CHILD OLPC Foundation Philippines

PHILIPPINE COLLABORATORS FOR OLPC

Mabuhay! This is the webpage for the Philippine Collaborators for OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) or (PCOLPC) which is a group of people interested to support an OLPC deployment in the Philippines and in other member countries in ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations). These countries are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

THE OLPC MISSION STATEMENT

To create educational opportunities for the world's poorest children by providing each child with a rugged, low-cost, low-power, connected laptop with content and software designed for collaborative, joyful, self-empowered learning. When children have access to this type of tool they get engaged in their own education. They learn, share, create, and collaborate. They become connected to each other, to the world and to a brighter future.

WHY WE CHOOSE TO USE THE XO LAPTOP

A small machine with a big mission. The XO is a potent learning tool designed and built especially for children in developing countries, living in some of the most remote environments. It’s about the size of a small textbook. It has built-in wireless and a unique screen that is readable under direct sunlight for children who go to school outdoors. It’s extremely durable, brilliantly functional, energy-efficient, and fun.

THE PEOPLE BEHIND PCOLPC

The two behind PCOLPC is Charles Chen and Willie Pertubal. Classmates at the Ateneo Graduate School of Business, (AGSB) back in 1990's, the two saw the need of improving the level of education in the Philippines. Charles is based in Sydney, Australia and specialises in cross border trade and investments between Australia and the Philippines. Willie is based in Antipolo city, Philippines and is veterinarian and is an active social leader in his local community. Both of them saw in Nicholas Negroponte's OLPC program an opportunity to give public school students in the Philippines (initially and later the rest of ASEAN) the benefit of computer aided learning so common in more developed countries. And the journey has just started.

Before organising PCOLPC, Charles had assisted Meg Simpson with a project for former National Computer Center (NCC) general manager and current Lubang, Mindoro Mayor Juan Sanchez to establish the first school deployment in the country. The project was in partnership with Meg and her other former NCC officemates, Mitch Seaton of OLPC Friends Australia and the Education Kindling group.

OUR FIRST OWN OLPC PILOT

This year we will be starting with our own OLPC school project in the Philippines. The project is called The Kiwanis Child Computer Literacy Program (KCCL), which is designed to augment the basic education of children in the elementary level, using computer as a tool to enhance their learning skills, both inside and outside the classroom. The target beneficiaries of the program are the public school pupils either in grade two or three, and the out of school youth, ages 9-14 years old, who are underprivileged or the marginalized members of our society. Initially, the areas identified for the pilot testing of the project are Antipolo and the selected towns in the province of Rizal.

In this regard, the training program will entail the use of OLPC in the selected areas. This program is a partnership between the Kiwanis Club and the selected public school or barangay, wherein the former will provide the volunteer trainers and computers while the latter will provide the venue for the training program. A pre-qualification process will be observed to all nominee participants, both in public schools or out of school youth category, and only students who can read the alphabets well in English, will be qualified for the program. In addition, a memorandum of agreement (MOA) between the school principals or barangay officials, and the club will be necessary to formalize the arrangement upon the start of the training program.

The concept of the project is a hands–on training of children with zero knowledge in computer.

In short, it is a beginner training which will last for 3-4 months or even less, on 2-3 hour course once a week. The participant will undergo four levels of education or training, namely level 1)- familiarization stage, 2)- proper use of computer, 3)- hands on teaching process, and 4) – advance education to include mathematics exercise, drawing and browsing information research. The key result area will be at the end of the program, participants will be able to write, read, understand, compute and create art work on their own, as an expression of self-empowerment. In addition, children will be able to share and collaborate with each other as a learning on the program.

PROJECT RATIONALE:

The rapid advancement in the field of electronics and telecommunication technology has dramatically affected the lives of so many people, not only in our country today, but also the lives of other people throughout the world. Nowadays, the presence of computer internet, broadband and its online system, Wifi mobile cellular phone, DVD and cable TV ,CCTV camera, to name a few, has changed our lifestyle, to include our children’s values and priorities, as well. As a consequence, one important development that we can easily notice is the “real time” news reporting on radio and television, which makes the print media a little bit late in terms of public service. Another remarkable changes, is our way of searching information, which are now readily available in the internet, either in the computer or cellular phone Seemingly, this development makes our public library and its huge collection of books at little obsolete or if not, impractical. In this respect, one cannot close his eyes on the need and use of computer and other gadgets to empower him and stay competitive, in ones daily struggle for survival in life.

Nevertheless, the prohibitive cost of computer, particularly to the marginalized sector of our society is the biggest hindrance to our youth education, specifically the under privileged one. Hence, there is a need to assist them by supplementing or augmenting their basic skills through the use of laptop computer, designed for the children of third world countries like the Philippines. One Laptop Per Child (OLPC), a project of Nicolas Negroponte based on Boston, USA seems to be the answer to this need. It is handy, durable and with simple operating system which is easily understood by children.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES:

1. The project aims to provide basic computer literacy education to the under privileged pupils of selected public schools and out of school youth in the barangay of the city of Antipolo, and other towns of Rizal, to augment their basic knowledge in the primary education particularly in reading, writing, drawing, mathematics and information research

2. The project aims to prepare children so they can define their own future consistent to our global mission which is dedicated to change one child, one community at a time.

HOW TO APPLY

Do you want to support the OLPC program in the Philippines or in another ASEAN member country? Email the following information below to pcolpc@gmail.com to get started.

For a deployment proposal, please provide the following information:

• The name of the proposed school and its location;
• How big is the school in terms of number of students per grade or year level;
• Is it a primary or high school;
• Does the school have any available PCs for teaching purposes;
• Does the school have someone who has technical skills in using a PC.

To get a project implemented will require the following resources:

• A local group in the school to train and support for using the XO laptops (these laptops are designed to run on open source software)
• A core group of teachers in the school to learn and use the laptops with the students
• A learning plan on how the XO laptop will be used as a course supplement (the learning should support the current curriculum followed by the school as approved by the Department of Education)
• A sponsor who can cover the cost of the project (each XO laptop costs over US$200)

Let the Education Project Begin!

THE IDEA OF OLPC

While thinking on what to do next, be inspired by watching the following video made by Amazon on the mission of OLPC based on the ideals of its founder, Nicholas Negroponte.

http://www.youtube.com/v/c-M77C2ejTw&hl=en_US&fs=1

http://www.youtube.com/v/qMeX2D4AOjM&hl=en_US&fs=1

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQs)

The following information have been provided by OLPC Asia.

Why does a child need laptop computers?

Children in underprivileged areas need education to give them the means to change their future. OLPC is not a laptop project but an education project, the XO is both a window and a tool - a window to connect to the world and a tool for learning to learn and teaching themselves through independent interaction and exploration.

While desktops are cheaper, mobility is an important aspect in our education program. We want the children to take the XO home so that they can use it whenever and wherever they want. The XO has the rugged hardware for transportation and the innovative software that will keep children engaged.

Why is it important for each child to have a computer? What's wrong with community access computer centers?

One does not think of community pencils--kids have their own. They are tools to think with, sufficiently inexpensive to be used for work and play, drawing, writing, and mathematics. The XO is the same, but far more powerful. We want each child to have his/her own computer so that they can stay connected to the world and, even more importantly, to each other all the time. Only when each child in the community has an XO can we truly achieve the benefits of shared learning and collaborative creation.

How is it possible to get the cost of the laptop so low?

The first-generation XO dramatically lowered its cost with a novel, dual-mode display that represents improvements to the LCD displays commonly found in inexpensive DVD players. Second, we have also worked to get the fat out of our software systems. In other words, our laptop computers operate more efficiently. The XO's operating system is based on the free and open-source Linux. Third, One Laptop Per Child is a non-profit organization that is not obligated to any investors. Finally, OLPC uses large-scale orders to minimize marketing and distribution costs and to bulk order components to drive prices down.

What can a regular laptop computer do that the XO laptop cannot?

The XO laptop is a computer built for learning and designed specifically with children in remote locations in mind. Because of this, the features deemed most valuable for its purposes are as good (and in many cases, better) than comparable features on a commercially available laptop. Specifically, the XO's screen can be viewed as clearly as a newspaper in broad daylight; the wireless range of the XO is several times longer than your average laptop and it's also more rugged, resilient and power efficient than most other laptops on the market. It is water, dust and shock proof to survive the harshest of environments. While other features, such as memory space and speed, cannot compare to a regular laptop computer, these are not priorities deemed necessary for learning.

What kinds of power sources can I use with the XO laptop?

In addition to plugging the laptop into an electrical outlet (110-240 volts AC), the XO laptop can be powered by solar energy and human energy with pull cords and hand cranks. The XO laptop can take a DC input ranging from 11 volts to 40 volts, a range that's far more flexible than most portable devices. The XO laptop is remarkably energy efficient, using only 5-10 percent of the average wattage of a standard laptop. For formal specifications, please visit http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Hardware_specification#Specifications.

Please note that G1G1 laptops* are not bundled with any alternative energy sources (crank, solar panel etc.) besides the included AC adapter.

Who is the manufacturer of the XO laptop computer?

Quanta Computer Inc. of Taiwan is the original design manufacturer (ODM) of the XO laptop. Quanta Computer Inc. is the world's largest laptop manufacturer. They make laptops for Apple, HP and Dell among many others.

Who is behind these XO laptop computer?

The XO laptop computer is developed by One Laptop Per Child (OLPC), a non-profit organization founded by MIT professor Nicholas Negroponte and a team of educators, developers and technologists dedicated to educating children in developing countries with the goal of eradicating poverty. OLPC is founded based on principles expressed by MIT Media Lab Professor Seymour Papert in the 1960s, and later elaborated upon by Alan Kay, and complemented by the principles articulated by Nicholas Negroponte in his book, Being Digital. Partner corporations including Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Intel, Brightstar, eBay, Google, Marvell, News Corporation, Nortel, Quanta, Chi Mei Group, Red Hat, and SES Astra are involved in this initiative.