Our Mission
Our mission is to enhance learning opportunities for the 300,000 primary school aged children, living in remote Australia, by providing each one with a connected XO laptop as part of a sustainable training and support program, by 2014.
Who?
Today, there are over 300,000 primary school aged children that live in outer-regional, remote and very remote communities across Australia. Their isolation means that they have limited access to opportunities many of us take for granted – opportunities that will allow these children to fulfill their dreams for themselves and their communities.
What?
What these children need is a tool that will challenge the way they think and approach problems; a tool unique in its design and operation that will provoke each child to explore new ways to construct solutions to their problems.
We call this tool the One Laptop per Child XO laptop, designed specifically for children and the harsh environments they live in. When children have access to this type of tool they become engaged in their own education; they learn, share, create, and collaborate. They become connected to each other, to the world and to a brighter future.
When?
We have a window of opportunity to change the lives of remote Australian children. These children lack opportunity, not a capacity to learn. Our goal is to reach every one of these children before 2014. Can it be done? We believe so.
Today there are over 2 million XO laptops in the hands of children worldwide. In less than three years, every child in Uruguay has been provided with their own XO laptop – that is just under 400,000 children.
Where?
We focus on communities that have a Socio-Economic Index for Areas scoring greater than 100 points below the national average of 1000. Typically in Australia, the more remote the community, the further below the national average these scores fall.
| State | Very Remote | Remote | Outer-Regional | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northern Territory | 8,069 | 6,228 | 14,358 | 28,655 |
| Queensland | 7,575 | 11,545 | 77,596 | 96,716 |
| Western Australia | 6,706 | 12,895 | 25,183 | 44,784 |
| South Australia | 1,818 | 5,719 | 22,057 | 29,594 |
| New South Wales | 600 | 4,612 | 56,016 | 61,228 |
| Other Territories | 296 | n/a | n/a | 296 |
| Tasmania | 269 | 889 | 20,332 | 21,490 |
| Victoria | n/a | 494 | 30,439 | 30,933 |
| Total | 25,333 | 42,382 | 245,981 | 313,696 |
We are currently deploying to very remote and remote communities across the Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia. To track our progress, click here.
Why?
If we take out the word laptop and replace it with education, the answer becomes clear. Learning is our primary goal. We do not focus on computer literacy, as that is a by-product of the fluency children will gain through use of the laptop for learning. Epistemologists from John Dewey to Paulo Freire to Seymour Papert agree that you learn through doing. This suggests that if you want more learning, you need more doing.
The XO laptop is best used as an agency for engaging children in constructing knowledge which is based upon their personal interests. Furthermore, it provides the tool for kids to share and critique these constructions. We believe that this will invariably lead them to become both learners and teachers –empowering them to solve the problems that are relevant to them and their community.
