Making+the+World+Flat+Through+a+Internet+Technologies+(Delivering+world+class+education+to+developing+countries.)

Presented by Jeff Remington ( jeff_remington@pasd.us or remingto@lvc.edu )

If you could take your students to a developing country, where would you like them to go?

If you could take your students to a developing country, what would you like them to see there?



If you could take your students to a developing country, what types of stewardship work would you like them to experience?



If you could take students from a developing country to your school for a year, what would you like to show them about your school, your culture, your community, and your country?

If you could take students from a developing country to your school for a year, what would you teach them to foster their limited learning opportunities?



If you were to do any of these things, how would you fund them? How would you get permission from parents, administration, school boards, and government entities? How could you provide for the safety and well being of all students involved? If the U.S. Department of State warned against your travel to a specific country, what would you do?

How practical and realistic would those opportunities be?

There are two schools in the Western Hemisphere that have done that regularly without leaving their hometowns and the results have been captivating.

//If you know of any group in your community that does missions or humanitarian work in a developing country, then you can do this type of project as well.//

Palmyra Middle School / LBS Haiti Wiki · The joint venture would be between LBS in Haiti and Palmyra Middle School through the support of Lebanon Valley College. || · Clothing and school materials drive for container ship || · She and I unveil the wiki to students and staff at LBS. · Skype session from Haiti to Palmyra Middle School to give them a live tour of LBS. · She mentors a teacher to learn the wiki technology during here stay. · Seed money is sought and obtained for needed material such as teacher wireless media laptop, Flip digital video camera, and miscellaneous items. · Palmyra student wiki membership increases and more pages are developed. · LBS students give us live and taped insight into “Carnaval” (Caribbean Mardi Gras) via Skype, Flip, and digital photos. || · We exchange “Typical Day” pages to give insight into what typical days are like at each other’s schools. · We decide to pilot direct content instruction on the wiki. Liz sends one of LBS’s science books to us. We purchase kits and develop instruction on electric circuits. · We make a variety of presentations to various entities about our wiki project both locally and outside of central Pennsylvania. · We see the need for student laptops to supplement the limited desktop computers they have at LBS. A drive was started to purchase XO computers. Donations steadily stream in from a variety of generous people. · XOs are purchased used from ebay then processed and updated by Palmyra High School gifted students. · College student from Virginia becomes involved in the project as an XO advisor || · Science kits sent to LBS and direct (Haitian curriculum) content instruction takes place via the wiki and is successful · Haitian teacher continues to progress in learning Flip and a variety of wiki related technologies || · Students from both schools increase usage · Haitian teacher continues progress · Palmyra students see dual role of wiki as a living yearbook. They create a variety of pages to archive their year including their outdoor education experience. · Long term sustainability of the project beyond the pilot phase is explored || · Liz Lingle leaves Haiti · || · Intel Classmate PCs discovered and considered for purchase · Trained Haitian teacher unfortunately is unable to return for the 2009-2010 school year · Electrical power issues limit computer usage · Wikispaces invites us to showcase our wiki through a global webinar on July 23rd (Archived @wikispaces.com) || Present || · Long-term sustainability grants are written for Classmate PCs, teacher training, supplemental power, and a variety of supplemental materials · Submission of grant to CHF · Continued collaboration with Intel’s Emerging Markets Platform Group and Global Giving website to ensure project sustainability · Various presentations of our wiki project · No active contact between LBS and Palmyra at this time. · Cookie Sale for feeding hungry in Haiti ||
 * ** Historical Timeline ** ||
 * April 2008 || · Wikispace account opened with little idea about what a wiki was its potential. ||
 * June 2008 || · LVC MSE Student Liz Lingle commits to developing a pilot wiki project in the Spring of 2009.
 * November 2008 || · Student volunteers sought from Palmyra Middle School to participate in this pilot project.
 * December 2008 || · Small core of students learn what a wiki is and experiment with developing the project. ||
 * January 2009 || · Bare bones wiki up and running by the end of January. ||
 * February 2009 || · Liz Lingle arrives in Haiti for a five-month stay.
 * March 2009 || · Laptop, Flip, and miscellaneous items from grant arrive at LBS.
 * April 2009 || · First three XO computers arrive at LBS and are a big hit.
 * May 2009 || · Wiki participation continues to expand
 * June 2009 || · An entire classroom set of XOs are purchased by this point and are processed in anticipation for a summer wiki and XO training camp at the school
 * July 2009 || · XO/wiki summer camp at LBS
 * August 2009 -

Related Links


 * Palmyra Middle School / LBS Haiti Wiki **

Palmyra Middle School / LBS Haiti Wiki

[|Mortel Family Charitable Foundation (Les Bons Samaritans School)] Top of Form [|Palmyra School District]
 * THE KEY PLAYERS IN OUR WIKI PROJECT**

[|LVC's MSE program] none [|Liz Lingle's Haiti Blog]


 * ONE OF OUR PROJECT PRESENTATIONS**

[|Our Wikispaces Webinar (Archived from 7/09)]


 * SOME OF OUR FUNDING SOURCES**

[|PAEF Grant (Start up $ for Palmyra/Haiti wiki)]

[|Global Giving] [|Grant Wrangler]


 * SOME OF OUR TECHNOLOGY HARDWARE

[|Hughes Satellite Internet]

[|XO Laptops]

[|Intel Classmate PC Laptop]

[|Flip Video Camcorder]**


 * SOME OF OUR TECHNOLOGY SOFTWARE & WEB UTILITIES**


 * [|IBM, Sugar, Linux, and the XO]

[|OLPC wiki Sugar]

[|OLPC Sugar activities]

[|Gutenberg project (Down load ebooks for XOs, etc.)]**

[|Teacher Tube]

[|SKYPE]

[|Xtranormal (Text to animation)]

[|Slide]

Panoramio

[|One of several translators we use]

[|Google Docs]

[|Delicious (online bookmarking)]


 * ONE OF OUR HUMANITARIAN PROJECTS WE PARTICIPATED IN**

[|The Cookie Sale]

**SOME INSPIRED STORIES IN HAITI** [|Abricots school and coconut nativity] [|Charcoal]



What are your thoughts about this wiki project? Please post comments on the discussion board by selecting the discussion tab at the top of this page.

//**__Recognition__**//

As with a project of this scope, there were many people that allowed this to happen with their love, trust, and support. Among them are my wife and family, Liz Lingle and her family, our administrators at Palmyra and Annvile-Cleona, the administration at Lebanon Valley College, the administration at LBS and the Mortel Family Foundation.

Tech support from St. Joan of Arc, Annville-Cleona, Lebanon Valley College, and Palmyra, Palmyra Paltag, and Micheal Giroux Financial support from the Palmyra Area Education Foundation and from a variety of entrepreneurs, private contributors, and various organizations.  //Our pilot run of this project has ended but our dreams of project sustainability and growth in these and other schools has not. As a plant dies, its seeds lie dormant before they can sprout and bear much fruit. It is hoped that this project scatters seeds of hope and inspiration to many schools across the globe.// 