Linux Handhelds in African Schools

blastard writes "Seems some students will be getting to use their Linux handhelds in school without getting into trouble. BBCNews has a story on fifth-graders in Kenya who will be using "E-slates" from EduVision. The EduVision site is available in German, English and Swahili."

Comments

Re:Wish we had these...

[millwall]

There will be no 'geek-students' to help the teacher, after the Company man leaves.

I dont think you should underestimate children in any part of the world.

Give computers to a group of school kids in Dallas, Tokyo, Africa or anywhere and one or two curious of them will understand the in and outs of them in notime.

Hard to see it working well in practice

[NerdConspiracy]

Nice idea in theory but oh so many problems in practice.

The main one is the complexity of the system. I can't imagine primary schools in rural areas in Kenya (or for that matter here in US) having the expertise to fix the problems that will surely arise sooner or later.

If the main goal is to give students access to the textbooks, why not simply preload the relevant ones on the handhelds and give them out to the schools, and do away with the whole satellite -> base station -> wireless network -> handheld business.

At what intervals do the textbooks need to be updated/replaced anyway? Probably less that the average lifetime of the handheld computer in the hands of a 10 year old.

/me smacks forehead

[tomstdenis]

bah, waste of time and energy.

I made it through elementary with an apple ][ in the corner of the class. Hell, we weren't allowed to have calculators until trig [e.g. high school or for science classes]. We had to "use our minds" ....You know what "educates" students very well? Interesting and educated teachers.

I [and I'm sure everyone else] has had a teacher at a time that was totally ineffective of getting the lesson plan delivered. No amount of "e-technology" would "e-help" the students "e-absorb" information that they don't "e-want".

Sure having access to computers is good but giving each student their own personal "e-slate" is just stupid. Specially given that the economic state there doesn't support it.

Tom

Re:/me smacks forehead

[TrappedByMyself]

So you propose solving all the big problems first? Solve world hunger before you teach little Jimmy to read?

You're sterotyping the region. Kenya is not Congo or the Sudan. All of Africa is not covered with warmongering natives eating each other's hearts. Do they have the infrastructure of the US? No. But you're argument is like saying that a school in rural Idaho cannot get computers because there are poor people in Mexico. Only fat kids in Western nations can use computers? Or are you just afraid of more outsourcing as yet another part of the world becomes tech savvy?

Kenya != whole of africa

[Anonymous Coward]

Why is it that everytime someone mentions something on slashdot which happens in an african country (Kenya in this case) the post has to mention "Africa" as if it is one country.

Kenya != whole of africa

I live in an "African" country and this seems rediculous to me.

Consider a couple of examples:

If the story is about Americans college students you don't have a title:
Students in North America...

Similarly for a story about something in China or Germany you don't title the story:
Scietists in Asia discover x
or
Scientists in Europe discover y

You you title it:
Scientists in China discover x
and
Scientist in Germany discover y.

The other thing that bugs me is that posters talk as if everyone from "Africa" is mentally handicapped or something.

Change the title to : LINUX handhelds in KENYAN schools!