The Whos, Whats, Whens, Wheres, Whys, & Hows of Localfi¶
We are a diverse international group of volunteers who met in the Stanford Venture Lab MOOC Course, Designing a New Learning Environment. Some of us are old friends, online and in person, who have known each other for several years as volunteers with the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) organization. Others joined our group when they were attracted by our project which will serve children in rural areas where internet is not available. Some of us are engineers or computer programmers, others are educators. All of us share a passion for bringing low-cost quality education to disadvantaged children all over the world.
What is LocalFi?¶
LocalFi is an educationally sound learning environment consisting of a school server loaded with educational resources, software and learning management systems that gives the students and teachers an experience very similar to what they would have if there were internet access available. Depending on the amount of storage available on the server, as much as an entire school year?s worth of materials can be installed, minimizing the need for trips to a town with internet connections to do updates. Currently, our LocalFi system is designed to work with the XO family of computers distributed by OLPC to millions of children all over the world.
Why is LocalFi needed?¶
Nearly three million XO computers have been distributed around the world since 2006. Some countries, such as Peru and Uruguay are deploying an XO laptop to every child in the public elementary schools in their countries. While the laptop is designed to be internet ready, many of these deployments are in remote areas where electricity and internet are not available. The problem of electricity has been overcome with alternate energy sources, mainly solar, but the lack of high speed internet remains an unsolved problem. Our LocalFi system brings an internet-like learning environment to students in these underserved rural schools where there is no WiFi.
How can we get LocalFi?¶
The LocalFi server software and educational resources will be available for download from the LocalFi website, along with extra resources to provide guidance to teachers about how to use LocalFi and the software that makes up the learning environment.
What will LocalFi cost?¶
The LocalFi software and resources will be available for free download from our website, localfi.org. We will also have free materials available about general maintenance of the server-based system that show teachers and students how to use them. However, many deployments will want to hire local experts to install and maintain the systems.
An important part of the LocalFi system is a computer with very large hard drive. The computer can be any fairly recent desktop or laptop machine that can run Linux. It is not necessary to buy a new computer for this. A suitable used one will work just as well. The hard drive will probably need to be purchased to insure the capacity is the largest available for the amount the deployment can afford to use.
Our LocalFi website will have tech support FAQs and will take requests for online help. However, some deployments will want to hire local computer experts to assist with their project.
Where can we get more help?¶
LocalFi volunteers can answer some support questions, but deployments may wish to hire or train local people to handle the technology needs of their project. Teacher training materials and ideas for using the Sugar software with students will be included on the LocalFi server system.
What are LocalFi’s plans for the future?¶
Currently LocalFi is being developed by an all volunteer team. Clearly this will have to change if the project is to be sustainable. The first step we will need to take is to incorporate as a Non-Governmental Organization so we can apply for funding to cover of our future expenses. Some of these expenses may include paying developers to maintain and expand our software, travel expenses for some of our volunteers to travel to deployments to work on technical set up and teacher training,
Another logical future step for LocalFi would be to modify our system to work with other operating systems.