Hi All, Well for education, as with anything, there is a limited amount of resources available. However this does not mean one or the other - there are various forms of blended learning.
In my humble opinion the answer to persuade people is very simple - independent research. Look concretely at what are the objectives of the education system supposed to be? To impart a certain core body of knowledge? To impart certain skills (learn learning?). To enable children to think creatively? To enable children to become productive employable members of society? Now devise measurements of those factors and compare. The research has to compare the cost and time required for conventional approaches that could involve teacher training, schools, bricks, to the OLPC / technology enabled approach. School and everyone going to school is a critical social activity - call me old fashioned but my favourite form of kids collaborating is by talking to each other, in person! In reality school time is so short anyway in many developing countries (here in Afghanistan 2 - 2.5hrs/day half the year) that OLPC is a needed supplement to missing human and physical resources. None of what we're looking to accomplish really needs computers. Teachers sufficiently trained and capable with sufficient resources which would take generations could accomplish the task. The question is the relative cost and time to deliver. And it's not just laptops and hardware that one needs - it's content, infrastructure and support. Which can get costly. One piece of research to consider is the appendix to a US Dept of Education "Evaluation of Evidence Based Practices in Online Learning" May 2009 - has a fair bit of discussion. Interestingly enough even where it cites that there is little difference between those taking part in blended or purely online activities and the conventional version that in itself could be evidence of it being at least as effective, which if the bricks and mortar are not there, is a big improvement. Hope that helps. Regards, -Mike On Tue, 2010-12-07 at 12:28 +0700, Kim Rose wrote: > Why does it have to be one or the other -- "instead"??????? I'd build > a case to try to find a way of supporting both. > > Kim Rose > Viewpoints Research > > On Dec 6, 2010, at 3:18 AM, Timothy Falconer wrote: > > > Hi all, > > > > A favor: help me make this case (or refute it) as we prepare once > > more for Haiti ... "spend money on training & laptops instead bricks > > and mortar". > > > > http://waveplace.com/news/blog/archive/001035.jsp > > > > Thanks, > > Tim > > > > -- > > Timothy Falconer > > Waveplace Foundation > > http://waveplace.org > > + 1 610 797 3100 x33 > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > squeakland mailing list > > [email protected] > > http://lists.squeakland.org/mailman/listinfo/squeakland > _______________________________________________ Olpc-open mailing list [email protected] http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/olpc-open
