghanistan Dari Blog OLPC Afghanistan Dari Wiki Page OLPC Afghanistan on Wikipedia OLPC Afghanistan Sugar-Labs wiki Page Facebook group Official OLPC Afghanistan Facebook group Primary Language ,|x|Language spoken::x}} Number of Laptops Number of manufactured laptops::3500 Keyboard Layout Keyboard::OLPC Dari Keyboard Build ,|x|Software release::x}} Date(s) Arrived in Country ,|x|Has received laptops on date::x}} School Server ,|x|School server status::x}} Deployment Status Deployment status::Started with Paiwastoon. Developed offline digital library system, sustainable human power system, pure wireless class2class (freifunk) networking Primary Language ,|x|Language spoken::x}} Number of Laptops Number of manufactured laptops::1000 Keyboard Layout Keyboard::OLPC English Keyboard Build ,|x|Software release::x}} Date(s) Arrived in Country ,|x|Has received laptops on date::x}} School Server ,|x|School server status::x}} Deployment Status Deployment status::Supplementary, for repairs and add-on machines. Primary Language ,|x|Language spoken::x}} Number of Laptops Number of manufactured laptops::450 Keyboard Layout Keyboard::OLPC English Keyboard Build ,|x|Software release::x}} Date(s) Arrived in Country ,|x|Has received laptops on date::x}} School Server ,|x|School server status::x}} Deployment Status Deployment status::Started with Paiwastoon, with a new digital library. This category is only for pages that describe an OLPC deployment. Category:Deployment planning is for pages about the topic of deployments. See the Deployments page for deployment summary information pulled from these pages. Template:Deployment puts pages in this category. Deployment coordinators can use Has default form::Form:Deployment to edit these pages; look for an 'edit with form' tab on them. Afghanistan