Title:OLPC: Una forma de imperialismo / A form of imperialism
ISSN: 1853-3302
Source: Síntesis Educativa
Date (published): 25/01/2011
Date (accessed): 18/09/2011
Type of information: interview
Language: Spanish / English (via Google Translate)
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
"Síntesis Educativa: Profesor Winner, ¿cuál es su evaluación del modelo "una computadora por alumno" en términos pedagógicos, y de las propuestas de Nicholas Negroponte contenidas en su programa OLPC?
Langdon Winner:En tanto el modelo educativo contenido en "una computadora por alumno" y otros programas similares puede parecer nuevo e "innovador", se trata tan sólo de la muestra más reciente de una muy antigua obsesión, un acercamiento que ya ha fracasado repetidamente. En su libro "Maestros y Máquinas", Larry Cuban, profesor de Educación en la Universidad de Stanford, explica el patrón que viene aplicándose hace décadas. Primero aparecen los comerciantes con un nuevo producto para vender: películas, grabaciones, televisión, computadoras, etcétera. Le llevan sus productos a los burócratas educativos y los convencen de que se aproxima una "revolución tecnológica" y que es su deber ser parte de ella. Luego, los administradores escolares compran las máquinas, a menudo con enorme sacrificio, y las imponen a las escuelas de sus jurisdicciones. En la mayoría de los casos, los maestros, los alumnos y las personas en las escuelas y en las comunidades son instruídas sobre los cambios que se avecinan. OLPC reproduce fielmente este terrible patrón, donde la tecnología educativa es promovida no porque haya una clara idea sobre su valor para la enseñanza o el aprendizaje, sino por la promesa de un mercado lucrativo. Muchos maestros son absorbidos porque quieren aparentar "estar al día"."
See the original here: Una forma de imperialismo

"Educational Summary: Professor Winner, what is your assessment of the model "one computer per student" in pedagogical terms, and Nicholas Negroponte Ni proposals contained in the OLPC?
Langdon Winner: While the educational model contained in "one computer per student" and other similar programs may seem new and "innovative", this is just the latest example of a very old obsession, an approach that has failed repeatedly . In his book "Teachers and Machines", Larry Cuban, professor of education at Stanford University, explains the pattern that has been in place for decades. Traders appear first with a new product to sell movies, recordings, television, computers, etc.. They bring their products to educational bureaucrats and convince them that it is approaching a "technological revolution" and that it is his duty to be part of it. Then, school administrators buy the machines, often with great sacrifice, and imposed on schools in their jurisdictions. In most cases, teachers, students and people in schools and communities are educated about the changes ahead. OLPC terrible reproduces this pattern, where educational technology is promoted not because he has a clear idea of ​​its value for teaching or learning, but by the promise of a lucrative market. Many teachers are absorbed because they want to appear "up to date.""
See the original here: A form of imperialism (Google Translate)

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Title: Rwanda: Schools' Laptop Project Gets Security Feature
Author: Frank Kanyesigye
Source: allAfrica.com
Date (published): 08/07/2011
Date (accessed): 22/07/2011
Type of information: article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
"The Ministry of Education, through the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) project has installed a security feature to protect the laptops from theft.

Speaking to The New Times yesterday, the National OLPC Coordinator at the Ministry, Nkubito Bakuramutsa, said that all 65,000 laptops currently in circulation countrywide, will be fitted with a re-flash security software.

He stated that the security software will ensure that the laptops are used in a more effective manner, adding that the feature has triggered the current exercise of visiting schools, checking the laptops, recapturing serial numbers as well as repairing faulty ones.

Bakurumutsa disclosed that the activation of laptops began last week in the Southern Province and will continue until the entire country is covered.

So far, 124 schools and over 61,000 children use of laptops, countrywide."

Title: One-to-one computing in Latin America & the Caribbean
Author: Michael Trucano
Source: EduTech
Publisher: The World Bank Group
Date (published): 21/06/2011
Date (accessed): 13/07/2011
Type of information: blog post
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
"A recent paper from Eugenio Severin and Christine Capota of the Inter-american Development Bank (IDB) surveys an emerging set of initiatives seeking to provide children with their own educational computing devices. While much of the popular consideration of so-called "1-to-1 computing programs" has focused on programs in the United States, Canada, Western Europe and Australia, One-to-One Laptop Programs in Latin America and the Caribbean: Panorama and Perspectives provides a useful primer for English-speaking audiences on what is happening in middle and low income countries like Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, Trinidad & Tobago, Uruguay, and Venezuela."

Title: Frustrations with One Laptop Per Child Initiative
Author: Sam Lanfranco
Source: OLPC News
Date (published): 18/06/2010
Date (accessed): 20/06/2010
Type of information: blog post
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
I have been working in the ICT area since the late 1970's - hence my userID of "lanfran" from back when email names were unix restricted to less than 8 characters. I am a big supporter of (proper) ICT4DEV, yet it was clear from the start that the OLPC strategy was flawed.

There were questions and issues raised when the project was first proposed, and those questions and issues are still being raised. OLPC has never felt it necessary to address the criticisms other than paint a rosy picture of what (maybe) could be done if OLPC could actually saturate developing countries with its computer.

Title: OLPC + FM radio = lessons beamed to computers
Author: Bruce Girard
Source: Radio 2.0 for development
Date (published): 25/02/2010
Date (accessed): 13/03/2010
Type of information: blog post
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
... a project of some students in New Zealand using FM radio to beam lessons to the XO computers used by the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) initiative...There are 1.2 million OLPC laptops now in use, but there remains a big problem – third world countries don’t really have the communications infrastructure to get content out to those laptops in a reliable fashion. Mobile networks often don’t extend into rural areas, satellite and fixed wireless systems are too expensive options. Team Beep came up with a great idea – why not use the readily available FM broadcast frequency to send out a stream of data that can be picked up by a bog standard FM radio.

Title: A story to illustrate the usefulness of DEMML
Author: Grant Sheridan Robertson
Source: DEMML Blog
Date (published): 23/10/2009
Date (accessed): 28/12/2009
Type of information: blog post
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
The Distributable Educational Material Markup Language™ (DEMML™) will be both a free and open XML format for marking up educational material in a highly structured yet incredibly flexible manner and a system for authenticating and distributing that content throughout the world, even to areas that have no internet connection at all. Once distributed, no internet connection is required to use the material either. This material is organized and classified to a degree never before attempted, using what turns out to be a rather simple system of encoding the hierarchical tree of all possible educational material right down to the paragraph level.

Title: How do you evaluate a plan like Ceibal?
Author: Michael Trucano
Source: EduTech
Publisher: The World Bank Group
Date (published): 11/12/2009
Date (accessed): 16/12/2009
Type of information: blog post
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
If you have had your fill of theories and promises about what the widespread diffusion of information and communication technologies (ICTs) might mean for teaching and learning practices across an entire education system and want to see what actual practice looks like, a trip to Montevideo (or better yet, one of the regions outside the Uruguayan capital) should be high on your list.

Under Plan Ceibal (earlier blog post here), Uruguay is the first country in the world to ensure that all primary school students (or at least those in public schools) have their own personal laptop. For free. (The program is being extended to high schools, and, under a different financial scheme, to private schools as well). Ceibal is about more than just 'free laptops for kids', however.

Title: First Experiences with OLPC in European Classrooms
Authors: Martin Ebner, Johannes Dorfinger, Walther Neuper, Christian Safran
Pages: 9 pp.
Source: E-Learn - World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, & Higher Education ; 2009
Date (published): 03/10/2009
Date (accessed): 03/12/2009
Type of information: research paper
Language: English
On-line access: yes (pdf)
Abstract:
The use of laptops in educational settings is discussed by lots of e-Learning researchers for years now. Since 2002 the One Laptop Per Child project (OLPC-project) tries to bring digital devices to developing countries avoiding the increase of the digital gap. Austria has been one of the first countries in the European Union (EU) to start an OLPC-project on its own. The focus was on the use of digital devices in education at a very early stage. Accompanied by a solid research team, bringing teachers, e-learning experts as well as software developer together, a first attempt was established. This publication aims to carry out the description of the prework, the first real life setting and concludes with the experiences of the whole research group. Furthermore it summarizes a recommendation for a transfer of the project to developing countries.
Keyords: OLPC, XO, classroom, e-learning, digital literacy, digital device, children

Title: OLPC Pre-Pilot Evaluation Report (Haiti)
Authors: Emma Näslund-Hadley, Scott Kipp, Jessica Cruz, Pablo Ibarrarán, and
Gita Steiner-Khamsi
Pages: 81 pp.
Source: Education Division Working Papers ; 2
Publisher: Inter American Development Bank
Date (published): 23/07/2009
Date (accessed): 22/11/2009
Type of information: working paper, evaluation report
Language: English
On-line access: yes (pdf)
Abstract:
The Haitian Ministry of Education and Vocational Training (MENFP) has introduced one-to-one computing within the context of constructivist pedagogy—or student-centered learning—in the Haitian primary school system. The XO laptop, an educational tool designed by One Laptop Per Child (OLPC, a nonprofit organization headquartered at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology), was selected as the educational device for the initial implementation of one-to-one computing, which took place during May–July 2008. MENFP carried out the initial implementation as a pre-pilot project conducted in collaboration with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). The purpose of the pre-pilot was to gain experience in preparation for the subsequent pilot project and to ascertain effective teacher preparation by identifying successful training methods and important content to be addressed during teacher training sessions.
A project team consisting of representatives of Teachers College, Columbia University and IDB evaluated the OLPC pre-pilot project. The purpose of the evaluation was to smooth the way for the subsequent implementation of the OLPC pilot project, which will assess the effectiveness of and determine the requirements for the nationwide implementation of one-to-one computing in Haiti.

Title: Carrying data to the field
Author: Ignatz Heinz
Source: ICT Update, Issue 51: October 2009
Publisher: Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU (CTA)
Date (published): October 2009
Date (accessed): 04/11/2009
Type of information: article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
Extension workers in Kenya travel with the Farmer Info Station to bring agricultural information to rural farmers.