by Rosalie Klein
This morning, Fred Nuboer, representing Kiwanis Club of Palm Beach, introduced to island media Frits Hoff of OpenWijs.nl, educational brokers out of Maastrict, Holland, and Professor Dr. Frederik Questier, Coordinator for Educational Innovation & the Educational Service Center of the Free University of Brussel.
The gentlemen are in Aruba to introduce educators and government educational administrators, as well as students and their parents, to the One Laptop Per Child, or OLPC program founded by MIT Professor Nicholas Negroponte in 2002.
Negroponte experienced first-hand how laptops transformed the lives of children and their families in a remote Cambodian village. A seed was planted: If every child in the world had access to a computer, what potential could be unlocked? One result was the design of a specialized XO laptop, which Mr. Hoff demonstrated to island media on Thursday.
The laptop was designed at MIT with the express goal of creating a sturdy, economical computer that could eventually be distributed to every elementary school child in developing countries; literally an educational revolution. “We have already seen remarkable results in Nepal, where they suffered terrible attendance-less than 40%- and lack of interest, partly due to the low level of training of the majority of the teachers. The program distributed 2,000 of these special laptops among the schools, and in a short time we found that attendance increased to nearly 100%. The children were also spending more time at school when classes were done; they were stimulated and engaged, as were their teachers.”
The XO
Tonight, a presentation will be made to the parents and administration of the Mon Plasir Elementary School, which, along with the Cristo Rey School, will hopefully be a venue for the six-month pilot project using the XO laptop.
The XO laptop is engaging and colorful for youngsters, as well as sporting a particularly strong construction to withstand the punishment it needs to endure, because as their promotion video states “Kids are – well, kids.” Mr. Hoff demonstrated how that even though it looks like a toy, many aspects are state of the art, such as the screen, which can be easily seen in bright sunlight, unlike most LCD screens, and also that it is weather-resistant, so can withstand spills or getting caught in the rain. “Each XO laptop has a different logo,” he pointed out, “so that when they are closed a child can identify their computer by their particular colors.” Along with the XO, Kiwanis of Palm Beach is presenting other alternatives for the program, as the XO has a smaller keyboard-excellent for little hands-but perhaps as children get older, a bit unwieldy. Because of its construction, the laptop has a greater life expectancy than alternatives, five years compared to two, so it could last a child through elementary school from first grade to graduation.
XO screen compared to other LCD in bright sunlight
One very attractive element of the program is the price of the XO laptop, $190, which is half of the next affordable model. This includes Wi-Fi, and the ability for the teacher to broadcast material to all the students from their computer, with programming that allows the students to interact with the material from their desktop. Other interesting features of the XO are that it is manufactured of recycled materials, which are all child safe and contains no dangerous chemicals. The XO also uses very little power and is rechargeable by solar power, making it practical for children in rural and undeveloped areas. Uruguay has come onboard for the program, having recently purchased 305,000 XO laptops for all their primary schools, and over thirty countries now participate in the OLPC program.
OLPC states it is “not, at heart, a technology program, nor is the XO a product in any conventional sense of the word. OLPC is a non-profit organization providing a means to an end—an end that sees children in even the most remote regions of the globe being given the opportunity to tap into their own potential, to be exposed to a whole world of ideas, and to contribute to a more productive and saner world community.” For more information about the program and the laptops, visit their website: http://laptop.org/en/index.shtml.
A program such as this would signify a redesigning of lesson plans and teaching methods, and Mr. Hoff and Dr. Questier acknowledged they have been conferring with administrators and educators at the Aruba’s teacher-training institute, IPA, and they are very interested in cooperating regarding the necessary innovations. Incorporating the computers into the classroom environment but maintaining the teacher as a leader and instigator to their use, while encouraging individual exploration and advancement will be key in optimally exploiting this learning tool.
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