Tech, Edu & Change
“If a book is a window into a different world, how much more so is a laptop connected to the Internet?”
I just read a chapter in John Elkington and Pamela Hartigan’s book The Power of Unreasonable People (2008). The chapter was titled “Quality: Targeting the $100 Laptop” (page 128). It is about a project (One Laptop per Child, chaired by Nicholas Negroponte) that aims at getting a laptop to each and every child in developing nations. This seemed idealistic and not very doable when I first thought about it, but after reading the chapter I think it is very possible, and very desirable.
The way that the project has engineered to do this focuses on the idea that computers built for the western (or developed) countries are over-engineered for their actual purpose, which drives up the cost, and puts much needed products even further out of reach of poor people. “Today’s laptops have become obese. 2/3rds of their software is used to manage the other 1/3, which mostly does the same functions 9 different ways”.
The main purpose of these $100 laptops is the ability to connect to the Internet, allowing students to connect to the international community, and create local area networks. According to Negroponte the laptops will be able to do almost everything except store huge amounts of data. The objective price of $100 per laptop hasn’t been reached yet, but they are getting closer (by 2007 they had the price down to $170). One of the main reasons he has been able to get the price down so low (despite stripping the laptop down to its most essential and useful parts) is the scale on which he has undergone this project (commissioning laptops in the millions).
I agree completely with Negroponte when he sums up the use of technology in education: “Laptops are both a window into the world, and a tool…with which to think. They are a wonderful way for children to learn learning through independent interaction and exploration.”
This is honestly the most interesting article i have read yet in this subject. I am intrigued by this idea, and it fits with everything i believe in, in terms of technology in education. Getting students from these nations using the Internet and collaborating on a global scale can only benefit students everywhere. Students in classrooms in Australia will have a first hand view of life of students their own age in a completely different section of the world. For me, this is the real meaning of collaborating, instead of students only connecting with other students that have had the same experiences as them. The part of the project that has attracted me the most though, is the fact that it is completely practical. It is not an idealistic and unachievable goal. This group has developed a goal, and then gone on to make it possible. If things go to plan then they estimate that they will be shipping 50 million laptops a year by the end of 2009. It is completely breathtaking
I highly recommend anyone who has an interest in education and technology read this chapter. They go into much more detail on the practicalities, the possible objections, and ideas of what to do with the environmental waste created. View the website of this project here.
“It’s an education project, not a laptop project”.
Images from: http://www.laptop.org/en/vision/index.shtml
