[LINK] One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) Program

[Liddy Nevile]

Having been responsible for 'training' the teachers for one year at  
OLPC Australia, I have to admit I am very worried about this  
development.
The XOs are not easy to use and they are not familiar as they do not  
work like other computers - and they are small so they are not easy  
for those with big hands. And the very clever screen is small.

I created a serious in-service course for the teachers that was  
focused on finding ways to use the XOs for creative activities. I also  
prioritised using the XOs to provide the kids with stories they could  
listen to, read, create themselves, etc - putting the focus on  
literacy in a way that would be very easy for the teachers. Some  
teachers have done amazing things since then.

The XOs have games of the usual kind and Scratch, the very successful  
creative software that combines social networking with sharing  
projects (see http://scratch.mit.edu). My course was considered to be  
too hard and so now teachers get told how to make the XO work and they  
use the provided puzzles, games, read/write packages and the in-built  
camera.

My experience has been that in countries like Cambodia where I worked  
with OLPC, teachers and students are very keen to learn and can do  
amazing things with XOs. A few years ago I put together a video of  
kids working on Scratch on XOs and doing interesting things despite  
their problems with the XO. The teachers were highly trained and  
motivated and supported in their work. I consider all three things are  
essential for successful work with XOs. I believe this is what has  
been happening at Doomadgee State School that inspired Rob Oakeshott  
and Tony Windsor  (are they educational experts?).

My concern is that in many other schools, nothing is being done with  
the XOs. They are, to be honest, hard to work with and cannot be  
simply picked up and used. In addition, most of the schools with  
Indigenous children are nervous about letting the children take the  
XOs home and are not prepared to give the kids free access to  
Internet. The XOs can be used to create a local network for  
collaborative work but to do this teachers need to be fairly computer- 
savvy.

Those of us who have been to schools in the outback, where these  
computers are likely to be sent, know that the teachers are usually  
very busy with a thousand things that take priority over the use of  
computers. The children are not always in the same school for very  
long and the teachers only stay for an average of 7 months, I am told.  
When I visited a homeland school, I noted that the teacher was only  
there for two days a week (fly-in/fly-out) so I could not imagine how  
the kids or teacher could find time to do anything much, let alone get  
great value from the XOs.

So I am concerned. If teachers get a lot of training, and a lot of  
support, and the community has a chance to engage with the use of the  
XOs so they support their use, and ...., this might be a good program.  
Perhaps each of us should take responsibility for supporting a teacher?

$11m can be spent in many ways. My grandchildren are getting  
mainstream computers for use in their school, at home, wherever, and  
they can do whatever with them. This is making a huge difference for  
them, particularly because they fit seamlessly into the high-tech  
world around them and get lots of support. I don't think their  
teachers have to help them use the computers but instead can focus on  
what the kids are working on. I would love to think we could offer the  
same to our young Indigenous friends.

Liddy

On 24/05/2012, at 8:14 AM, Tom Worthington wrote:

> 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
> PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617, Australia  http://www.tomw.net.au
> Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards
> Legislation
>
> Adjunct Lecturer, Research School of Computer Science,
> Australian National University http://cs.anu.edu.au/courses/COMP7310/
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