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OLPC's UI To Be Kid-Tested In February

Posted by kdawson on from the nice-day-in-the-neighborhood dept.

dfoulger writes "The AP is reporting that kid testing of Negroponte's '$100 Laptop' starts in February. This article is some of the first mainstream coverage of just how different the user interface of the XO Computer is — it ditches the traditional office metaphors in favor of a 'neighborhood' and an activity-based journaling approach. Video of Sugar, as the UI is called, has been out on the net for a while, and Popular Science recently gave the color / monochrome display a 'Grand Award' in its 2006 technology roundup. What do you think of this new UI?"

5 of 140 comments (clear)

  1. URL Bar by duguk · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I've just watched the video and it looks fairly good.

    Why is there no URL bar? It explains there isn't one but why not? Seems a bit of a problem for visiting specific sites as you'd have to use Google for everything it seems.

    Monkeyboi

  2. Re:How about reading and writing? by zr-rifle · · Score: 3, Interesting

    What does the laptop have to do with the Montessori method? If the Montessori method is inferior, why has a 2006 study proven that Montessori students averagely perform better?

    --
    Hack your mind out of its sandbox.
  3. Re:How about reading and writing? by Phil-14 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I was unaware that the current US educational system had anything to do with Montessori methods to begin with.

    --
    (currently testing something about signatures here)
  4. Wrong focus by PurifyYourMind · · Score: 4, Interesting

    They need to test with adults. There's a reason there's a cliche of "my kid fixed the VCR, computer, etc."--because kids' brains are sponges for new stimuli. They're still forming their how-the-world-works schemas and can easily adapt to new things. Adults, even ones who haven't used computers, are going to have more fixed ways of going about things, less willing to learn new concepts, less patient, less curious (just as a general rule.. I've known some older people who are insatiable learners).

  5. Re:How about reading and writing? by mysticgoat · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Maybe I'm just a fundamentalist, but children first need to learn basic skills like reading and writing.

    And why does parent post think this excludes learning with a computer?

    My daughter enjoyed programs I wrote in Applesoft on an Apple ][ that helped her learn her alphabet and basic counting when she was 3 and 4 years old. She was reading before she entered first grade.

    Certainly the most critical part of it was her mother schooling her. But she also has vivid and pleasant memories of playing with that old Apple. The computer was of definite value to her as part of a broad learning experience.

    There can be no question that the OLPC computers will be an incredibly valuable adjunct in teaching kids the basic skills of literacy, and of how to learn.