Comments on: OLPC XO – Top Ten Checklist for G1G1 Reviews

By: Michele

Michele — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 14:29:45 +0000

Actually, the only *review* that counts is from the buyers, governments that are willing to pay for the computers.

By: Robby

Robby — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 21:52:41 +0000

Thanks for the great checklist and enlightened discussion. I’ve been trying to find a OLPC response to the Economist and Guardian pieces and stumbled on yours. Great cartoon, too!

I’m also looking for more pointers into how the meshed-XOs can be used in kids’ writing classes.

http://boblog.blogspot.com/2008/01/i-just-discovered-that-last-weeks.html

http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Robby

http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Talk:Learning_activities/Journalism

By: Jane Krauss

Jane Krauss — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 16:23:44 +0000

The CTO of OLPC is leaving to begin a startup of a commercial $75 laptop!!! If that isn’t proof of concept I don’t know what is! http://www.nytimes.com/idg/IDG_002570DE00740E18002573CB006D79D0.html?ex=1357621200&en=ea4d1940ccc8ced4&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

By: Alvin Moses

Alvin Moses — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 11:48:32 +0000

I have been to education establishments in Tajikistan where they have gotten their first computers and internet, trying to help the local community have some of the privileges we have. [Relief International Schools OnLine]

The XO will be almost always be someone’s first computer experience…and I think in generally it will be a slow and fun one. Basically “what happens when I pick this picture (icon)?”.

At a madrasa (I think that is what they call a school attached to a mosque), males of many ages where just left to explore PAINT, because it was helping them develop ‘mouse skills’.

When my daughter found one of the TAM TAM apps and was making ‘animal sounds piano playing’ it was pure fun from exploration. It is like giving a kid a beaker, water , food coloring and a thermometer. They can play and be entertained, or they can do some actual, legitimate science.

By: Thomas Han

Thomas Han — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 04:53:01 +0000

Hi Sylvia,

Thank you for so eloquently listed out the above points.

I have to admit, I’m a guilty party. I thought to myself several times “was this worth the purchase”? But after reading your post, I’m humbly reminded of the mission Nicholoas set out to do. And you are absolutely correct. We, especially coming from the Bay Area (tech hub), forget someitmes that there’s a whole world out there and the need/wants of those less fortunate are very different.

Thank you for writing up this post and I’m sure to come back to remind myself once in a while.

See ya on xochat.org next time

By: Jim

Jim — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 03:37:32 +0000

I was linked to this article by a posting on the OLPCnews forum. Excellant article, extremely well written. When I realized that the XO was really not meant for me, I contacted a moderator on the OLPCNews forum and sent my laptop to the moderator who have it to a developer in Nepal. See:
http://www.olpcnews.com/sales_talk/g1g1/re-gifting_your_xo_laptop.html
My name on the forum there is “Boomer” (as in Baby Boomer) and I wrote the “interview.” It just seemed to me to make sense to get the XO in the hands of someone who could do the most good with it.

By: Kelley Irish

Kelley Irish — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 02:21:06 +0000

Pamela,
I agree the OLPC has to exist in real world where competition is a reality. However even corporations that compete should follow a clear set of ethical standards. After reading the New York Times piece I was saddened to see the INTEL sales force trying to talk Peru’s education minister out of an order already placed for the OCPL, when at the time INTEL was sitting on the OCLP board and had several PR releases for supporting the program in the headlines.

“Unfortunately for Intel, the vice minister is a longtime acquaintance of Dr. Negroponte and Seymour Papert, a member of the One Laptop team and an M.I.T. professor who developed the Logo computer programming language.” (New York Times).

I think both Dr. Negroponte and Paul S. Otellini (from INTEL) should take a moment and refocus on the target audience-the kids. The drama only serves to make countries in the developing world mistrustful. However to be fair I am not sure I would react if I were Dr. Negroponte. OLPC is after all his dream

Is it possible to have both collaboration and competition?

By: Sylvia Martinez

Sylvia Martinez — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 00:26:27 +0000

Hi Kelley,
I hear you, but I think the XO has to exist in a world with competition. Intel is about profit and building value for their shareholders. That’s just the way it is. I think the media and public layers the soap opera histrionics a bit just because we like the entertainment value of it. Negroponte is a bully! Intel is an evil empire! I think our fascination with the personalities and intrigue reflect a general lack of ability to discuss the merits of the various computers and educational philosophies at play here.

Pamela,
I don’t want to come off as an XO booster at all times, and I do see that the reality of the world is going to make the implementation harder than anyone expects. I know that Dr. Papert was permanently turned off from providing specific examples when some of his early work with Logo was turned into curriculum, rather than viewed as examples. He knew that if teachers need to “own” their own plans to make it really work.

I’m glad you mentioned that constructivist lessons do have plans. It’s a common misconception that it’s all magic. It’s incredibly hard to provide materials to teachers that guide, but don’t script. Trust me, I know, that’s primarily my job! I think it’s also misunderstood that the OLPC plan is anti-teacher. From what I’ve seen, nothing could be further from the truth, and the reports from the pilots show how integral the teachers are. it’s just that you can’t count on teachers being there in all cases.

Usually, the lack of quality teachers is dealt with by providing scripts and highly structured lessons so that anyone can follow them and be a “good” teacher. Of course that doesn’t work. The OLPC idea is that by giving students better peer to peer collaboration tools, they can make up this deficit in a different way. I like this intent of this and hope it works.

Thanks everyone for the comments!

By: Kelley Irish

Kelley Irish — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 23:42:09 +0000

The debate is between an educator using the computer as a tool to make a difference in the world and a large corporation trying to get some positive PR by signing on to support the effort ,while at the same time trying to undermine or at the very least a sales force that was undermining it.

Intel is all about profits, always has been always will be. That is the nature of business. OLPC is about education and let’s not forget Dr. Negroponte is an educator! Dr. Negroponte does not stand to make any personal profit off the OLPC, while Intel and their sales force are only now looking towards the third world, because they see a untapped market to increase their profit margin.

OLPC is motivated to create laptops as an inexpensive tool to enhance education. ITEL created the Classmate computers to make a profit. OLPC has been very clear that it is not a laptop program it is an education program. Intel’s classmate is a Laptop program.

By: Pamela Livingston

Pamela Livingston — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 18:50:46 +0000

Well now I am on the fence about OLPC in general – I think it is an amazing idea and think we should have more computers in the hands of children. But the one point made in The Economist article cited that does make sense to me (and love the funny brandy holder illustration Sylvia added to her blog!) is how OLPC decided not to have an upfront specific educational focus on how the devices were to be used.

Constructivists, and I am one, do have a plan even though casual observers and critics like to say they don’t – and I’m just not sure the plan for OLPC use in the classrooms has been solid enough. This was my question to Dr. Seymour Papert back in 2005 when I interviewed him about OLPC – and he said they were going to deal directly with the ministries of education of the countries and the countries would decide how the devices were to be used in classrooms, and not have any plans or examples for the countries.

However, I want OLPC to be more than an experiment because when kids anywhere have laptops amazing empowering things can happen.