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Why OLPC? From: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Core_principles/lang-en The OLPC project has had international success, bringing 1.4 million affordable laptops to underprivileged children around the world. In addition, the OLPC project is a non-governmental, non profit, education driven organization built around five essential principles: 1. Child Ownership: The XO laptop is created for elementary school children – low cost, durable, friendly and beautiful. The laptop turns into a mobile school, where learning becomes portable and shared amongst family, friends and the community. 2. Low Ages: The XO is designed for the use of children ages 6 to 12, where playing is the basis of human learning. Children do not need to know how to write or read to enjoy and learn with an XO. 3. Saturation: OLPC is committed to elementary education, to reach “digital saturation” where the whole community becomes responsible for this focus on shared education, and the children receive support from institutions, individuals, and groups around them. 4. Connection: The XO has been designed to work in a collaborative environment where the laptops are connected to others nearby automatically. Children are permanently connected to chat, sharing information, making music together, editing texts, or collaborative games, thus allowing for formal or informal learning. 5. Free and Open Source: all children are learners and teachers, and this spirit of collaboration is amplified by free and open source tools. As children grow and pursue new ideas, their software, content, resources and tools should be able to grow with them. |