Wayan Vota replied with his insightful comments , but only to the TIER
list, so pasting his reply here below in {}, so change list folks can
also see it.
{
Oui. Ashish, I certainly have a different opinion that you on the
Raspberry Pi. Let me respond to a few of your points inline...
Just came across news, that Raspberry Pi GPU outperforms iphone 4s's
gpu by 2x & also outperforms Nvidia's Tegra2.
This device has amazing potential to create low-cost PCs for children
in the developing world & encourage programming the world over.
I am unsure how processing power relates to low-cost PCs. The Pi is
simply a CPU. No screen, no keyboard, no human accessible I/O of any
sort. Not even digital storage the last time I checked. So all those
need to be added. But the result is not in a clean form factor like
an iPhone, iPad, or even modular desktop. Just a bunch of wires. I
don't see that lasting long in a hot, dusty room with many, many
grubby hands.
I am curious to know what other people think of XO3 vs Raspberry Pi Vs
Aakash (the Indian govt.'s low cost tablet)
Well the Pi vs. the OLPC in education is pretty easy - I wrote about
that already here:
The $25 Raspberry Pi is 3.14x More Useless than XO Laptops
http://www.olpcnews.com/sales_talk/competition/the_25_raspberry_pi_computer_i.html
3. From a pedagogical viewpoint, IMHO, i think younger kids should not
have a digital device 24x& as they can get "addicted" to it . It is
more important to impart a sense of curiosity & learning, & having an
XO3 might hamper other social activities - going outdoors & playing
with other kids
So i feel younger kids could be exposed to low-cost computers( made of
a RP hi) in school, which are low cost & encourage tinkering (open
source, simple inexpensive hw)
while elder (say high school kids can get their own personal XO3
Actually, you have it the wrong way around. It would be best for
younger children to have an XO-typoe device so they could explore and
learn concepts, ideas, and basic mental concepts within the safe
environment of a fully contained computer. Once they are old enough
to understand the parts, to grasp programming, they could graduate to
the bits and pieces.
Yet, i think you are going down the wrong path in your overall goal.
It should not be to try and create a new cadre of programmers. That's
not going to happen. There are only x amount of potential programmers
that exist in the world's children, where X is a very small
percentage. Showering the world with Pi's will not magically increase
that number, just as showering the world with play doctor kits will
not magically create more doctors.
4. From an Indian perspective, i wish the Indian govt scraps the
crappy Aakash tablet in favour of the XO3.
Actually, the Aakash has a lot going for it on the technology side:
http://www.ictworks.org/news/2012/01/23/47-aakash-android-tablet-will-revolutionize-internet-access
But if you want to put it or the OLPC into education, well, you'll
fail with both as you are thinking hardware is the solution, as I
explained here:
http://wayan.com/ict4d/the-35-aakash-tablet-olpc.html
Or as Richard Rowe explains here:
https://edutechdebate.org/creating-electronic-educational-content/we-need-a-three-legged-stool/
The XO3 comes with 802.11b/g &s(mesh) & the concept of school servers,
so kids can download learning content even if access to the larger
public Internet is not available.
Aakash has GPRS( much slower) & RPi supports wired ethernet & USB Wifi dongles.
Both of these points are irrelevant. It doesn't matter if one
connects via shoe strings and tin cans and the other is on fiber.
What actually matters is a trained and motivated teacher, empowered
with relevant and engaging content, able to have personalized
interactions with an attentive and excited student. ICT like the Pi,
XO, or Aakash, can play a facilitative role in this interaction - but
just that. The key is still wetware - humans, not hardware.
Wayan
--
...............................................................
Wayan Vota
Senior Director
Inveneo: http://inveneo.org
Email: wayan at inveneo.org
Mobile: +1.202.746.8269
Skype/Yahoo IM: wayan_vota
...............................................................
Start your day with ICTworks
http://www.ictworks.org
}
On Thu, Jan 26, 2012 at 10:10 PM, Rahul Banerjee
<banerjee at cs.washington.edu> wrote:
> (not spamming everybody, since I'm not really adding anything that
> hasn't already been said before)
>
> @Yaw: I remember starting the "Aakash" thread and this is the same
> thing all over again.
>
> @Manish: Good points, and ultimately, it is the supporting ecosystem
> around the product (availability/subsidy, support, tutoring/mentoring,
> specially-designed curriculum) that will decide how successful it is
> in helping improve underprivileged/needy kids' future. Personally
> speaking, I want one of those -- it looks like an awesome platform for
> hobbyists/DIY'ers!
>
>
> --
> Rahul
>
> On Thu, Jan 26, 2012 at 9:01 PM, Yaw Anokwa <yanokwa at cs.washington.edu>
> wrote:
>> Ashish,
>>
>> I don't think it's because of the lack of a powerful GPU that schools
>> in low-income areas are failing. I also don't think the ubiquity of
>> computing devices translates to everyone learning how to tinker and
>> becoming programmers.
>>
>> I do think you hinted at the real problems. How does one impart a
>> sense of curiosity and a love of learning to a child? How do we
>> generate relevant (and language-specific) content that provably
>> educates students at scale? We can barely do all that in the West with
>> all the money and technology we have, so how can we do it in a rural
>> school in India where we have yet to solve teacher absenteeism?
>>
>> Don't get me wrong. I love to think big, I love technology, and I'm
>> optimistic that we can have some impact on the problems the world
>> faces, but let's pick the right problem to solve and not get ahead of
>> ourselves. From television to the Simputer, history is littered with
>> educational technologies with infinite promise and zero impact on
>> changing the fortunes of the poor.
>>
>> https://edutechdebate.org has lots of resources that do this topic
>> justice. Might be a good place for those interested in this problem to
>> start looking...
>>
>> Yaw
>>
>> On Thu, Jan 26, 2012 at 05:20, ashish makani <ashish.makani at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>> Hi Folks
>>>
>>> Just came across news, that Raspberry Pi GPU outperforms iphone 4s's
>>> gpu by 2x & also outperforms Nvidia's Tegra2.
>>>
>>> http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-raspberry-pi-gpu-outperforms-iphone-4s
>>>
>>> This device has amazing potential to create low-cost PCs for children
>>> in the developing world & encourage programming the world over.
>>>
>>> Detailed interview with Eben Upton, RPi's executive director (free
>>> registration required)
>>> http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/digitalfoundry-inside-raspberry-pi
>>>
>>> I am curious to know what other people think of XO3 vs Raspberry Pi Vs
>>> Aakash (the Indian govt.'s low cost tablet)
>>>
>>> http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8428147.stm
>>> http://asia.cnet.com/what-can-we-learn-from-the-olpc-xo-3-0-tablet-62213156.htm
>>>
>>> 1. Raspberry Pi(RPi) requires monitor + mouse +k/b while XO3 is
>>> self-contained.
>>> 2. RPi is more geared to be a lab machine or a home pc while XO3 is
>>> more of a personal device.
>>>
>>> 3. From a pedagogical viewpoint, IMHO, i think younger kids should not
>>> have a digital device 24x& as they can get "addicted" to it . It is
>>> more important to impart a sense of curiosity ?& learning, & having an
>>> XO3 might hamper ?other social activities - going outdoors & playing
>>> with other kids.
>>>
>>> So i feel younger kids could be exposed to low-cost computers( made of
>>> a RP hi) in school, which are low cost & encourage tinkering (open
>>> source, simple inexpensive hw)
>>> while elder (say high school kids can get their own personal XO3
>>>
>>> 4. From an Indian perspective, i wish the Indian govt scraps the
>>> crappy Aakash tablet in favour of the XO3.
>>>
>>> http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2012/01/08/the-inside-story-of-indias-50-computer-tablet/
>>> http://phonemantra.com/2012/01/olpc-india-head-rips-into-aakash-calls-it-pre-beta-and-questions-its-indian-ness/
>>>
>>> The vast majority of schools in India are run by the govt & most govt.
>>> schools dont have a computer lab or the computers:students ratio is
>>> abysmal
>>>
>>> 5. Internet connectivity
>>>
>>> http://laptop.org/en/laptop/hardware/specs.shtml
>>> http://www.raspberrypi.org/faqs
>>> http://www.akashtablet.com/
>>>
>>> The XO3 comes with 802.11b/g &s(mesh) & the concept of school servers,
>>> so kids can download learning content even if access to the larger
>>> public Internet is not available.
>>>
>>> Aakash has GPRS( much slower) & RPi ?supports wired ethernet & USB Wifi
>>> dongles.
>>>
>>> Exciting times ahead for sure & would love to hear from other people.
>>>
>>> cheers
>>> ashish
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> change mailing list
>>> change at change.washington.edu
>>> http://changemm.cs.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/change
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> change mailing list
>> change at change.washington.edu
>> http://changemm.cs.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/change
