As Haiti is still recovering from Hurricane Gustav and Hanna and prepares for the arrival of Ike and Josephine, back for a moment on an episode happier: OLPC summer camp held in the Republic School Chile between June 16 and July 31, 2008.
The Republic of Chile School is unique in more ways than one. Located in the heart of Port-au-Prince, the public school reserved for girls has just been renovated with funds in Chile. The buildings are in very good condition, the architecture has been well thought out, there are electrical outlets everywhere, and we even had at our disposal an access point connected to broadband Internet.
Teachers are at a level better than in most Haitian schools. Those who attended the summer camp were selected based on their motivation, and received financial compensation for their mobilization during this month and a half. Upstream from the camp, they had received training on the principles of constructivism and the use of XO. The training began in mid-May, but it's really become effective until late May when the XOs have arrived.
The teachers did not have the same computing experience: for some, the XO was the first computer they touched, others had already done research on the Internet, written documents with a word processor, etc. . The handling of XO has been pretty easy for all teachers, at least for the main activities (Write, Browse, Save, paint, etc.). The Cat was a great success, and we quickly helped to break ice on my arrival.
Still, most teachers would have liked to know more about the machine itself, to dominate a little better. This need has been felt especially when the teachers were confronted with students who either asked them questions that they could not meet, or their functions showed that they themselves did not know.
The distribution of 100 children XO was an extraordinary moment. All quickly found how to open the XO (do the test with an adult, he will find more slowly!) And all began to show how late it was done ... as soon as one of them received a response to a question, it was ten girlfriends who learned in the process. Here are some pictures of that time unpacking and euphoria.
At the end of camp, we conducted a small survey to see what worked and what did not market too. The survey shows the most obvious problems: unstable mouse, batteries that are difficult to manage together (you could not reload all the computers at the same time), difficulty finding the right way to do with the kids, etc.. An element of the investigation close to my heart: teachers have all stressed the need to involve parents of children who receive XOs. This is an excellent idea and we try to imagine its implementation for the rest of the deployment.
Curiously, the teachers have not really complained about the lack of educational resources, even if this request was returning regularly during our discussions. I think it's because the camp has mostly allowed to take charge of activities rather than to really "make over" with the XO. Perhaps this silence is it because the teachers have improvised courses as and when the camp: for example, they asked students to interview people about transport in the capital, they have students living in a log building for the camp. Finally, the temporary absence of resources, although it has sometimes put some teachers in difficulty, allowed others to set their own goals, and let the children express themselves freely with their XO.
I just spent two weeks in this camp. But that was enough to convince me of the potential for change that the XO was introduced into the Haitian schools. Change is not only the effect of introducing a new tool - be it the XO. More profound change that makes teachers aware that they are directly responsible for a large part of what they teach, as the team OPLC Haiti (I've seen build) will be directly responsible for the support she bring to all teachers.
Watch this space!
