Tag Archives: education

Imagine a day without access to your computer? The One Laptop per Child San Francisco Bay Area community (olpcsf.org) sees to it that no child goes without a computer in under-developed countries and even shows them how to use and fix them.  This is a community of volunteer educators, technologists, anthropologists, enthusiasts, champions and others. Monthly meetings are held at the SFSU downtown campus where they share stories, exchange ideas, solve problems, foster community and build collaborations around the One Laptop per Child project.

Sameer Verma, Ph.D. Professor of the Information System at San Francisco State University is the force behind the grassroots group that has organized the OLPC SF Community Summit 2011. The Summit is a combination of panel discussions, “Birds of a Feather” sessions, speed-geeking and much more. A few of the topics that will be covered include Education, Technology and Outreach & Deployments of OLPC programs. Last year it was a local meeting, this year the Summit is open to an audience worldwide.

Verma, who is passionate about the cause due to growing up in India where many children still lack educational opportunities.  says, “The Summit will bring together people who want to help make education for the world’s children a priority, not a privilege. They share the belief that the One Laptop per Child is one of the most revolutionary endeavors going on in the world today.”

WHEN: Oct. 21st to  23rd.

WHERE: SFSU Downtown Campus in San Francsico

COST: General $40 and Students $25

REGISTER:  Eventbrite: bit.ly/plMJnH

by Michelle Lentz

Last week, Intel launched Inspire: an new education-focused community. The goal of the new community is to highlight the educational experiences that inspire people, allowing everyone to engage in improving the quality of education. The site includes a series of videos featuring people sharing their stories about education and the people, places and moments that changed their lives. Among these individuals are familiar faces from such arenas as entertainment, journalism and education advocacy.

“This community will engage a diverse group of people who truly care about education and want to exchange ideas that inspire the next generation of innovators,” said Shelly Esque, Intel’s director of Global Corporate Citizenship. “The future of our increasingly connected world depends on our ability to innovate and deliver the next breakthrough in medicine, business, renewable energy, mobility and entertainment. Clearly, education is very important to us.”

Inspire uses social media tools to help people:

  • Offer news and information on local and global education efforts
  • Exchange personal moments of inspiration
  • Express opinions on education issues
  • Offer or ask to help with educational programs

Intel’s education initiative has a 40 year history and $100 million annual investment. The hope is that the Inspire community extends and broadens that commitment, and is designed to grow organically based on the exchange of stories, resources and opinion – with the goal of being a catalyst for action and voice for change in education.

This is an easy and simple way to get involved. Go inspire!

Note that Brian Solis is part of the Intel Insiders program, which is helping guide Intel on the ins and outs of social media. You can read more about Intel Insiders on PR 2.0.

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