While there’s people arguing and debating over OLPC’s XO benefits, technical merits, impact on learning and whatnot. Furthermore even NGOs and international describing what we already know. There’s people doing actual fieldwork and taking advantage of such technology in the classroom, with great success. I’m going to describe here such cases.
Juan Cadillo León is a teacher for “Jesus Nazareno” school in Shankayan, a small town 15 minutes from Huaraz’s downtown. He has managed to implement technology and equipment to put them to work on classroom. By using standard webcams and software he has incorporated Augmented Reality to their class activities. Since he started teaching he acknowledged the impact of games to get his student’s best. He started with marionettes to create stories and now he’s using this technology as a new level for making them more interactive. He’s also been using XO’s even the school doesn’t have Internet, a fact that he circumvented by taking their class to a local Internet Coffee (and paying from his own money).
You can watch a video from a local TV broadcast (in Spanish, but you can get most of it). I’m very glad such developments are taking place on cities such Huaraz, specially because the fact I’ve lived there for more than 6 years, and are being done with a lot of effort in such difficult conditions. Congratulations Mr. Juan Cadillo.
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