Team USC/UChicago - Philippi, South Africa
OLPCorps Project Proposal For Team USC/UChicago in Philippi, South Africa
Extended Version (Note: Not Yet Finalized)
Team Member Information
Team Members
Peter Koehler, University of Southern California, pkoehler@usc.edu
Suzanne Adatto, University of Chicago, sadatto@uchicago.edu
Local Non-Profit Organization
Philippi East, Cape Town, South Africa
Local Contacts:
Ian Edelstein, ian@townshipbaseball.org
Rob Rosenbaum, robert.c.rosenbaum@gmail.com
The Basics
We, Peter Koehler and Suzanne Adatto will comprise a two-person team that will deploy to the Philippi Township outside of Cape Town, South Africa. Peter is pursuing his Masters in Planning at the University of Southern California and Suzanne is pursuing a double major in English and Political Science at the University of Chicago. We both grew up in Portland, Oregon and work very well together due to our long history and friendship. We will be working in cooperation with the Township Baseball Academy.
This page contains hyperlinks from our project proposal. For our full proposal, please click here.
Mission statement
Using the XO computers to complement and further the work already being done by the Township Baseball Academy; enrich students lives through academic assistance and individual means of self-expression and discovery; develop computer literacy; install a program that has longevity - both programatically and in the students' lives.
Guiding Beliefs and Goals of Programming
We are creating a structure program, but allowing for openness and flexibility in responding to the particular and unique personalities and needs of the students we work with. We developed the program to satisfy these four goals:
1) Focus on how the XOs can complement and augment the preexisting work already being done by the Township Baseball Academy and the lives and needs of the students.
- This will allow for sustainability of the program itself and make the XO computers the most useful.
2) Maximize small group and one-on-one instruction.
- Students will gain a great deal from individually exploring the XOs. However, we want to make sure that the XOs function for their full capacity, and therefore will work to provide monitored and directed personal interactions with the XOs, in addition to the individual free play which they will gain from owning and caring for the XOs.
3) Use the presence of the XOs as a means of becoming more computer literate and have a higher understanding of technological processes.
-The world is moving rapidly into a time where technology shapes a majority of interactions, be it international relations, financial transactions, communications and media, or personal and social. We intend to focus on developing computer skills to allow these students to begin to enter and shape the digital opportunities, thus enhancing employment and economic opportunities while also allowing access to a wide variety of knowledge, relationships, and means of self-determination. Because Cape Town is so close, these computer skills will be rapidly employed as there are amply opportunities in this international city, be it ICT, tourism, education, or the wide variety of South African industry.
4) Lastly, we want to make sure we focus on allow students the ability to play, have fun, and be kids in a neighborhood where often competing pressures and responsibilities mean they grew up quickly.
We realize that the programming we intend to introduce is ambitious, but with the support of TBA as well as our full-time effort, we believe it is both doable and would be ultimately extremely rewarding for all involved.
Programming
The programming will take place in four distinct stages:
STAGE 1: Orientation (June 19- June 25) After we arrive, we do the following things over our first week: 1) Hold a neighborhood meeting. Through students already participating in TBA, through word-of-mouth, and through publicity from TBA and the local schools, we will speak to students and their families to inform them of the programming. This will ensure full neighborhood saturation, encourage entire families to learn about and support the XOs, and present the programming as fun, exciting, and beneficial. Since Peter and I will be living in the homes of members of the community, we hope to use these relationships to ensure that all qualifying students are aware of the XOs and programming. 2) Speak with local university students about volunteering with the program. We will use the excitement generated by the XOs to connect with ICT students from neighboring universities, to recruit them to volunteer with the program. We hope to start working with them right from the start as that way they can have a stake in the program and the XOs, and therefore be a component of the long-term duration of the program. 3) Set up and test all electrical and technical components. After receiving the XOs, we will ensure their security and efficacy to work with the local power availability. 4) Divide students up into small groups based on their expressed interests, the advice of TBA staff, the requests of their family, and from one-on-one discussion.
STAGE 2: Winter Camp (June 26-July 20) During the three weeks students are out of school, we will offer three 2 hour sessions a day each day of the week to students tailored to their interests and needs. Students will be broken up into three small groups, and receive an orientation on the care and responsibility of an XO. The three groups and sessions will be as follows: 1) Student Leaders: Through TBA volunteers and staff, as well as neighborhood resources, we will identify older students who demonstrate responsibility and enthusiasm about the program. They will be designated as student leaders, and be taught about the maintenance of the XO computers themselves, as well as be taught about the role of computers, the internet, and digital communication. We will engage in discussions with students about conflict mediation, role-play, and encourage students to record their daily experiences. These students will be our "Teacher's Assistants," and help us monitory free-play time. The extra responsibility and recognition will be valuable for developing confidence and learning about leadership.
We will use Sugar Programs such as "Journal" and "Write," as well as letting students explore and learn about all components of the Xo itself.
2) Academic Assistance: We will work with TBA tutors and community resources to identify students who are particularly struggling with math, reading, or language skills. We will work closely with them to learn together in how the XO can best address their particular needs and record their progress. Rather than highlighting their deficiencies, we will employ them as explorers who can help discover ways for the rest of their peers to best use the XOs. This will allow them personal attention and academic improvement, as well as additional confidence and lessons of how to address ones' problems.
We will use Sugar academic programs such as "E-Paath" and "Schoolsplay" (among others), in addition to allowing the students the opportunity to free play.
3) Electives: We will identify students who are either interested in creative expression, academically accelerated, or interested in ecology and the environment. Based on student interests, we will work with them to teach them about art, music, creative writing, reading for pleasure, and multimedia means of storytelling; to work with the Lwandle Migrant Labour History Museum to develop an oral history of their family and their community; or to learn about local and rural ecology and identify different plants of the ecosystem. We will use programs such as "storybuilder," "write," "paint," "read," "interview," "TamTam" and more creative programs, and just let students figure out what interests them.
STAGE 3: Integration (July 21-August 21)
We will use this time to work with students after-school to transition their learning period into figuring out how to best integrate the XOs into their daily lives and needs.
STAGE 4: Transition (August 21-August 28)
Although we will have been working with local and TBA volunteers and staff all along, we will work the local volunteers and new international abroad volunteers to establish a permanent system for working with the XOs, including handing over and developing user materials, monitoring the power and electrical needs, designating a new set of leaders and responsibilities, and
working with the older leadership students to expand their roles to helping new volunteers.
We will work with the organization to identify particular students who fit the following profiles:
1) Older (10-12 yrs. old) students who are particularly engaged, excited, and committed to the after-school program and
have demonstrated responsibility already within the program. These students will be selected as student-leaders, and
be taught about the ins-and-outs of the system. A particular emphasis will be put on selecting equal females and males.
2) Students who are exhibiting particular academic deficiencies.
3) Students who are particularly interested in an academic subject or who are accelerated in academics, who are
interested in creative expression such as art, photography, or creative writing, and students who are interested in
science and ecology.
These students will be divided into smaller groups and participate in a summer camp during the three weeks that student are off of school. As the students will be free from school and our teammate will have the opportunity to solely devote our time to programming, we will try to split up the day in order to maximize the amount of personal small-group attention to students.
The programming will be done with full support of the Township Baseball Academy staff and volunteers, and the emphasis will be teaching students about the use of the XO computers exclusively, first, and then as a means to their other interests and particular needs. This time that is free from school restraints will allow the students unparalleled freedom and exploration with the computers themselves, and best allow them to integrate the computers into their academic lives once they resume.
Team Initiative and Creative Expression
As a team, we strongly believe that to make this project a success everyone should use their whole sum of abilities and passions. In addition to our interests and work in international development, policy, education, and project management, we both have strong relationships with creative expression as a means and ends of self-determination.
Peter is a Cinema and Media Studies major at the University of Southern California, and has ample experience producing local broadcast television shows, short films, and documentaries. He is also a keen photographer and guitar player.
Suzanne has written journalistic and nonfiction writing for a variety of mediums, as well as poetry and creative writing. She has tutored English as a Second Language students in both basic composition and in creative writing, and consistently found that students responded excitedly and developed skills through creative writing. Suzanne is also an avid reader, and has chosen to major in English Literature to pursue this passion further.
We hope to teach, inspire, and locate these type of passions in the students that we work with. Using the variety of applications available in Sugar, from "Read," "Paint," and "Record" to the "TamTam" applications, we work with students both during the Winter Camp and during regular programming to express themselves through whatever medium captures them, and then to save their work to build and develop skills.
We can both personally affirm the power of creative expression in both academic and logical skill development, but also in personal identity formation and in inciting a passion and excitement for learning and discovery. We hope to use our particular skill sets and creative passions to complement the work we do with the students of Philipi East.
Budget
Team member Suzanne Adatto:
Total Airfare (ORD-KGL-JNB-ORD): $2,400
Room and board for 9 weeks (Homestay, lunch, dinner: $22.50/day): $1450
Ground transport: $120
Team member Peter Koehler:
Total Airfare (PDX-KGL-JNB-PDX): $3,300
Room and board 9 weeks (Homestay, lunch, dinner: $22.50/day): $1450
Ground transport: $120
Operating costs:
Miscellaneous electrical and storage expenses: $45
Ground transportation for XOs: $50
Ground transportation for ecology, Lwandle Migrant Labour History Museum: $100
Total: $9035