Week III

This past week, our discussion has focused mainly on teaccher training and how to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of our sessions. While my week did not include a lot of teacher training (I spent most of my time at the clubs in Kagugu, Nonko, and Escaf), my past experiences working with the teachers have shown me that OLPC in Rwanda has to make major strides in promoting the use of the XO laptops in the classrooms. From talking to Melissa, it is clear that despite our best efforts, many teachers have found it incrediby difficult to incorporate the XO into their lesson plans. Even in schools where we have been present and active in our teacher training for a very long time, teachers are finding th.e XO laptop a daunting and intimidating task. The intimidation seems to stem from not being able to use the XO as well as the students and from not seeing how the XO can be used to intersect with their existing lesson plans. Instead, they view the XO as another resonsibility to adopt, another thing that requires even more work. As the teachers are so underpaid and overworked, the XO then becomes more of a burden than a productive tool for improving the educational system.

In my opinion, the most important thing we need to gocus on in order to combat teacher apathy is to focus on methods of motivating teachers and providing more of an incentive for them to teach with the XO. The generational gap when it comes to new technology is always a concern, but if we can show the teachers that it is okay to not be as good as the students, perhaps that will allow them to be more willing to bring the XO into their lesson plans so at least the children can have more time and experience with the laptops. As it stands, our method of teaching the teachers how to use the XO program by program seems to make it difficult for them to include the XO in their lesson plans. Even when we provide them with numerous examples learning projects, there seems to be aa disconnect and they still don't recognize the capabilities of the XO in the classrooms. This is a problem that seems to exist most predominantly amongst older teachers while the younger generation of educators seem to find it easy to come up with learning projects. I remember speaking to a young teacher as Escaf, where he told me all about the various ways in which he has included the XO in his lesson plans. If we can find some way to have the younger teachers aid the older teachers, we can build a more sustainable program. I am confident that, as a group, we can discuss and come up with comprehensive methods of providing incentives for the teachers so that they are more willing to actually learn the XO.