So unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard of the One Laptop Per Child project, aka OLPC. This innovative and amazing idea is the brain child of Nicholas Negroponte, of MIT Media Labs, and set off with the goal of making an affordable, durable, fully featured laptop computer for children in under privileged areas. Originally the machines were supposed to cost no more than $100, and while this price point has not yet been reached the Project has created an absolutely incredible machine for only $199.
I’ve been a fan of the project since I first heard about it. The idea is brilliant. I’ve long thought that children should have more exposure to computers, they’ve changed the world immensely, and have become a common and necessary tool for daily life. Especially with the modern prevalence of the internet, and the information it brings to your finger tips, computer use has become a priceless life skill. Education has been the one aspect that hasn’t fully embraced computers and, let’s face it, the price hasn’t made it easy for them to even try. The OLPC Project’s XO Laptop fix this problem, and not just for developed nations, as evidenced by the number of countries which are taking part in the program.
While many news outlets have discussed the effect that the Project will have on developing nations, there has been surprisingly little coverage on the effect it will have in the United States, and the information available on the OLPC wiki isn’t very enlightening. Since I have a lot of interest in the education system here in America, I decided to see if the OLPC staff would answer some questions about the level of interest they have received from US states, and the status of the project in America. They were gracious enough to answer my questions, and help me to gain a better understanding of the OLPC Project in the United States.
Angry Midwesterner: I have a few questions about the XO laptop, specifically about the effect it might have on poorer regions of the USA. I was wondering if it is possible to get information about what states have expressed interest, or in fact committed to buying, the XO laptop?
OLPC Staff Member: 19 states have contacted OLPC for more information and expressing some level of interest in doing the program. OLPC hasn’t disclosed which states because it doesn’t make sense to do so until something concrete happens.
Angry Midwesterner: Completely understandable. Has the organization considered making OLPC’s available not only to countries and states, but to county/city level education programs? If so, when might they be available, if not, would this be considered in the future?
OLPC Staff Member: OLPC’s focus is working with governments of developing nations. OLPC is focused on achieve large scale distribution of laptops and that is best handled at this level. OLPC does not have the resources to work with lots of individual county/city level education programs. There may be exceptions to this now and then but generally OLPC wants to focus on the largest possible distribution.
Angry Midwesterner: Thanks, one last question. If a county or city wanted to obtain laptops for their students, could they use your Give Many program to
direct them to a city or county school system, like perhaps the City of Chicago Public Schools, or Champaign County Public Schools?
OLPC Staff Member: I think they could but depending on the quantity they’d probably want to just work directly with OLPC.
Angry Midwesterner: Thanks for all of your help. I’ve really appreciated your talking with us, and answering our questions.
It’s great to know that the folks working on the OLPC have in fact been working directly with US states, and have mechanisms in place to work with city and county school boards, should the need arise. While some states, such as Maine and Georgia, have instituted laptop programs, and at least 17 other states have started investigating the OLPC, education has long been a rather local issue in the USA. Most school boards, while beholden to the states, are rather independent, a fact that is all too apparent when one looks at the variation in quality of education present within any given states. Some areas, such as the Mississippi Delta region are so impoverished that they sometimes resemble underdeveloped countries. It’s a sad fact that Americans everywhere don’t have access to the same standard of education, a fact that projects such as the OLPC could help to change.
In addition to providing children with a tool for learning technology, the OLPC has many other exciting applications. Imagine the cost savings to school districts if they could purchase textbooks in e-book format, instead of print format? Suddenly textbook life spans are extended by huge margins, and the cost of each individual book drops dramatically, allowing teachers to order additional resources for their students. Locker space could be reduced as well, as students now don’t have to manage a pile of seven thick text books, only their XO Laptop, which they bring with them to every class anyway. Given the model of student ownership for each laptop, it’s not too hard to see how this model extends beyond Elementary School, but instead provides the student with a machine that could last them until High School and beyond.
Of course the truly exciting fact is that the XO Laptop is available for us to purchase through the Give 1 Get 1 promotion which runs until December 31st, 2007.
For $399 ($200 of which is tax deductable) you can not only receive an XO laptop for yourself, but also give one to a needy child. It’s a brilliant idea in my opinion, and I hope they get a lot of interest. I know I’m interested. This is a great option for individuals looking to develop for the XO Laptop, or for those of us who simply would like a durable, portable machine, tablet, and e-book reader with an outstanding battery life. T-Mobile has chipped in for the program too, and sweetened the deal by offering a year of free Wi-Fi service at any T-Mobile hotspot.
I have my fingers crossed that this project will be the huge success it promises to be. If it is adopted as readily and widely as it should be in the USA, it will help to equip young Americans from varied backgrounds and income levels to compete in the global technology market of the future, and help to reduce the cost of operations for each individual school, freeing up additional resources that can be used to outfit other needy sectors of education, such as properly outfitting science labs, and building maintenance. Keep up the good work OLPC, the future depends on you.
-Angry Midwesterner
1 – Photo by Jim Gettys, used under permission of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.
2 – Photo by Mike McGregor, used under permission of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.
December 4, 2007 at 5:36 pm
AM wrote:
###So unless you’ve been living under a rock (link to my rants), you’ve probably heard of the One Laptop Per Child project, aka OLPC. ###
Oh! Wound! Wound!
As I said, I had in fact heard of the project, just not the abbreviation. If I kept track of all the alphabet soup used in the world, I’d spend all my time doing that. In far too many cases, there are multiple meanings for the same alphabet soup, or very close ones that show up.
In any event, I don’t relentlessly read the internet in general or tech forums in particular, ’cause, well, I’m busy IRL…. 🙂
December 4, 2007 at 5:48 pm
But MPA, as an academic aren’t you supposed to be contributing to the alphabet soup? I think you now have an intellectual duty to create some new concept that uses OLPC as its acronym.
December 4, 2007 at 5:52 pm
AOC wrote:
###But MPA, as an academic aren’t you supposed to be contributing to the alphabet soup? I think you now have an intellectual duty to create some new concept###
Alphabet soup sucks. There’s just no two ways about it. There is way, way too much of it and I won’t be a part of it if I can at all help it.
December 4, 2007 at 9:54 pm
AM,
I would like to thank you for the wonderful post, particularly the quotes from the interview with an OLPC rep. It’s definitely a reminder of how we can overlook some issue stateside for the same issue across the Atlantic (or Pacific, depending on direction and inclination)
December 4, 2007 at 10:21 pm
That’s very nobel idea laptop for evry kid under $100.
http://www.kszysiek.wordpress.com
December 4, 2007 at 10:31 pm
When I taught high school English, my school provided me with a laptop cart containing a laptop and wifi for each student. In addition to doing research for English literature, they learned technology skills such as managing files, using and creating custom tool bars, and advanced word processing. Their assignments were submitted electronically into a folder, to which I had access. I simply opened and graded making comments with the reviewing toolbar and then saved the paper. The student could then view it. In addition, the laptops left me free to write my own curriculum in CD form, the advantage being the availability of material on the Internet. We had a very forward-thinking head master.
December 4, 2007 at 11:07 pm
How I see the OLPC bridging the R/P (Rich Poor) divide…
Having experienced what a chunk of plastic and metal wired wirelessly to the world economy can do to a person, I am watching how the OLPC unfold closely.
The situation paints a striking semblance to giving the child a key, but not knowing which door it unlocks. When the sunsets, he is still left wandering on the street, holding the key. In hunger.
The critical component here is the timely education for the laptop recipient on the powerful potential, when Technology meets Leverage in a Low Cost, Massive Exposure environment. The Internet.
When that happens, Knowledge becomes Wealth.
With that, I am thankful for the abundance in life that internet marketing have given me. All made possible because of this internet thingy.
Well done OLPC!
It’s time to crawl out of the rock and feel the sunshine.
December 4, 2007 at 11:44 pm
This is a seriously cool project, i think it was just on 60 minutes. i think it really should get more press, so i applaud you for bringing it up and getting such a positive response, now if the kids can get these laptops, that would be really positive.
December 5, 2007 at 11:18 am
While wandering around WordPress, I came across this cool article on a blog about Squeak, an open-source Smalltalk implementation bundled with OLPC:
http://news.squeak.org/2007/12/05/demand-olpc/
For some discussion of the software side of things.
December 5, 2007 at 11:46 am
paisleyandplaid wrote:
###In addition to doing research for English literature, they learned technology skills such as managing files, using and creating custom tool bars, and advanced word processing.###
A few things on computer skills:
(1) Just so long as students are learning skills, not cookbook stuff, that’s great. Far too often “computer” lessons become “how to use Product X” lessons with no general principles being taught at all.
(2) As a collegiate instructor, I am always floored at the shocking level of ignorance among students. I always try to require something involving custom graphing because, duh, this is a really important skill and something you only get good at through practice (much like writing, which they’re not asked to do much these days either). Far too often, people just use canned routines and program defaults without thinking about what they want their graphs to say. I once had a student say to me, “I really don’t know much about this technology stuff.” I asked her how old she was. The answer was “21”. My reply was, “Seriously, do you think that computers and computer skills are going to become LESS important in the next fifty or so years of your working life? Now’s the time to learn.” I’m pretty sure she was there for an MRS degree and I got a classic gaze avoidance back.
December 7, 2007 at 3:54 am
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January 23, 2009 at 12:34 am
[…] January 23, 2009 Over-hyped Laptop Project Closes? Posted by mildlypiquedacademician under Mildly Piqued Academician Rants, Technology So it was a bit over a year ago that one of our number waxed downright poetic over the OLPC—One Laptop Per Child—project. […]