[LINK] One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) Program

[Tom Worthington]

On 22/05/12 23:47, stephen at melbpc.org.au wrote:
> ... "The Australian Government is providing over $11 million to support
> the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) Program which will deliver over 50,000
> custom built laptops to primary students in regional and remote
> Australia as part of a 12 month pilot program. ...
>
> http://blog.laptop.org/2012/05/08/australian-brilliance-government-12m-
> pilot/

Is there any published research to show that providing an OLPC, or other 
computer, enhances learning?

Hopefully the OLPC pilot program includes a plan to study the effects on 
learning and publish the results.

A study of OLPCs in Peru indicated minimal educational benefit: 
https://edutechdebate.org/olpc-in-peru/technology-and-child-development-evidence-from-one-laptop-per-child-program-in-peru/

The problem in Peru was that the computers were not part of an education 
program and the teachers were not trained to use them for teaching.

I suggest the priority for computers in schools should be for teacher 
support and education and creation of educational content.


-- 
Tom Worthington FACS CP, TomW Communications Pty Ltd. t: 0419496150
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Adjunct Lecturer, Research School of Computer Science,
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