Maybe I should stop ranting about this but it really gets me going. The OLPC UI specs seem to have been revised slightly and it’s got some people saying things like “Wow!” “Genius!” “How Adventurous!” and that sort of thing.
I agree it is exciting stuff in terms of UI design research, but is it right to gamble with Kids’ educations? And with the little money that developing nations are able to spare?
We seem to be forgetting history here. It’s very naive to assume that OLPCS + Kids = Education.
In the past, technology-centric initiatives have a well documented history of not solving the problems they were intended to, when introduced into schools. Conversely, pouring money into teacher training is well known to be hugely effective.
Look at some of these quotes from Jane Healy’s book “Failure to Connect”. Note that she is talking about the introduction of computers into US schools the 80s and 90s. She isn’t talking about the OLPC – but she might as well be!
“‘Technology! I feel as if we’re being swept down this enormous river — we don’t know where we’re going, or why, but we’re caught in the current. I think we should stop and take a look before it’s too late. Assistant Superintendent of Schools, Long Island, New York”
“Technology shapes the growing mind. The younger the mind, the more malleable it is. The younger the technology, the more unproven it is. […] Today’s children are the subjects of a vast and optimistic experiment. It is well financed and enthusiastically supported by major corporations, the public at large, and government officials around the world. If it is successful, our youngsters’ minds and lives will be enriched, society will benefit, and education will be permanently changed for the better. But there is no proof — or even convincing evidence — that it will work.”
“The experiment, of course, involves getting kids “on computers” at school and at home in hopes that technology will improve the quality of learning and prepare our young for the future. But will it? Are the new technologies a magic bullet aimed straight at success and power? Or are we simply grasping at a technocentric “quick fix” for a multitude of problems we have failed to address?“
“Why do we so desperately need to believe in computers? After surveying current attitudes for the nonprofit organization Learning in the Real World, William Ruckeyser told me, “The nearest thing I can draw a parallel to is a theological discussion. There’s so much an element of faith here that demanding evidence is almost a sign of heresy.”
I don’t understand. Is she saying what young people in countries where easy access to computers in schools and at home is NOT common are better educated when kids in USA?
I’m not talking about Africa, but Russia, China, Iran itp. What is evidence children in this countries are better educated, and better prepared for global market?
Heh, I never said it was going to revolutionise education ;) I am only interested in the UI experiments part of it right now.
That said, just because previous IT projects failed to improve education, does not mean this one will. This is far, far from giving kids a copy of Word+Excel+PowerPoint and artificially forcing them into lessons. Even if the only thing OLPC does is act as an e-book reader, it’ll still have been worth it, but it has a lot more potential than just that.
It could easily crash and burn, but we’ll have to wait and see. Let’s be optimistic, seeing as it’ll happen anyway.
NB: “pouring money into teacher training” isn’t necessarily an option. Would foreign countries want random western organisations to train their teachers? Probably not. They’d probably want the money, so we’d give it to them, and then [a] the training would not be that good and [b] it might get embezzled anyway.
Arek – basically the message is computers aren’t a solution, they should merely be part of a well considered educational programme. The great thing about educational programmes is that we have been doing them for centuries and there is a fair amount of knowledge about what has worked in the past.
Mike – ASFAIK the OPLCs are being SOLD to the governments of the developing countries. They are not being given away for free. so it’s nothing to do with the west pouring money anywhere. (I think – someone please correct me if I am wrong).
Harry,
You are correct, the OLPC’s are being sold all right, OLPC itself claims poverty. Most countries will have to either borrow directly for an OLPC purchase, or ask another country to donate either the laptops or the cash. Quanta, the ODM, can’t be paid in “warm & fuzzies”.
But you did get the equation wrong. Its OLPC’s + Kids + Miracle = Education. You can’t forget the miracle of “learing learning” in the absence of a dedicated teacher training program.
Computers aren’t a solution I agree. But top quality XX century education in XXI century is also not solution.
In some countries people live like in XX century in USA/EU, There are countries with XIX century standards, and OLPC try to close this gap. Of course more is needed not only this.
I’m from Poland. I got free quite good education from communist state in 80 and 90. I also made it and I’m now Software Architect in small company in UK.
But what if I will have chance to learn IT and programing not when I was 21, but when I was 14 or even 7?
Yes, not all this kids will work in IT, but if they will be doctors, or even work in tourist industry they will also need to learn ow to use computers.
If you say children in Africa don’t need to learn computers in XXI century, is like you will say to them in XX century: “You don’t need to know how to drive a car.” or “You don’t need to learn chemistry”.
Of course you can do much more in education both in US and in Africa. But this is not a reason to criticize OLPC.
Arek – I completely agree with you. All I am trying to say is that computers are just part of the solution.
Say a country has a certain budget for education. How should they portion it out? Exactly how much of it should be spent on computers given their current situation (whatever that is)? I think the risk is, they might be tempted to spend too much on the hugely impressive OLPC hardware and too little on the educational infrastructure needed to make it effective.
This decision needs to be weighed up very carefully, not headed into blindly. We should be helping them with it, not just trying to sell them our kit!
Read more about this kind of stuff at http://www.olpcnews.com …
I am doing a presentation on the OLPC, and ran across your page. I read all your reviews and found them very thoughtful and intriguing. I just feel that the UI leap from the Sugar to perhaps Windows shouldn’t be that monumental and wouldn’t cause too much of a stir. That isn’t the basis of my post, but just thought i’d give my two cents.
The basis is however, on the OLPC homepage, they listed that the educational money allocations should be spent on the XO, instead of the other factors. They are probably biased of course.
“Given the resources that poor countries can reasonably allocate to education—sometimes less than $20 per year per pupil, compared to the approximately $7500 per pupil spent annually in the U.S.—even a doubled or redoubled national commitment to traditional education, augmented by external and private funding, would not get the job done. Moreover, experience strongly suggests that an incremental increase of “more of the sameâ€â€”building schools, hiring teachers, buying books and equipment—is a laudable but insufficient response to the problem of bringing true learning possibilities to the vast numbers of children in the developing world”
Supposedly “more of the same” is insufficient. hm, I don’t know if I can agree with that. I would give you the exact link, but I gotta do a presentation in 30 min!