Hosman Final ISOC Report: PISCES Project Micronesia
September, 2012
Final ISOC Report: Pacific Island Schools, Connectivity, Education, and Solar
(PISCES) Project, Micronesia
Project Overview:
This Internet Society Community Grant enabled our partnered team to bring Internet
connectivity to a remote island primary school in the state of Chuuk, Federated States of
Micronesia, where we also installed an innovative Computer-Lab-in-a-Box so that
students, teachers, and community members will be able to utilize the Internet at the
school. This completely solar-powered deployment comprising both Internet connectivity
and computer lab installation took place in the second stage of our project: we first held a
hands-on workshop at the University of Guam in solar-powered long-distance WiFi
connectivity. Our team, including some of the students from the U of Guam workshop,
then traveled to Chuuk to carry out the truly hands-on installation on Udot Island. We
were fortunate to be in Chuuk during a Summer Institute for teachers sponsored by the
Department of Education, and participated in this Institute with presentations and
workshops, which combined to further the buy-in and participation of Chuuk’s DoE in
adopting an ICT-in-Education plan for the state.
Description of the activities undertaken by the project during the final reporting
period & results:
Part 1:
A three-day workshop in solar-powered wireless Internet connectivity was held at the
University of Guam from July 31 to August 2, 2012, establishing one of Micronesia’s
first solar-powered long-distance point-to-point WiFi connections on the university’s
campus. The workshop was part of the Pacific Island Schools Connectivity, Education,
and Solar (PISCES) Project, a multi-partnered endeavor focused on training and local
capacity building vis-à-vis solar-powered information and communications technology
(ICT) within the Pacific region. The solar WiFi system was installed by students
attending the week's connectivity workshop, and is hoped to serve as a demonstration for
future solar-powered WiFi long distance links and hotspots across campus as well as
across the Pacific.
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The workshop provided plenty of opportunities for hands-on experiences, with each
afternoon’s activity consisting of a one-to-three hour lab in which students actualized the
practical information from the morning’s lecture. Global experts in the field, including
Ermanno Pietrosemoli and Marco Zennaro, both from the International Centre for
Theoretical Physics in Trieste, Italy, as well as Bruce Baikie of Green WiFi and Inveneo,
led the lectures and labs throughout the week. Representing industry and academia, the
instructors provided a thorough presentation of both introductory and in-depth material,
ensuring that even the students who were not experts in such technology would benefit
from the training.
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The capstone activity for the students was their establishment of a permanent solar
powered point-to-point WiFi link between two buildings on campus during the
workshop’s final afternoon. The symbolism of the two buildings being connected was not
lost on the participants: the wireless link was established between buildings housing the
offices of Telecommunications and Distance Education (TADEO), and the Center for
Island Sustainability (CIS), respectively.
Fifteen students attended the workshop from across multiple Pacific Islands, including
Saipan (NMI), Chuuk (FSM), and Guam. Many expressed their appreciation for the
opportunity and their interest in using what they had learned further. Hiromy Mori, an
accounting student from Chuuk, was happy to learn how to set up a wireless network,
which would be useful to her even as a non-computer science student. Others, like Roy
Rechebei, described their own struggles with a local public library network in Saipan,
and were happy to have taken part in the workshop and wireless installation, and to have
gained skills that would be useful back in Saipan.
Part II
An innovative, solar-powered turnkey Computer-Lab-in-a-Box and a long-distance,
solar-powered wireless internet connection were set up at a primary school on the island
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of Udot within Chuuk, one of the Federated States of Micronesia, in early August 2012.
The system was installed by members of the Pacific Island Schools Connectivity,
Education, and Solar (PISCES) Project, with assistance from numerous local community
members. This technology deployment provided an in-field training opportunity for the
PISCES project, which is a multi-partnered endeavor emphasizing hands-on training in
solar-powered technology for Pacific Islanders. The previous week, the PISCES team had
led a workshop on Solar-powered long-distance WiFi technology at the University of
Guam.
The Internet connection for the Udot School originated from Chuuk’s main Island, Weno,
19 km from Udot. The hardware installed in Weno was mounted on the 3rd story roof of
the Truk Stop Hotel, which provided the height necessary for line-of-sight to provide
connectivity across the Chuuk Lagoon to Udot Island. The single-level school on Udot
required a 30-foot pole on which to mount the antenna. Local community members
joined in to help when the heft of the pole proved too heavy for the PISCES team to raise
alone. With team members on each island, the antennas were lined up and connected to
each other. The network was then routed through a local Wi-Fi network to provide
connectivity to the school, and for the local community.
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The Solar-Computer-Lab-in-a-Box, developed by students at Illinois Institute of
Technology, was also installed at the school. This turnkey computer lab is designed to be
as close to plug-and-play as possible for off-grid environments. It includes six Intel
Classmate laptops, solar panels and mounting gear, a charge controller, wiring, and
laptop security equipment, all contained within a uniquely-designed and ready-to-ship
box that straightforwardly transforms into the computer lab’s table. During the
deployment, the PISCES team received further assistance from community members
who, needing no formal instruction, assisted with the ~20 minute construction of the lab
table. The principal and several teachers were present for a directed overview of the
computers and basic computer functions.
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While the PISCES team was in Chuuk, additional project partnerships were formed
and/or strengthened. One key partnership is with PREL (Pacific Resources for Education
and Learning), a Honolulu-based organization serving the educational community across
the Pacific Islands with programs, services, and products developed to promote
educational excellence. PREL is currently piloting a Dual-Language Arts (DLA) program
in Chuuk that utilizes technology in the classroom. However, lack of technology in
Chuuk’s schools has limited the number of schools able to participate. Thanks to the new
technology installed in Udot, this school will be able to join and participate in the DLA
program, which will provide ongoing technology training and support to Udot school’s
teachers.
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Another key partnership is with Chuuk’s Department of Education, and the team was
fortunate to be on-island during a Summer Institute for teacher training sponsored by the
DoE. The PISCES team presented to the group of 400 teachers about their project, led
multiple discussion sessions with smaller groups of teachers, and administered a baseline
survey to gauge teachers’ attitudes towards and usage of technology-in-the-schools.
The PISCES Project received funding support from Google, the Pacific
Telecommunications Council, and the Internet Society. Project Partners for this workshop
included the University of Guam, Illinois Institute of Technology, Green WiFi, Inveneo,
the International Centre for Theoretical Physics, and the University of California,
Berkeley’s TIER research group.
A list of publications and/or deliverables created and funded through the
Community Grants Programme, if applicable:
The Internet connection in Chuuk was just set up in mid-August 2012. Unfortunately,
school had not yet started when the PISCES Team members returned home. However,
the local team member based in Chuuk is continuing to provide reports and updates, and
is visiting the school regularly.
There are not yet any scholarly publications about our project. However, there have been
a number of blog posts written about the project, covered in the ISOC blog page as well
as by Renewable Energy World (the latter posting has been picked up by numerous other
sites around the Web.) There is a great deal of interest being generated about our project:
we are making a presentation to the Asian Development Bank this week, and Radio New
Zealand International has contacted us for an interview. We are continuing our Publicity
efforts. The PI intends to write and submit scholarly publications in the future, in
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particular making use of the nearly 200 surveys we were able to collect from teachers
during the Summer Institute regarding their attitudes and usage of technology in the
schools. We will acknowledge the ISOC grant in this work, and will forward them on to
the Community Grants Programme at the time of publication.
The project team’s evaluation on the impact of the project in the community who
was expected to benefit from the activities, including specific details and examples
that verify the impact:
We are excited about the direct and indirect impacts this pilot project is already having on
both the local community in Chuuk and far beyond. This excitement stems from a
number of sources:
1. Our local partner and team member in Chuuk (TR Mori) is continuing to provide
technical support and follow-up on site. He has mentioned that his employees at
his store, iSolutions, will provide some basic computer skills training for the
teachers at the Udot school. This is something we had hoped to line up before the
PISCES team departed, but were not able to.
2. The Udot Primary School will be able to participate in an on-line technology-andother-teaching-skills enhancement program being piloted in Chuuk by the
Honolulu-based Organization Pacific Resources for Education and Learning
(PREL). We have formed a partnership with PREL. PREL is piloting a DualLanguage-Arts (DLA) program in three schools in Chuuk—these are the three
primary schools with the technology (computers and an Internet connection) that
allows them to participate in long-distance technology enabled training. Now that
Udot School has this technology, they will also be participating in the DLA
program, beginning in January. This will provide additional technology support
and training (as well as encouragement and inspiration) for the teachers.
(However, we are aware that PREL is unable to provide basic computer usage
skills training, as they are not full-time located in Chuuk.)
3. The Executive Director of Chuuk’s Department of Education last week set up a
group conference call with members of the PISCES Project who are more locally
based—the members in Chuuk and Guam, respectively, as well as with PREL, to
initiate action towards creating an ICT-in-the-schools Plan of Action. This is as a
direct result of our pilot project generating a great deal of interest and in it being
successful, but is even more the case because she met our team members as a
result of our activities.
Methods of disseminating the information gained from completing the project to the
wider Internet community
As mentioned above, the PI has written several blog posts about our project, including on
the ISOC Community Grants blog: http://www.internetsociety.org/blog/2012/08/isoccommunity-grant-supports-solar-long-distance-internet-connectivity-workshop-univ and
http://www.internetsociety.org/blog/2012/08/solar-computer-lab-box-and-solar-longdistance-wifi-set-rural-island-school-udot-chuuk as well as on Renewable Energy
World’s website. From both of these posts, our project information has already been re-
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posted on various other sites. We are continuing to push for more awareness-raising
about our project and anticipate that this list will grow by quite a bit in the future.
Ideas and suggestions on how the project may be replicable and/or sustainable for
continued community benefit
This project was designed to be a proof-of –concept so that it could be replicated across
Chuuk State, the Federated States of Micronesia, and beyond. As mentioned above, we
are excited by the fact that the Department of Education is now taking action to develop
an ICT-in-the-School Plan of Action with members of our Project Team, who are
permanently based in the Pacific Region.
We are also excited by the prospects for Udot School, specifically, to obtain computerskills basic training from iSolutions employees in the shorter term, as well as to
participate in the PREL Dual Language Arts Program in the longer term.
The two project leaders are currently working to increase interest and awareness of this
project in order to scale it. They are making a presentation to the Asian Development
Bank later this week in order to gauge the ADB’s interest in helping the project to scale.
A small-scale, short-term grant (from isif Asia) has already been applied for, in which it
was proposed to carry out 5 additional site surveys and at least one (but hopefully two)
additional installations of solar-powered long distance WiFi and the Solar-ComputerLab-in-a-Box.
The project co-directors are also planning a trip to Fiji in the coming months to attempt to
line up a similar university-based workshop at the University of the South Pacific, which
could serve as a regional hub for long-distance educational support in the same way that
the University of Guam is currently proposing to provide like-minded support to the
Micronesian region, including Chuuk.
Any additional information that would be useful to the Internet Society or the wider
Internet community for dissemination and knowledge sharing.
We utilized our Internet Society grant to purchase the vast majority of the
equipment/hardware utilized on our trip. This was extremely helpful to our team in terms
of getting the equipment purchased in a timely fashion. If these specific technology
purchases had needed to go through my university, they would have required solicitation
of bids, setting up preferred contractor agreements, all of which can take months, timewise, and likely would have compromised our ability to accomplish our project in the
timeline proposed. We just wanted to say thank you for enabling us to purchase the
technology without all the obstructions!
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