and the debate goes on, i wonder what is the best method to introduce technology in schools,
*Alejandro Lavarello - OLPC: How Not to Run a Laptop Program*<http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/EducationalTechnologyDebate/~3/DqqNGtnJ-kU/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email> Posted: 26 May 2010 08:22 PM PDT Hi, Satish. Where do you live? I say you what I see. I am a parent and my daughter uses a XO, and we have seen the Plan Ceibal in reality, not in papers, like you. From official Plan Ceibal's statistics, 19% of XO are broken 6 months after gived. And my little neighbor, Milagros, 8 years old, have broked his XO and nobody of his family has money for repair it. Poor childrens are the first to not use XO because Xo breaks. I have see this, nobody told me. Poor childrens in my country, and in other countries needs things more basics than computers. Here, the money spent in Plan Ceibal was not used to give better health and education; the school buildings continues deteriorating. Looks like the world you want is different to the world that good will people wants. You want computers; I want first food, health and education for all, and then computers. If my country had a lot of money, the four things will be simultaneous; but we need to choose. And my government have choosed bad. To 100m of our house, a girl 10 years was with her 5 years old brother in her lap. In the lap of her brother, they have a XO. With girl's right hand, she manages the XO; with girl's left hand, she removes lice from her brothers head. In a context of dirtness and poverty. This is the real postal for Plan Ceibal. And, I suggest what you check your numbers about total cost of ownership. Here, a used Pentium 4 with monitor costs U$S250 with taxes; with your U$S1.000, anyone can afford 4 PCs. A government, in a massive buy, can obtain better prices. You find replacement parts and people capable of repairing standard PCs everywhere. With standard informatics clashrooms, you can use the same PC for 2 students, one in morning, other in afternoon. And you can evaluate each student progress. In the other side, the XO, dependent of Qantas monopoly, need a wireless infrastructure, and a dedicated repair infrastructure. And nobody evaluates what each children learn. And here the XO are flashed 3 or 4 times for year, because software malfuncion and progressive slowing. The internal flash memory of XO is rated for 3 years, not 5. The self-learning paradigm used by Negroponte et al. for selling us the XO is the least democratic learning system. The most intelligent students learn, and the others.. nobody evaluates what they learn. Well, Satish, I think that you have good intentions, and I tell you what I think. Have a good day! alejandro.lavarello (at) gmail (dot) com -- The real danger is not that computers will begin to think like men, but that men will begin to think like machines.
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