For any major project that is expected to be successful and long-lasting, be it in construction, business, education etc. there must first be a foundation. A strong foundation ensures that everything that is built on top will function to the best of its ability and stand the test of time. As we plan for this next week of teacher training I find myself examining how to build a strong foundation with teachers who have had limited to no access to computers in the past. The questions I’ve concerned myself with are how teacher training has been conducted in the past, what we want to accomplish in the future and how do we get from point A to point D.

With the reality in mind that this process of teacher training and XO implementation is a long road, it may be best to think of this first teacher training (a brief 4 days) in terms of building a foundation and taking the first step: A to B. With each consecutive step we can introduce different ideas about how to use the XO in class and slowly nudge classroom education towards the OLPC vision. However, I fear if we give the teachers too much too soon, or set the bar too high it will overload them and create resistance to the change we are trying to initiate. By moving slowly and setting reasonable short term goals and expectations we can more effectively maneuver all stakeholders towards our long term vision. In the context of next week’s training session this means focusing squarely on the teachers, and introducing the XO and its functions. Classroom issues and usage in lesson plans may be better reserved for future training sessions after the teachers have gotten a chance to master some of the basic activities.

That being said, I believe it is also important to give the teachers a glimpse of the long term goal they are expected to participate in achieving. I think each day it would be a good idea to have a speaker they can relate to. These speakers should come from one of the schools that we have been working with and they should describe their experience to the audience, problems, apprehensions about using the XO or the program/ how they’ve overcome them, changes/ improvements they have witnessed, the impact it has had on them and their classrooms and give them a chance to field questions and concerns from the audience. The speakers should constitute a diverse group coming from different schools, age groups, subjects and levels of education. I’ve personally had experience with two people who would be excellent candidates. One is the headmaster at Escaf, also a father of two students using the XO, who everyday observes his students/ children and is impressed and excited. The other is Jaque a science teacher from Rwamaga. The speaker series will provide the teachers with relatable experiences, answers to questions which we cannot foresee/ answer sufficiently and create a sense of purpose and value.

In addition, throughout the week we can also take a little time each day to show the teachers projects the students have created. If it is possible we can also have a few students write a paragraph or two describing how using the XO has impacted them.

In the past we’ve learned that it takes a long time for teachers to actually use the XO’s in their classroom lessons. This occurs for many different reasons but too many to address in the first teacher training. We can’t do everything at the same time and some things have to be given up. I believe because we know this about teacher behavior and attitude towards the laptop it’s counterproductive to structure the training around using them in the classroom. The main issues we should try and address in this first teacher training are issues concerning motivation, interest and building a foundation to achieve computer familiarity. If we can accomplish these goals then we have achieved a great set up for future follow through. And as exhibited time and time again in Sunday’s football match of Germany versus England: the set up is just as important as the follow through in order to be successful.