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Australian Government Backs OLPC
angry tapir writes "One Laptop Per Child Australia had a win in the recent Australian budget, receiving federal government funding for the first time. OLPC Australia will benefit from $11.7 million of funding, which will be used to purchase 50,000 laptops to distribute to students. The organization recently launched a new initiative that builds an educational ecosystem around the laptops, to help integrate them into the learning process."
that's around $234 a piece, for that amount you can get a netbook with better specs compared to olpc
This is exactly what the OLPC was made for - distribution in third world countries!
But seriously, it always makes me angry when I see the notebook computers that some schools force their students to use. Big heavy 15" models are stupid to be carried every single day even by adults, let alone small children. You would think that inexpensive, small netbooks should be a no-brainer.
The goal of OLPC was to produce a sub-hundred dollar netbook to be distributed to the poor at a price point where charity is possible. This a $234 dollar laptop. Not only is this greater than the $100 goldilocks price point, but their for profit competitors are now cheaper!
Once you hand out a computer to everybody, you can expect them to use it. You can start sending assignments per email, or require the to do online research without having to first check if every time if all your pupils have access to a computer.
Well it's a token effort, being about 1% of the $1.5B surplus for which the government is budgeting.
Still, it's a tax deduction for those who'd channel money into the noble cause of the education of Aboriginal children.
In perspective, the current cyncism is that the government is vote-bribing parents of teenage children to the tune of $820. Hence buying an OLPC for a few kids in the bush is comparative pocket change.
I'm sorry to say, but this will turn to shit.
My daughter was part Kevin 07s laptop trial program a couple of years ago in a Victorian primary school.
They gave every student in her year a netbook for $150 with everything on it. Win 7, Office etc. and they used them in just about every class.
It was a really, really good initiative.... until they broke.
The schools had enough seed money to pay a tech to come in and set them up initially, after that there was no more support. Teachers who were technically minded had to resolve network issues and hardware failures themselves - and handle the backlog of netbooks from kids of teachers who had no idea.
The netbooks were on the education networks, so they were locked down so tightly that parents who were technically minded, couldn't do anything to fix them.
In the end kids had to share machines in class and broken netbooks didn't get fixed.
These could be wonderful programs, but the politicians (as usual) just don't give a shit once the ribbon has been cut and the photo op is gone.
No tech support in the schools means no program - its pretty simple really.
Using an OLPC to teach repair is just so flat out stupid I could spit. Teaching a student how to take apart and put together a specific laptop (keyboard, screen, case, mainboard) that has all of the complexity of an eight piece lego set is pointless. Better off, collect random broken toasters, provide tools, and challenge the students to put together one that can toast bread.
Because they are hell to write on. The only way to input any substantial amount of text is with a keyboard (external or dock) which negates most of those advantages of the tablet. In return for possibly lighter hardware the school gets to desk with a lack of software and greater cost.
Give a family that makes 5 grand a year because the dad is a meth addict and the mom is a compulsive gambler (this is just one of the stories I've heard from students) hardware worth (figure 2-3 kids per family, even low end laptops add up) $500 at the pawn shop and what do you think will happen?
I was thinking along the lines of other posters that I'd spend the money on standard hardware instead of a OLPC device, until I read your comment.
I do agree with your comments (and others) who have said that simply handing out laptops to everyone isn't a magic cure, it does seem worth pointing out that going for OLPC rather than something you'd get at a local computer store will help mitigate the risk of the devices being sold off or disappearing because a OLPC device isn't going to be worth anything like $500 at the local pawn broker. And the low purchase price would make replacing lost devices (slightly) easier.
Yes, meth addicts would still pawn it for the $20 they'd get instead, but that scenario is very close to one end of the bell curve. Other struggling families that would pawn it for $500 (because that would feed them for a month) aren't going to pawn it for $20.
The point is not to teach computer repair per se, but to ensure that users are able to repair their OLPC and thus save maintenance costs for the program as they don't have to sent someone out.
Unfortunately and shamefully many Aboriginal Communities in the outback have health and other standards that are 3rd world.
Here are a couple of links:
* http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/304648/olpc_boosts_outback_education_laptop_deployment/ (2012)
* http://www.itnews.com.au/News/300029,indigenous-communities-get-olpc-boost.aspx (2009)
And some research by Gina Milgate to put it into context.