Moraine Valley provides support for Children’s Laptop House Bill

Moraine Valley staff members Larry Langellier (right in photo), Steve Mastej and Nancy Woodward were in Springfield March 6, 2008, to provide support for the hearing on the Illinois House Computer Technology Committee’s Children’s Low Cost Laptop Fund, House Bill 5000.

The Children’s Low-cost Laptop Act, as currently written, would provide up to $100 million for the creation of a low-cost laptop pilot project for elementary schools in Illinois. The bill will now move to the Illinois House of Representatives for debate.

In addition to witnessing the passing of the bill, Larry, Steve and Nancy had an opportunity to meet with Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn to discuss the role of Moraine Valley, and other Illinois community colleges, in complying with the bill. More specifically, the discussion focused on how Moraine Valley would:

• Train and mentor teachers on how to enhance their teaching strategies if every child in their class had a low-cost laptop
• Advise schools on how to deploy, support, and maintain the necessary server and network infrastructure

Staff members will continue campus-wide conversations and organizational planning for the creation of a One Laptop Per Child Center at Moraine Valley.

More detail on this bill:

One Laptop Per Child

The XO Laptop: It’s the Software, Stupid

Success in Peru (one of the first pilots)

The First Wide OLPC Deployment

FOX News: Uruguay Children Try Low-Cost Laptops

Mongolia: The first deployment enabled by the Give One, Get One program