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Linux Handhelds in African Schools

Posted by timothy on from the all-depends-on-execution dept.

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."

10 of 148 comments (clear)

  1. Multilingual by tagish · · Score: 5, Informative

    The EduVision site is available in German, English and Swahili.

    No it isn't. Only the English link works. Quality fact checking as ever :)

    --
    Andy Armstrong
  2. Wish we had these... by Tavor · · Score: 5, Interesting

    When I was in Fifth grade, I would have loved having a computer issued to me. Would have greatly furthered my abilities as far as computers go. Of course, there are many problems with this. Textbooks don't run out of batteries, which can be a problem sometimes in rural, third world areas. Think about it, these old textbooks aren't updatable, but they have lasted much longer than these handhelds will likely will. Also, here in the United States we sometimes had more technology in the classroom than our teachers knew what to do with, and that canbe a problem as the students here likely have never seen such devices before. There will be no 'geek-students' to help the teacher, after the Company man leaves. Upgrading from books so soon, when we are still using books in America sounds like a double-edged sword to me.

    --
    Windows has detected an undetectable error.
    1. Re:Wish we had these... by millwall · · Score: 5, Insightful

      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.

  3. Hard to see it working well in practice by NerdConspiracy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

    1. Re:Hard to see it working well in practice by R.Caley · · Score: 4, Insightful
      Paper/similar materials has been working, oh, for a few THOSAND of year!

      Also has a much better user interface, hence the, er, remarkable sucess of electronic book systems in the developed world. Also books are an environmental win, while any electronic system will be an environmental loss.

      OTOH, paper has a shorter lifetime in the hands of a 10 year old than a ruggedised electronic gadget should, so it's not obvious this is a silly idea. It will depend on the costs.

      These are clearly based on the old Zarus models, so the development and tooling costs to make them were presumably nil plus the ruggedisation. The networking infrastructure is now mass produced and probably relativly cheap.

      So it will come down to the expected costs of supplying up to date text books in all subjects, year on year over the lifetime of the hardware.

      It probably replaces some writing materials and testing/exam infrastructure too.

      On the whole though I suspect they'd be better off using the money to pay the teachers more, and maybe paying the parents of older kids to allow them to stay longer in school when they could be working.

      --
      _O_
      .|<       The named which can be named is not the true named
  4. /me smacks forehead by tomstdenis · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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

    --
    Someday, I'll have a real sig.
    1. Re:/me smacks forehead by TrappedByMyself · · Score: 5, Insightful

      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?

      --

      Help me take back Slashdot. When did 'News for Nerds' become 'FUD and Conspiracy Theories for Extremist Nutjobs'?
  5. Kenya != whole of africa by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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!

  6. What about Wikipedia? by RyoSaeba · · Score: 4, Insightful

    They mention Google digitized books, but they could also grab content from http://www.wikipedia.org/ - after all, that's what GFDL is for!
    Ok, some will argue quality / neutrality / completeness isn't guaranteed on all articles - i'll say it's better'an nothing [and biaises exist in every material / textbook]

    --
    Tsuyoikoto ha taisetsu da ne, dakedo namida mo hitsuyousa (Strength is an important thing, but tears too are necessary)
  7. Am I getting old... by crypty · · Score: 4, Funny

    Its amazing how far things are getting at this stage... My hats off to the fine people who are out to make this sort of education possible for kids around the world. Its just a tad scarey that in my day we only had home made paint and a cave wall... although there was that posh kid with his abacus.

    --
    "Carpe Noctem"