EKindling/Projects/Kindling Discovery Pilot2009

Welcome to ekindling (Education Kindling) Discovery Pilot 2009. eKindling.org is an organization formed within the OLPC-Ph grassroots community.

Project Details

Name of Project: OLPC Philippines: Kindling Discoveries Pilot Program

Shipping Address: 45A Laguna Tower, The Residences at Greenbelt, Makati City, 1226

Loan Length: February 2010-February 2010

Laptops requested: 50

Overview and Significance

Education is crucial to eradicating the gross poverty and inequality that plagues a major sector of the Philippines. Unfortunately, the incredibly high dropout rates and number of out-of- school youths indicate that quality education is not reaching many across the Philippines.This OLPC driven pilot program is about unlocking the innate talents of children from depressed, marginalized and poor communities so that they may better their lives and their communities. Ultimately, this research-based pilot will serve as the foundation and beginning for all other OLPC deployments across the Philippines.

Furthermore, this pilot program will allow us leverage the large community of developers in the Philippines. Through this program, we can encourage inactive developers/supporters and create content that can be shared amongst the greater OLPC community.

Objectives

1. Successfully design and deploy a scalable and sustainable, research-based pilot program in an elementary public school with an inaugural class of 30-35 students.
2. Use good and best practices from initial pilot program to support XO deployment programs throughout the Philippines.
3. Grow community of different stakeholders/supporters ranging from educators, academic institutions, developers, business leaders, philanthropist, etc. that can support future deployment and content development.
4. Share best deployment practices and valuable content for the benefit of the global OLPC community.
5. Contribute interactive ebooks and games made by children for children, using Sugar and Etoys applications, to the OLPC community.

Team Participants

Organizational Team:

• Sandeep Chandiramani: eKindling Organizational Lead (Philippines)
• Ryan Letada: eKindling Community Director and Liaison/Pilot Project Manager (Philippines)

Technical:

• Jerome Gotangco: eKindling Technical Lead (Philippines)

Content Development: Prof. Rommel Feria: University of the Philippines Computer Science Professor/Volunteer Advisor (Philippines)

• Cherry Nuque Withers: eKindling Content Development Team Member, Squeakland Education Team Member (US)
• Marife Mago: eKindling Content Development Team Member and OLPC mentor (US)

Student Volunteers will be yet determined by Prof. Rommel Feria. Pilot School Coordinators:

• Dr. Aurora C. Zuñiga (Principal): University of the Philippines Integrated School Principal (Philippines)
• Ms. Sabrina Par (Educator): University of the Philippines Integrated School Educator/ Pilot Activities Advisor (Philippines)

Sharing Deliverables

As a community-driven organization, one of our primary thrust is to grow our community and its capacity to support content development and pilot deployment. Philippines already has a fertile ecosystem of advocates ranging from business leaders, developers, academic institutions, parents, non-profit organization that support eKindling and OLPC’s vision. We will use various communication and social media tools to provide updates on new developments, engage active supporters, and garner more support locally and globally. In turn, we also hope to share our learning and best practices with the greater OLPC community. OLPC is a global educational initiative – and we are very much a part of it!

• Website: This site is currently in development and will be launched in September 2009
• Wiki: Progress/evaluations reports will be posted here.
• Twitter: Follow us on twitter to learn about new developments, innovations in IT in education, and any other relevant news pertaining to OLPC/Sugar
• Facebook: OLPC Philippines Group: Engage 238 members from differing professional backgrounds.
• Kindling Discovery Series: These are a series of Open Talks with experts from the global OLPC community. This forum will be used to facilitate discussions pertaining to content development and deployments. Bryan Berry of OLE Nepal was our first speaker. We will also use this forum to share any developments in the Philippines.

Plan of Action

1. eKindling Incorporation (In progress):
   1. Core Team and Incorporators (Assembled)
   2. Awareness Campaign and Community Engagement (In progress)
2. Initial Discovery Session (Ongoing):
   1. Kindling Discovery Series is ongoing (designed to spread awareness and continue learning). First speaker was Bryan Berry (OLE Nepal). Next is Caroline Meeks from Solution Grove.
   2. Kindling Discovery Series is ongoing (designed to spread awareness and continue learning). First speaker was Bryan Berry (OLE Nepal). Next is Caroline Meeks from Solution Grove.
   3. Discovery Session: Inviting all non-profits, educators, developers and other parties that have expressed interest for an informational session.
   4. Philippines Youth Congress in Information Technology: Confirmed Speaking Engagement Y4IT
3. Educator/School Consultation (In progress):
   1. Sagip Bata – Sites visits
   2. Numerous public schools have expressed interest in piloting an XO program. We are still in the process of identifying schools that meet our criteria for partnership.
4. Content Planning/Development (In progress):
   1. Asia Pacific College – one of the nine centers of excellence in the Philippines have expressed strong interest in partnering with us to develop content. A Memorandum of Agreement is being drafted to formalize the partnership. We hope to create more partnership with other centers of excellence and leverage the wealth of developers in the Philippines to create content and application.
   2. edu2.org - recently have expressed on collaborating in content development especially on Lesson Plan Exchange.
5. Curriculum Development:
   1. XO laptop activities will serve to enhance existing curriculum, not replace it. Curriculum development will commence after the consultation of the chosen public school.
   2. Educator Preparation/Training:
   3. Continuous educator support, guidance and training will be provided in regards to hardware, sugar.
      1. In-school and off-site training
      2. Call support: Educators will be able to contact us if support is needed
   4. Incentives Program: We recognize that teachers are already overburdened. Learning from the experience of others, we are looking into providing stipends for participating educators.
6. Pilot Deployment
   1. Pilot program design will heavily rely on learning from past deployments (Teaching Matters, OLE Nepal, Waveplace). We will collaborate with our partner school and institution of higher learning to design a deployment.
   2. Evaluation/Progress Report
      1. Evaluation mechanisms will be a pivotal part of the pilot program design. We hope to learn so that we improve our practices from good to great. We will share these findings with the global OLPC communities as well.

Needs

1. We need 50 XO laptops. This project cannot be carried out in emulation in non-XO machines since most teachers and student do not own a computer or a laptop. The XO laptop is the main technological vehicle of choice also due to its ability to withstand tough environment. We will consider rebuilt laptops.
   1. 35 laptops for a class of 35
   2. 2 Spare Laptops in case of damage or loss
   3. 3 XO laptops for teachers and administrator
   4. 7 for developers and partner academic institutions
   5. 3 for fund raising team/demo/presentations

Mentorship

Yes, mentorship would be invaluable. We specifically need to coordinate with Sugar developers and organization that are successful in XO deployments. We need experts to be part of our advisory board as well.

Tentative Timeline

Activities/Tasks	Aug-09	Sept-09	Nov-09	Dec-09	Jan-10	Feb-10	Mar-10	Apr-10	May-10	Jun-10	Jul-10	Aug-10	Sept-10	Oct-10
eKindling Incorporation
Initial Discovery Sessions
Educator/School Consultation
Content Planning/Development
Curriculum Development
Pilot Deployment
Evaluation/Progress Report