I read all of Alida's links about the OLPC<br><br>Alida's position is that those who support the OLPC "want to feel all warm and fuzzy and puffed up about the "good" they are doing in the world"
<br><br>The links as a group do not support that position. All of them do contain some sort of criticism on the OLPC (to varying degrees from the informed to the uninformed to the extremely cynical) but a few of them have some sort of balance, they discuss good points and bad points
<br><br>I'd like to discuss legitimate criticisms of the OLPC project but I don't think link dump is a very promising way to start it. I think it's better to raise some points, articulate your own view and then perhaps provide some links as backup.
<br><br>I'm supportive of the OLPC project. It's not surprising that such an ambitious project which does tread on some toes will attract some criticism. <br><br>I raised it in the first place because it does have relevance to this thread:
<br>- it has already forced down the price of other laptops<br>- this creates greater opportunity for one laptop per child scenarios in Australian education<br>- we shouldn't look at computers in labs as a static model for the future, as Cameron pointed out some schools have already broken with this model
<br>- OLPC has innovative cutting edge hardware and software features which may be worth discussing in schools and which will inevitably be incorporated into the alternative brands<br>- there are other implications eg. what can students learn from computers with little or no guided instruction from teachers
<br><br>-- <br>Bill Kerr<br><a href="http://billkerr2.blogspot.com/">http://billkerr2.blogspot.com/</a><br><br><br><div><span class="gmail_quote">On 10/24/07, <b class="gmail_sendername">Alida Bonotto</b> <<a href="mailto:abono@mira.net">
abono@mira.net</a>> wrote:</span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">Cameron Bell wrote:<br>> And how is that different to what happens here?
<br>Huh? In Australia we have blackmarket activities and corrupt governments<br>pushing their agendas via computers? We get a CHOICE between Linux and<br>other systems. Our children AND their parents can be computer savvy. The
<br>OLPC plan looks all wonderful and altruisitic in theory, but ignores the<br>nasty realities in third world countries.<br>See also<br><a href="http://ict4peace.wordpress.com/2006/11/20/100-laptop-fact-or-fiction/">http://ict4peace.wordpress.com/2006/11/20/100-laptop-fact-or-fiction/
</a><br><a href="http://hardware.silicon.com/desktops/0,39024645,39160928,00.htm">http://hardware.silicon.com/desktops/0,39024645,39160928,00.htm</a><br><a href="http://fakesteve.blogspot.com/2007/09/100-laptop-now-200-and-delayed-again.html">
http://fakesteve.blogspot.com/2007/09/100-laptop-now-200-and-delayed-again.html</a><br><a href="http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/hardware/soa/Is-a-US-100-laptop-truly-useful-/0,130061702,339281356,00.htm">http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/hardware/soa/Is-a-US-100-laptop-truly-useful-/0,130061702,339281356,00.htm
</a><br><a href="http://www.csoonline.com/read/040107/col_mch.html">http://www.csoonline.com/read/040107/col_mch.html</a><br><a href="http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/bobbie_johnson/2006/04/do_we_need_one_laptop_per_chil.html">
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/bobbie_johnson/2006/04/do_we_need_one_laptop_per_chil.html</a><br><a href="http://www.tectonic.co.za/view.php?src=rss&id=998">http://www.tectonic.co.za/view.php?src=rss&id=998</a>
<br><br>You accuse me of being patronising - I'm just being realistic, and I'd<br>rather be realistic than a member of the OLPC who wants to feel all warm<br>and fuzzy and puffed up about the "good" they are doing in the world.
<br><br>> Why should 3rd world countries be left out? In fact as the OLPC uses<br>> Linux as the OS, they wuold have a better chance at independence and<br>> software freedom than the vast majority of our students, many of who
<br>> suffer from the almost the slavish devotion to a monopolistic<br>> operating system that occurs in schools here.<br>> I think your comment is patronising in the extreme.<br>> Cameron<br>><br>> Alida Bonotto wrote:
<br>>> The OLPC leaves me cold, especially with its application in third<br>>> world countries. How do we know the black market won't steal these<br>>> machines for their nefarious profit making? Corrupt governments can
<br>>> use them to push their agendas online and in classrooms. What divide<br>>> will occur between the computer literate child and their non-savvy<br>>> parents? Will it use American software which has American English and
<br>>> uses structures and sensibilities that are ubiquitously American (and<br>>> insidious) and therefore difficult for other cultures to understand?<br>>><br>>> Bill Kerr wrote:<br>>>> hi Cameron,
<br>>>><br>>>> The OLPC has wireless mesh networking and a new user interface<br>>>> (sugar) based on a community metaphor, which invites extensive<br>>>> collaboration with each child having their own laptop. In that
<br>>>> respect (and some others) OLPC is superior to its new low price<br>>>> rivals from Intel etc.<br>>>> <a href="http://billkerr2.blogspot.com/2007/05/community-user-interface.html">http://billkerr2.blogspot.com/2007/05/community-user-interface.html
</a><br>>>><br>>>> If each child owns the laptop then that open up potential for home<br>>>> use - as well as the clearly important "sense of personal ownership"<br>>>><br>>>> I agree with you that if the laptops are introduced and teachers
<br>>>> keep to their old techniques and lesson plans then its not going to<br>>>> work very well at all<br>>>><br>>>> That is sort of the point of this discussion - where would / should
<br>>>> it lead?<br>>>><br>>>> Papert has argued for years that maths could be transformed with one<br>>>> laptop per child but that it doesn't work with other ratios. The<br>>>> pencil argument, it would be poor education to chain up pencils in a
<br>>>> lab or to insist on sharing of pencils<br>>>><br>>>> As you say:<br>>>> The laptop struggles to break out from being a glorified<br>>>> word-processor, file storage and email client to the off the shelf
<br>>>> tool that gets used as needed, to develop a solution for the problem<br>>>> at hand.<br>>>><br>>>> With OLPC the laptop does or should develop or appear to develop<br>>>> some sort of agency of its own, it demands to be used in new and
<br>>>> different ways - are the teachers up to it?<br>>>><br>>>> btw I attended a conference at Methodist Ladies College (Melbourne)<br>>>> in circa 1980 when every child had a laptop and they were using
<br>>>> logo extensively (David Loader was the Principal).<br>>>><br>>>> Your points about forcing collaboration are interesting and I'd like<br>>>> to hear more about the tool you mention that facilitates a process
<br>>>> whereby students "produce work that reflects their own knowledge,<br>>>> not the groups knowledge"<br>>>><br>>>> I'm wary of formalising collaboration in an institutional sense. I
<br>>>> think learners have the right to choose their time and place for<br>>>> collaboration. When setting up groups I often do permit a group of<br>>>> one. I'm aware of one very good educational blogger who has been
<br>>>> arguing this for some time:<br>>>> blog of proximal development<br>>>> <a href="http://www.teachandlearn.ca/blog/">http://www.teachandlearn.ca/blog/</a><br>>>> (I will dig up some of his posts about this particular topic if you
<br>>>> want)<br>>>><br>>>> cheers,<br>>>> --<br>>>> Bill Kerr<br>>>> <a href="http://billkerr2.blogspot.com/">http://billkerr2.blogspot.com/</a><br>>>><br>>>>
<br>>>> On 10/23/07, *Cameron Bell* < <a href="mailto:bell.cameron.p@edumail.vic.gov.au">bell.cameron.p@edumail.vic.gov.au</a><br>>>> <mailto:<a href="mailto:bell.cameron.p@edumail.vic.gov.au">bell.cameron.p@edumail.vic.gov.au
</a>>> wrote:<br>>>><br>>>> But Bill, lots and lots of schools have implemented laptop<br>>>> programs - some for many years now. We have found that you don't<br>>>> need one laptop per child - in fact, I believe that insisting
<br>>>> each child having their own laptop can stifle pedagogical<br>>>> progress. When each child has their own laptop or they are<br>>>> working in a lab, the teacher is generally just using the same
<br>>>> teaching techniques and lesson plans they always have, insisting<br>>>> on personal work, students working in isolation (communicating,<br>>>> but in isolation) with the whole class doing the same activity at
<br>>>> the same time. The laptop struggles to break out from being a<br>>>> glorified word-processor, file storage and email client to the<br>>>> off the shelf tool that gets used as needed, to develop a
<br>>>> solution for the problem at hand.<br>>>> We have run with a one-between-two program here for the past<br>>>> couple of years (I was skeptical as I had just come from a 1-1<br>
>>> school) and apart from a couple of dedicated labs, we now<br>>>> deliberately aim for one-between-two for all our technology<br>>>> infrastructure. It means students _must_ collaborate as teams on
<br>>>> producing work and we are being forced to develop methods for<br>>>> students to be able to collaborate- but then produce work that<br>>>> reflects their own knowledge, not the groups knowledge. It's
<br>>>> tricky but I have found a very useful little tool that enables<br>>>> that to happen in my classes and the rest of the staff have<br>>>> adapted too! Some of us are creating digital portfolios, this
<br>>>> requires group prac work, but individual reflections. How do you<br>>>> do this with one-between-two? You are forced to examine<br>>>> individual learning plans, multiple lesson plans within a lesson,
<br>>>> rather than the one-size-fits-all approach that we have always<br>>>> done. (Primaries have done this for years!) While 1/2 the class<br>>>> use the laptops for part of an activity, the other 1/2 are doing
<br>>>> another part. For us, this is also essential to break up a 72 min<br>>>> period and help keep the students focussed.<br>>>> One between two is cheaper too! ;-)<br>>>> Cheers
<br>>>> Cameron<br>>>><br>>>> Bill Kerr wrote:<br>>>>> There is a large elephant in the room that no one has referred<br>>>>> to so far: the OLPC<br>>>>>
<br>>>>> The one laptop per child non profit project not only plans to<br>>>>> deliver millions of laptops to third world children but has also<br>>>>> become a hand grenade in the commercial world - and has
<br>>>>> succeeded in forcing down the price of other laptops now on offer<br>>>>><br>>>>> "... the whole global mind-think around technology has changed.<br>>>>>
<br>>>>> No longer is low cost computing in education a fantasy, no<br>>>>> longer are big technology companies secondary, and everyone<br>>>>> wants to sell technology into classrooms. Intel introduced
<br>>>>> Classmate PC<br>>>>><br>>>>> <<a href="http://www.olpcnews.com/countries/brazil/olpc_classmate_mobilis.html">http://www.olpcnews.com/countries/brazil/olpc_classmate_mobilis.html
</a>><br>>>>> to Brazil, Asustek is selling Eee PC's<br>>>>><br>>>>> <<a href="http://www.olpcnews.com/sales_talk/intel/negroponte_100_laptop_asus.html">http://www.olpcnews.com/sales_talk/intel/negroponte_100_laptop_asus.html
</a>><br>>>>><br>>>>> in the USA, and even thin-client manufactures compare themselves<br>>>>> to OLPC<br>>>>><br>>>>> <<a href="http://www.olpcnews.com/sales_talk/competition/stephen_dukker_anti_olpc_campaign.html">
http://www.olpcnews.com/sales_talk/competition/stephen_dukker_anti_olpc_campaign.html</a>>."<br>>>>><br>>>>><br>>>>> <a href="http://www.olpcnews.com/sales_talk/countries/sales_inhibiting_xo_distribution.html">
http://www.olpcnews.com/sales_talk/countries/sales_inhibiting_xo_distribution.html</a><br>>>>><br>>>>><br>>>>> <<a href="http://www.olpcnews.com/sales_talk/countries/sales_inhibiting_xo_distribution.html">
http://www.olpcnews.com/sales_talk/countries/sales_inhibiting_xo_distribution.html</a>><br>>>>><br>>>>><br>>>>> How will schools and education departments in the wealthy west<br>
>>>> react to the fact that in a few years we will have the<br>>>>> capability for every child to have their own laptop?<br>>>>><br>>>>> Will we treat them like mobile phones and ban them or try to
<br>>>>> figure out a way to utilise them for optimal educational<br>>>>> development?<br>>>>><br>>>>> The use and misuse of computers in schools has up until now been
<br>>>>> based around the idea that computers mainly belong in labs and /<br>>>>> or that access is limited. The fact of limited access has acted<br>>>>> as a powerful brake for many teachers not to extend their
<br>>>>> knowledge much beyond the basics.<br>>>>><br>>>>> Most (all?) of the maths curriculum could be taught using<br>>>>> laptops. In fact MIT produced a series of books in the 80s for
<br>>>>> teaching much of maths and aspects of language and art using logo.<br>>>>><br>>>>> Shouldn't we factor this potential into the discussion? If we<br>>>>> are talking about the future it might be incorrect to assume
<br>>>>> that the pattern of distribution of computers in schools will<br>>>>> remain similar to the present.<br>>>>><br>>>>> -- Bill Kerr<br>>>>>
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