OLPC - Total Confusion May 15, 2008
Posted by Matthew Woolums in Articles/Videos, OLPC.trackback
I used to think the One Laptop Per Child was a noble endeavor, but after reading the linked article below, I have to say I’m not so sure. This insider article is peppered with four-letter invectives, so please be prepared. It is still important reading for anyone interested in deploying a one-to-one laptop initiative, especially if you are considering the XO as your laptop of choice. Thanks to a tweet from Andy Carvin.
As far as I know, there is no real study anywhere that demonstrates constructionism works at scale. There is no documented moderate-scale constructionist learning pilot that has been convincingly successful; when Nicholas points to “decades of work by Seymour Papert, Alan Kay, and Jean Piaget”, he’s talking about theory.
There are three key problems in one-to-one computer programs: choosing a suitable device, getting it to children, and using it to create sustainable learning and teaching experiences. They’re listed in order of exponentially increasing difficulty.
Nicholas’ new OLPC is dropping those pesky education goals from the mission and turning itself into a 50-person nonprofit laptop manufacturer, competing with Lenovo, Dell, Apple, Asus, HP and Intel on their home turf, and by using the one strategy we know doesn’t work. But hey, I guess they’ll sell more laptops that way.
So here’s to open learning, to free software, to strength of personal conviction, and to having enough damn humility to remember that the goal is bringing learning to a billion children across the globe. The billion waiting for us to put our idiotic trifles aside, end our endless yapping, and get to it already.
ivan krstić · code culture » Sic Transit Gloria Laptopi
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