Teach For India is recruiting full-time teachers…

…to help educate India’s youth.

Here’s the rundown (via ThinkChange India):

THE CHALLENGE: Today, millions of low-income children in India do not have access to the same quality of education as their wealthier peers.  As a result, more than one in three students will drop out of primary school before the fifth standard.

THE MOVEMENT: Teach For India is a nationwide movement that aims to end this educational inequity by creating a powerful force of leaders in many sectors who will advocate for educational opportunity for all children. Check out the video of TFI here.

TFI Fellowship: We recruit the most outstanding college graduates and young professionals to teach full-time in an intensive leadership development program. It is a full time and competitively paidfellowship program with many prospects and further opportunities to develop a great career. Find out a ppt attached with this mail for more information

WHY YOU: To create this leadership force, we recruit only India’s most outstanding college graduates and young professionals, from all academic majors and careers. We look for people like you who live for a challenge, who excel academically, who believe India can be a better nation for all its citizens.

WHY NOW: Teach For India is currently accepting applications for its 2011 Fellowship. So, are you ready for a challenge?

VISIT www.teachforindia.org TO APPLY

Google Dishes out $10mil to Improve the Planet

Everyone’s getting in on the ‘improve the planet’ game. It’s fantastic. And who else to support such a thing than a company with plenty of money to give out: Google. Now 10 million is just a fraction of the bills Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook dished out to the Newark School System this week, but it is still fairly substantial.

But while Zuck gave a lot out quickly, Google’s Project 10^100 spent two years finding some worthy org’s. There are five on the list, but here’s the video results, followed by my two favorites:

1. I really like the Khan Academy. They’ve created a library of more than 1,600 teaching videos. Free to anyone, anywhere, Google has give the organization $2 million to enable more courses and in widely used languages. Hopefully users of our computer labs can take advantage of this!

2. Ok I admit, I’m a huge alternative transportation fan. I’m a bike nerd. I actually LIKE taking the DC Metro (I know, I’m weird), so my other favorite is the Schweeb. How can’t you love a name like that? Schweeb combines monorail technologies with those of the recumbent bicycle. It claims to be personal, efficient, and cost effective transportation. I hope it catches on!

“An iPod for Development”: Lifeplayer

Satisfied Lifeplayer owner.

This is so cool and I think I want one.

South Africa based Lifeline Energy announced the launch of the Lifeplayer. You might want to consider trading in your iPod. The Lifeplayer seemingly does it all: It’s a cellphone, a radio, Mp3 and internet enabled-device all in one. Power comes from the sun, with a secondary energy source in the form of a hand-crank.

The main focus for Lifeline with the Lifeplayer is education. Podcasts, mp3s, and information on weather, agriculture, or anything else are accessible on the device. It’s loud enough that 100 people can gather around and listen to it at a time.

Fast Company talked with the creator of this device and she mentioned a concern for delivery and proper implementation for the device. That’s why, whenever they can, Lifeline teams up with Ministries of Education to spread the word and make the device effective for the people it was meant for.

Lifeplayer is meant to educate groups of people at one time.

This thing is like a swiss-army iPod for the developing world. It can even record radio content, discussions or live voice and an SD card allows for transferable data. For now, the Lifeplayer is targeted at Africa, but Pearson says Afghanistan and Pakistan are definitely on her mind for the near future. Pearson also mentions they’re working on their model for how to effectively allow individuals purchase the device, but for now it’s being bought for distribution by schools, NGOs, businesses and other institutions.

The cost runs around $80, depending on the memory option you choose, and can come preloaded with media so it’s ready to use off the bat. Apparently, the radio in Africa generally caters to men, so allowing mp3s to be uploaded to the device allows women and children to get some attention and education as well.

TED Talk: The child-driven education

Mitra's "Hole in the Wall" experiment.

If you’ve never watched a TED Talk, you’re missing out on some very inspirational and innovative thought leaders tell the stories of their research and experiences all over the world.  I watched this one over the weekend and decided it greatly relates to the mission Vort Port is currently taking part in.

The speaker is Sugata Mitra, and he spends a few minutes talking about the educational effect that computers have on children. His research is simple: put computers in front of children and see what happens. In a lot of the cases, the children have never had the opportunity to handle a computer before, but they still learn within minutes to play games, look information up, and thus, become empowered. There are some very interesting results to Sugata’s studies. But enough from me! Watch it:

This is the very reason we’re trying to bring computer labs to rural villages in India. IT is a very big industry in India, but still the people int he smaller villages have never touched a computer. By providing a solar-powered computer lab, we’re giving these small villages a chance to compete for the IT jobs in the bigger cities, thus improving their own and their families lives.