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Partner
Why Partners?
Having seen the serious need for a "Looma-like" device, we decided our mission would be to create a classroom-ready prototype. We have achieved this. With our partners we are demonstrating its merit in Nepal's schools and are seeking for- and non-profits and government education systems worldwide to
adopt and grow it into a standard education product.
Partners will need to address the elements of hardware, distribution and servicing; software development and technical support, content development, teacher training, the UI (user interface), advocacy and local (national) leadership.
Our Open-source Philosophy
Looma is developed for use by anyone, anywhere.
Looma’s hardware and software designs are licensed under the Creative Commons BY-SA License [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/], which requires attribution (“BY”) of the originators of the design (LE) and “like" licensing (“SA” means “share-alike”) of improvements made to the design. There are no royalties for using the design.
Anyone can take the design files and make Loomas, provided they honor the CC BY-SA terms.
Content, such as media files, included on Looma comes from third-party sources. Content on Looma is expected to be freely usable with no costs or royalties.
Hardware
We are giving Looma's current hardware design to qualified partners so that they can build and market the systems. Already the National Innovation Centre in Nepal has mastered the laser-cutting of the box panels, and hopes shortly to supply Looma systems requested by local schools.
These partners may reduce the complexity by designing a new acrylic enclosure for Looma that uses the current internal components but provides rugged, dust-proof, water-resistant enclosure with improved internal component attachment strategy.
In the long term we hope that smart, compact A/V projectors will be designed that have all Looma's features at a fraction of the cost of these individual components.
Software
The Looma software is kept in a repository on GitHub. Anyone may download the software and establish a new branch of the software.
Developers who modify the software may make “pull requests” to LE to integrate their modifications back into the Looma master, but LE is not obligated to accept pull request.
Developers in Nepal may want to start a “branch” of the software to be enhanced for the Nepal market. Any software features can be added as desired, but the main need is for “localization” of the software interfaces into Nepali language.
We suggest that developers take the current Looma code and localize the User Interface to Nepali language. All User Interface elements should be made switchable between English and Nepali. Nepali Test-to-Speech should be added.
The skills that will be needed are strong experience in web programming, HTML, CSS, Javascript, jQuery, PHP, LE supports developers with current code files and Software Architecture and Policies Manual.mongoDB and Linux.
Content
Looma content is constantly being augmented with new media files relevant to elementary education. This should continue, with emphasis on gathering local language materials (documents, books, videos) to complement the English material already included.
In addition to media files, the teaching facilities of Looma need to be continually enhanced. This includes
• teacher training materials [User Manual, how-to-use videos],
• lesson plans for all textbook chapters, and
• slideshows, history timelines, simulations, and edited videos, especially in the native language.
Suppliers of educational materials such as OLE Nepal are welcome to display their content on Looma.
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