OLPC Oceania Teacher Training Strategy

Please find below a basic outline of teacher training for the Pacific. This will be updated as we implement and fine tune the process according to our successes and feedback.



=OLPC Oceania Teacher Training Strategy: Training Topics=

Introduction to the OLPC vision

 * About OLPC - the vision, the mission, the 5 principles
 * Concepts of the technologies - learning, creating and collaborating. Understanding that this is not a laptop project
 * Constructionist learning, the concept of a learning project
 * Guided learning, the role of the teacher
 * OLPC around the world
 * OLPC Oceania
 * OLPC and this country

Introducing the XO

 * The hardware
 * The software
 * Open Source
 * Designed for children
 * Power issues
 * How to use/access power in the various circumstances
 * Sharing content
 * Sharing activities
 * The server - managing and maintaining the classroom

Introduction to Activities

 * All the activities on the XO
 * How to download new activities and remove activities
 * How to share activities
 * How to integrate XO activities into the classroom - open discussion and documentation into wiki
 * Ideas for new activities - refer to 'participating in the community'
 * Top 5 apps and how to apply in the classroom for each participant
 * Need some basic tasks to demo the power of the activities and collaboration - todo

Introduction to the Internet

 * What is the Internet?
 * Finding reputable knowledge online
 * Internet safety - child safety, spam, appropriate content, the role of teachers
 * Compare with the importance of street safety. Digital safety is no less important
 * Communicating on the Internet - email, blogs, instant messaging & chat, social networking, virtual worlds
 * Online communities - how to find them, how to get involved, good netiquette

Finding resources

 * Wikipedia
 * Education portals - eg TKI - TKI is a bilingual portal and web community which provides quality-assured educational material for New Zealand teachers, school managers, and the wider education community.
 * Wikieducator - an open learning resource for the Commonwealth
 * Solomon Islands SchoolNet links to educational resources, and OER repositories
 * XO Activities -Teacher tools

Generating content

 * On the XO/XS - including Moodle
 * Solomon Islands SchoolNet Moodle
 * The tools for creating lesson plans
 * Public content - wikipedia, wiki commons, flickr, youtube

Evaluation

 * Discussion about what outcomes teachers/admins/parents want to see - build into template evaluation
 * Talking to the teachers about how to determine the outcomes of the XO in the classroom
 * Improvement plans for using XOs

=Teacher support=
 * How to find/create documentation
 * Basic troubleshooting
 * How to get answers to questions/issues
 * Participating in the community

Forums

 * UNESCO Teachers of the Future Initiative - forums for Pacific Islands teachers

=Technical training=
 * Configuration of all components (APs, server, XOs)
 * How to reimage
 * Higher level troubleshooting
 * Technical support
 * Pulling the XO apart

=Parent consultation=
 * What does OLPC mean for you and your child
 * Parents responsibilities
 * Looking after the laptop
 * Safety matters - charging, surfing
 * Creating rules for sharing at home
 * Signature for parents agreement

=Feedback=
 * Discussion with teachers/admins about what worked, what didn't

=Timing of training= Allowing plenty of time for teacher training is really important, including followup training post the initial deployment. Below is a rough guide to a training schedule that could be used or improved upon.

Day 1

 * Intro to project and the XO
 * Need to ensure there is hands on. Turning on the laptops and a couple of wow-factor tasks (including activities such as record) with the focus on the full activities run down the next day.
 * Homework task - Each participant to tell something new they found on their own

Day 2

 * Introduction to all activities
 * Homework task - Download and learn about a new activity (not Doom!)

Day 3

 * Introduction to the Internet and email
 * Education resources
 * Homework task - start a gmail account and email the training coordinator

Day 4

 * Evaluation
 * Teacher support
 * Feedback

Day 5

 * Distribution of XOs to students with teachers coordinating and doing the intro/training

The parents consultation and the admin training happen simultaneously somewhere throughout the process (before the XO distribution) and they require about only a couple of hours for the parents and up to a day for the admins depending on infrastructure complexity and admin familiarity with ICT.

=Followup sessions= A follow up session is suggested a few weeks after the initial training
 * Summary of all the above - mainly led by the needs of the community
 * Discussion on issues, blockers
 * Discussion on unexpected consequences (positive and negative)
 * Discussion about progress, usefulness, how to improve

=Messages=
 * Remember to have fun!
 * Encourage experimentation and learning
 * Share with others - includes knowledge and documentation
 * Be prepared to learn from children
 * Child ownership