The $100 laptop was unveiled yesterday at the World Summit on the Information Society in Tunis.
We all have high hopes for it, but as I’ve discussed, there are serious problems with the way Nicholas Negroponte et al. are framing the project. Namely, there’s no talk about how to get teachers to use the things other than the optimistic idea that children will magically learn how to use the computers themselves. Ben Vershbow at if:book has been a determined skeptic about the project, though he also wishes it well:
Good teachers, who know computers, may be able to put the laptops to good use. But somehow I’m getting visions of stacks of unused or busted laptops, cast aside like so many neon bricks.
I’m nervous myself. The stubborn reluctance of Negroponte to talk about pedagogy and content — the things that may make or break this initiative — is worrying.
Also, if Kofi can break the hand-crank we’re in trouble:
A slightly embarrassed Annan inadvertently broke the crank handle of the non-functioning model on display as he left.
Here’s a link to video and images from the event.
Tags: $100 laptop| Negroponte| tunis| wsis
Laptop for every child… now train their teachers
Personally, I have a little more faith in the teachers, in the third world (and forgive the stereotype), teachers are often well respected and take their jobs seriously. So if they are presented with a new tool, they will try their best to use them, …
[...] Amid all the shock and awe of the announcement yesterday with the “Fisher Price” (awe) like laptops being unveiled (and broken – the shock), Josh Levy seems to be the first to point out something that I guess I had taken for granted that would happen in part because I always harp on it anyway. Now that the children have the tools, how are they going to be used. I’m sure we can’t have the MIT Team head out to the field with every deployment, so there is going to have to be some serious PD along with these things. Granted, there are many teachers out there that will take these in stride. But as Josh points out, Ben Vershbow, a critic of the program sees that these laptops may end up as “so many neon blocks”. [...]