I wanted to share that we have faced the same criticisms in our school
regarding the XOs. For the last four years, the teachers and students have
complained that the devices do not connect well or reliably to our wireless
network.
Obviously, in our case, we have a wireless network and essentially continuous
access to the internet. But, what I have had to fight against is that this is
the most basic use of any computing device.
The only way I have been able to stem this tide is to come up with projects and
programs that made use of the XOs as standalone or mesh networked devices. For
example, we have done a lot with Memorize and Etoys and Scratch (and beginning
to work with TurtleBlocks). I have found that once the students and teachers
are involved with these activities, the internet stuff goes away.
But the bigger point that is missed in the story, and the broader conversation,
is that the XOs and Sugar tap into non-traditional methods of teaching and
learning. When this invisible line is crossed, real magic happens. It is the
conversations which illuminate this invisible line that is tough.
I grew-up in a world before google and before the internet but after computers
became affordable by homes. We had different expectations of these devices.
This is something that affect the teachers, kids and media pundits today: they
have seen (even in the remoter parts of the world) 'high speed computers with
always-on internet with shiny video game worlds'. The is a good thing and bad
thing. It means that they know an end-point that they want to reach but are
unsatisfied with what they have. But they don't know what I and others of my
age knew -- the learning and imagination that was done with disconnected clunky
machines with 8-bit graphics. Which is sort-of what the XO appears to be by
comparison. And also the fact that learning with computers is not the same as
playing world of warcraft and you can do the former with an XO and don't need a
3GHZ pentium 7 with the latest video card.
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