Inspirational story - Building a Computer Room for the Children and Teachers of Nepal

Almost a year ago we were privileged to join “Room to Read” and our education partners in building a computer room for the Children and teachers of
Anandaban , a small village that lies about 260 km southwest of Kathmandu, Nepal.

For those of you that didn’t have time to travel in Nepal (I actually did …) – the Village of Anandaban is part of Rupandehi district that lies in the southwestern “terai” region of Nepal (the name given to plains that lie close to the Indian border). Rupandehi evokes a holy sentiment for millions of Buddhists all over the world because it is the birth place of Lord Buddha.
The School’s Computer Room was completed May 11, 2007, By November they had dial-up Internet connectivity.
The school attracts students from many others nearby villages as well. There are many private schools in the area, and most of these schools have facilities to support computer education. Most of the students who come to School are from poor families in which both parents have to work long hours during the day just to save enough money to send their children to school.

The lab features a total of 26 multimedia desktop workstations, a laser jet printer, and desks and chairs for students and the teacher. The computers are fully networked (100 Mbps) through a 24-port networking switch with dial-up Internet connectivity.

The computer lab is used by students Sunday to Friday for approximately 7 hours per day. Most of the students in the school have never used a computer before.

About “Room to read” –
Founded by John Wood, Ex-Microsoft Executive, “Room to Read “partners with local communities throughout the developing world to establish schools, libraries, and other educational infrastructure.

Special “Thank You” to Dan MacFetridge for working with “Room to Read” and our partners to make this happen and for truly change people lives.

Microsoft-Houghton Mifflin Learning Technologies Alliance

ATLANTA — June 25, 2007 — Today at the 2007 National Educational Computing Conference, Houghton Mifflin Learning Technology (HMLT), a division of Houghton Mifflin Company, and Microsoft Corp. announced a worldwide strategic alliance designed to make it easier for pre-K–12 and higher-education students, parents, teachers and administrators to access HMLT’s award-winning educational resources. As part of the agreement, HMLT will develop its next-generation flagship Learning Village® instructional Web portal on the Microsoft® .NET Framework 3.0 and utilize Microsoft Office SharePoint® Server 2007 and the Microsoft Learning Gateway. Combining the strengths of both companies, the alliance opens up opportunities for educators to integrate all of their content, applications and resources from one central source, using technology to manage and monitor their Web-content needs districtwide.

Learning Village delivers curricula and content in a unified, personalized and education-relevant Web environment for hundreds of thousands of K–12 teachers, students, administrators and parents, providing a central point for accessing curriculum, lesson plans, communication, collaboration, best practices, teaching and professional development. The infrastructure of the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0 and SharePoint technologies will help HMLT connect educators and students to the best digital content and resources available while helping to reduce support costs and enhancing HMLT’s ability to deploy future solutions as software and services.

With Learning Village on the Microsoft Learning Gateway portal, students will need to log on only once to access their homework assignments. Once they’ve completed their work, they can then drop it into a “virtual backpack” for their teacher to grade. Parents are provided with the opportunity to actively participate in their children’s education, all through the same system.
Several key districts — including Broward County Public Schools, School District of Palm Beach County, Duval County Public Schools and Miami-Dade County Public Schools (MDCPS) — have been instrumental in collaborating on the development and enhancement of Learning Village. In 2006 MDCPS, the fourth largest school district in the United States with more than 1 million users, consolidated its communication and collaboration system to the Microsoft SharePoint-based portal solution after considering several technology options.

The goal was to improve user experience alongside its other mission-critical teaching and learning applications. The change allowed the district’s teachers to access Learning Village digital learning resources anytime and anywhere without additional logons, multiple passwords or the need to click through numerous channels to find to what they needed.

About Houghton Mifflin Learning Technology
Houghton Mifflin Learning Technology develops and delivers highly engaging, interactive pre-K–12 solutions that inspire excellence and innovation, and raise student achievement. With a rich portfolio of curriculum-based technology products and services in all subject areas, this newly created division of Houghton Mifflin Company provides a powerful, research-proven approach for integrating core and supplemental instruction, intervention, assessment and reporting, professional development, and school-to-home connections. Houghton Mifflin Learning Technology’s flagship brands include Destination Math®, Destination Reading®, Learning Village®, the Edmark® House Series, as well as well-known titles such as The Print Shop®, Reader Rabbit®, and Kid Pix®. Houghton Mifflin Learning Technology also offers the popular SkillsTutor®, Earobics®, and Larson Learning® solutions. For more information, call 888-242-6747.

About Houghton Mifflin
Boston-based Houghton Mifflin Company is one of the leading educational publishers in the United States, with more than $1.4 billion in sales. The Company publishes a comprehensive set of educational solutions, ranging from research-based textbook programs to instructional technology to standards-based assessments for elementary and secondary schools and colleges. The Company also publishes an extensive line of reference works and award-winning fiction and nonfiction for adults and young readers. In 2006, Houghton Mifflin merged with Riverdeep, bringing together one of the most respected print publishers with the leader in interactive courseware. With origins dating back to 1832, Houghton Mifflin combines its tradition of excellence with a commitment to innovation. To learn more about Houghton Mifflin, visit http://www.hmco.com/.