Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands

International Lustrum Symposium, 1nd and 2th November 2007

SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS: Focus on Africa

Mentor-A-Child, a sustainable solution for education and cultural

awareness
Thieme A. Hennis*, Manoj Sharma
*TU Delft, Dept. of Systems Engineering, Policy Analysis, and Management
Jaffalaan 5, TU Delft, +31-6-51855220, thiemehennis@gmail.com, http://myopen.tudelft.nl

ABSTRACT
In 2007 the One-Laptop-Per-Child (OLPC) project started with the actual distribution of laptops. Millions
of laptops will find their way to children in underdeveloped countries throughout the world. The ideal
behind the project is to make kids computer literate and hence open doors to new opportunities that
were previously non-utilizable. However an important aspect that would directly govern success of the
project has received much less attention. A comprehensive training mechanism to teach kids - the use
of laptops, internet and introduction to possibilities beyond - has not been mapped out. Mentor-A-Child
(MAC) is a concept that would help in filling this important gap by connecting teaching volunteers on
one end with the kids who receive the laptop on the other. MAC is a conceptual idea to assist this huge
project by letting children worldwide connect with socially aware or interested persons on the internet.
On the MAC website these two groups not only connect, but help each other in educational and cultural
issues. The site can best be compared with a social networking site (SNS). Below, we will explain why
MAC is still necessary and addresses certain needs, better than what the current SNS's are capable of.

PROBLEMS ADDRESSED
Information without communication is worthless. Data without context can be overwhelming. The
internet has provided many people in the world with enormous amounts of valuable information at their
fingertips. With the OLPC project, even the poorest of all are given the chance of participating in our
Information Society. We think that just the ability to retrieve information from a cheap laptop is not
sufficient for having these kids become fruitful participants in an information economy. A website with
the purpose of connecting these kids with others that are able to help them will overcome some hurdles
to fruitful participation. Important to address is the added value for both types of participation, mentor
and child.

Child. For a child in Africa, we assume that it is honourable and desirable to be able to connect
and talk with people from another part of the world, a part they consider as more advanced than
their own. In addition, they are being helped and educated freely. The added value is obvious.

Mentor. Less obvious are the reasons for participation for so-called mentors. We assume that
individuals will join and participate for different reasons. These reasons include the intrinsic value
of feeling a good person in doing something valuable in society. The intrinsic motivation might be
somewhat increased, when the connections being made address the mentor's individual interests
and knowledge as well. More extrinsic reasons for participation include having a personal interest
other cultures (or one specific), and possibly laying connections for online employment (the
mentor could for example flexibly defer easy tasks to kids).

UNIQUENESS OF APPROACH
Current SNSs are based on the implicit assumption that the knowledge level of the participants is
similar. Also there is no concept of learning from one other - it is much more of sharing of ideas rather
than teaching. Current SNSs are mainly used for purpose of exchanging messages and building
communities, eg. Facebook.com, Myspace.com - with no clear focus on tutoring. We decided to build on
the current SNSs idea because of its ease of use and flexibility. The users decide what to share, how to
share and when to share. This is important to MAC as most of the work is intended to be performed on
voluntary basis. The mentor and the mentee can choose each other on basis of many characterisitcs
that would be defined. For this purpose every member would be assigned an online Avatar/Profile. They
would mention their interests during registeration process. These interests would be publicly viewable
and the members would allow invitations to be sent and recieved for becoming mentor/mentee. The
system would operate in the same fashion as any of the current SNSs. However there would be
additional features to make learning easy like video streaming service for video conferencing, voice
chatting, text messaging and chatting, message boards, discussion groups being top of the list. The
platform would be open source and allow a certain number of qualified/publicy chosen people to make
changes and upgrades as the system grows based on user inputs, eg. Wikipedia.com

SIGNIFICANCE TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

The significance to sustainable development is the connection of different worlds in an educational
setting. Personal friendships and bonds across borders are made, kids get guidance and advise about
career paths, about learning, about their lives. Participation could open doors for employing and being
employed, and raise the standard of living. If the idea catches on next step could be to allow these kids
to work on programming projects for companies, eg. rentacoder.com.

References

1. Downes, S. (2006). “Learning networks and connective knowledge”. Online document, retrieved
15 – May – 2007 at: http://it.coe.uga.edu/itforum/paper92/paper92.html
2. Langfitt, F. (2006) “Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting” NPR.org Morning Edition,
November 22, 2006. Retrieved on 12-March-2007 at:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6522523
3. Malone, T & RJ Laubacher (1997) “Flexible Work Arrangements and 21st Century Worker's
Guilds” Working Paper #004, Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, October 1997. Online document, retrieved 08 – January – 2007 at:
http://ccs.mit.edu/21c/21CWP004.html
4. Gilder, G. (2000) “Telecosm, World After Bandwidth Abundance” New York: Simon & Schuster
5. Siemens, G (2005) “Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age”. International Journal of
Instructional Technology and Distance Learning, 2(1), 8.