The OLPC XOs outside of the classroom

In summertime, some of the student laptops will come out of the classroom and head towards public spaces becoming the occasion for more play and meetings.

On the 19th and 20th of June, 2010, two OLPC XO-1 workshops were organised at Votanikos garden in Petroupoli by Ourania and Arlen.

Kids chatted, played with the activities Labyrinth, Tam-tam, and created their own videos using Scratch. A discussion followed, with teachers from nearby schools who attended the workshop.

Yannis Kaskamanidis – OLPC XOs and their introduction the classroom

A question addressed by Vassilis gave rise to a text by Yannis:

“I discuss, in my work, the use of OLPC in the classroom (by trying to show how it forms a new example of administration, transmission and knowledge production: on one hand we used to have to factory as a dominant means of production and at the same time the factory “invaded the school”, that is strict hierarchy and automation, repression of creativity, the teacher sitting in the elevated desk, competition, alienation and grade hunting etc.). I would like your experience, up to now, about the transition from the traditional model of class organization to the model inaugurated by the use of OLPC XO. Some further questions could be the following: to what extent was the spirit of collaboration altered in the classroom by the use of XO? How do students comprehend the (new) role of the teacher? What are the students relationships like?” διαβάστε περισσότερα »

Xenofon Papadopoulos – The delpoyement of OLPC in Sminthi

Xenofon presented the OLPC experiment in Sminthi at the (1st Software Freedom Conference held in Kosovo at the end of August 2009.

The text of his presentation is now posted to his blog. It is titled “OLPC Deployment in the Greek village of Sminthi“.