Hi Caryl, the counter on Google News says that the story has already been published on 165 different news sites so take your pick;-)
And of course I'd also love to see the comment below my OLPC News piece on the AP story: http://www.olpcnews.com/countries/peru/associated_press_looks_at_the_past_present_future_of_olpc_peru.html Cheers, Christoph On Tue, Jul 3, 2012 at 7:26 PM, Caryl Bigenho <cbige...@hotmail.com> wrote: > I would love to post this comment somewhere where lots of people will see > it, but I'm not sure where the best place would be. Any suggestions? > > Some Thoughts on the AP Story on Peru's OLPC Project > > > Oscar Becerra's attitude toward teachers is probably one of the biggest > things holding back progress in the deployment in Peru. Comments like > these, attributed to him, and similar ones from others in "high places," > pretty much doomed the project to failure. > > > "We knew from the start that it wouldn't be possible to improve the > teachers." > > > "In a school that's a disgrace, with teachers who are ignorant and lessons > that are a joke, how is having computers going to improve motivation?" > > > Any perceived failures were probably not the teachers' fault. It most > likely due to the inadequate training they received. What did the 40 > training hours consist of? Did they learn how to employ the XO as a > learning tool for themselves as well as their students? Did they learn > about constructionism? cooperative learning? How about the teacher as a > learner… being a co-learner with their students? The joy of learning? The > joy of learning along with their students? > > > Even university-trained teachers in developed countries may fear > technology until they learn to make it their "own," to use it as a tool to > make their lives and the lives of their students richer. > > > Teacher training is one of the most important keys. This idea was ignored > by many fine people involved with OLPC and the project in Peru and other > countries. > > > Hopefully, things will change for the better. Respect for the teachers as > professionals, even it their educational background is not ideal, is one of > the keys to success. Help them succeed. Give them all the tools they need > to progress and they will. > > > BTW: Mochilla Digital in Mexico did do what appeared to be some excellent > training in 3-day workshops when they first started out. Their > teacher-training materials were originally available online, but seem to > have been removed. > > > Caryl > > > ------------------------------ > Date: Tue, 3 Jul 2012 15:49:52 +0200 > From: e0425...@student.tuwien.ac.at > To: iaep@lists.sugarlabs.org; market...@lists.sugarlabs.org; > support-g...@lists.laptop.org > Subject: [IAEP] The Associated Press on Peru's OLPC project > > Hi all, > > just wanted to give you a heads up about a good (IMHO) compilation of the > broad spectrum of opinions about Peru's Una laptop por niño which AP posted > earlier today: "Peru's ambitious laptop program gets mixed grades" - > http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i64_K6m2309EdF4ccQunEkRd9P0Q?docId=51c5e4c6d7d9493aacdb8ed27f7c31e5 > > > And since this is AP the story will be all over the globe within the next > 24 to 48 hours (I'm already seeing it on TIME, Washington Post, Fox News, > and Sydney Morning Herald). > > Cheers, > Christoph > > -- > Christoph Derndorfer > > volunteer, OLPC (Austria) [www.olpc.at] > editor, OLPC News [www.olpcnews.com] > contributor, TechnikBasteln [www.technikbasteln.net] > > e-mail: christ...@derndorfer.eu > > > _______________________________________________ IAEP -- It's An Education > Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep > -- Christoph Derndorfer volunteer, OLPC (Austria) [www.olpc.at] editor, OLPC News [www.olpcnews.com] contributor, TechnikBasteln [www.technikbasteln.net] e-mail: christ...@derndorfer.eu
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