OLPC - my assessment of my project

I realize that many of you may have stopped reading blogs in light of the semester coming to an end, but I wanted to post about my project nonetheless. First, I must say that in the end it was much easier than I thought it would be. I tend to complicate things unnecessarily, and in my head, manuevering my way through powerpoint seemed to be much more of a task than it actually was. But I am so grateful that I decided to do it. Actually, I am very pleased with most of my project - the idea, the research, the entire process and the outcome. Of course, I felt a bit silly that I did not have anything directly classroom related, such as some of those wonderfully done webquests, BUT I knew that I would benefit tremendously from my project and that learning a new application (though I should have probably been more familiar with it already) was precisely what I needed to immerse myself in.

I was pleased to see/hear so many of my classmates being so interested in my topic, because the content is obviously what drew me to it. I have to give Alex credit, because he was the one who mentioned this topic to me one day in Karen's office when I was desperate for some assistance in nailing down a project idea. Since the One Laptop Per Child initiative is still very much a work in progress, I intend on following up with it and watching as the progress develops. As far as something more I would like to learn -- I realize there are endless extras involved in creating an interesting and engaging powerpoint presentation. Now that I am comfortable with the basics, I will probably experiment with some of the additional features, especially sound. If I were to add to this project I would also include more photos and if there were more time allotted (not that I am at all complaining), I would have included discussion questions to involve the audience. It also would have been interesting to focus more on the laptop initiatives that have taken place here in the states. Overall, though, I am pleased with the outcome of my research and I enjoyed the entire process since the topic was so appealing to me.