One Laptop per Child

I started researching this week’s mobile tool of the week: one laptop per child by exploring one of my favorite sites, the Chronicle of Higher Education and searched on the topic.  Many articles reference the 2006 timeframe when Nicholas Negroponte from MIT’s Media Lab was introducing his rugged $100 laptop, which at the time cost him about $176 to produce.  The benefits for providing students in developing countries with some form of a laptop would on the surface of the discussion seem like an important cause to support.  Providing students with access to electronic instructional materials, materials that they would not have access to in their school due to its remote location or if the local community could not afford laptops due to more urgent needs for basic services such as health, sanitation, housing, and electricity, would seem like an important goal for governments in the developing world, NGOs and governments in the developed world to support and help expand educational opportunities.  As with most educational policy initiatives, one laptop per child has its own set of politics both in the developing world and the developed world, which takes a noble goal and muddles it through the politics of the interest groups involved. 

From the technical development standard, Negroponte focused on building a rugged laptop that can be used in various environments where electricity may not exist or is inconsistent.  He built his laptop using open source software such as Linux to keep costs down and used AMD processors.  Bill Gates has said: “geez, get a decent computer, where you can actually read the text and you’re not sitting there cranking the thing”.  Part of the reason Gates and Intel have criticized Negroponte’s project is that it does not support their platform and products.  Intel and Microsoft have a low cost laptop alternative called the Classmate PC utilizing Intel processors and Windows XP, but this platform costs a bit more, even when subsidized it costs $220 to $300.  Maybe competition for building a platform for low income schools and schools in developing countries will ultimately benefit the end user with a low cost computer with the greatest resources available?  Both the Negroponte and Intel/Microsoft arguments for their platforms have validity. Negroponte’s open platform will provide access at a minimal cost to schools, the end user experience may not be great, but going from no resource to some resource may provide a step in the right direction.  While the Classmate PC may be more expensive, it does provide students with access to the most commonly used operating system and if economic development is a key goal to providing laptops in the classroom, experience with Windows may ultimately be more beneficial to students. 

When thinking through the issues with providing the laptop, there are many more issues that must be addressed; many are political issues that at both the national and local levels.  These include:      

• Priorities.  Local communities will need to decide what is more important and what help do they want from outside their local communities.  Maybe a laptop in a school is a luxury a community cannot afford?  Maybe it is more important to address basic needs for living.  Politicians may loose their power if they invest in projects that the public find wasteful or unneeded.  India initially rejected Negroponte’s project calling it too expensive and they could not justify the investment, a few years later they ultimately purchased 250,000 laptops.  But other countries have also looked into Negroponte’s project and rejected it as other priorities or political situations took precedence over providing laptops in schools.

• Support infrastructure.  Before investing in such a project, a holistic approach to implementation must be organized by local community leaders, school leaders, teachers and parents.  A cost analysis will be needed to assess if this project is feasible.  An analysis of the electrical grid to support laptops will be needed.  Brining laptops into a classroom will have an effect on the curriculum and adjustments or reforms to the curriculum will be needed to ensure that the computers are being used to their potential – as politicians will be on the hook for such a large investment, there will be pressures placed on the schools to show successes with these new tools.  In countries with authoritarian regimes, much of the analysis and preparation work will not likely occur; schools will be told to implement the project. 

• Support for teachers.  Providing laptops does not necessarily mean they will be used.  If the teacher does not know how to use the laptop and does not have training for how to use it in their classes, one laptop per child will become an expensive mistake.  I have visited many universities in the developed and developing world where computers sit in boxes in professor’s offices because they have no desire to use a computer or no idea how they will use it within their classrooms.

• Localized teaching materials.  As many teachers will be new to using laptops and learning how to use them in the classroom on the fly, a question must be asked about what materials will be available?  Is it too much to ask teachers to learn how to use a computer and develop teaching materials?  Remember there will be political pressures to show success of these projects.  If localized teaching materials do not exist and teachers do not have time to develop these materials, what benefit can a computer have?  Publishers are not likely to invest in developing localized materials unless they find it profitable.  National and local governments may be slow to develop localized materials.  Colonial language materials (English, French, Spanish and Dutch) may not suffice for developing countries anymore? 

• Technical support.  Computers break, the rugged environments may prove too much for hardware.  Or students may download a virus on their laptop.  Who is going to provide support to fix these issues?  A manufacturer who is selling a computer for less than $300 is not going to provide a high level of service to fix their computers; if it is a remote location the only option may be to replace the computer.  Will teachers become the IT help desk?  What happens to the learning process when the computer no longer works and it will take weeks or months to fix the problem?

I do not want to sound negative towards such noble initiatives, providing access to computers and the internet is a worthy cause for all learners around the world.  But we must be realistic in terms of the costs associated with such endeavors and the personal tolls such an innovation will have on teachers.  From curriculum reform to political pressures to becoming IT support, this innovation will be disruptive for teachers, but the benefits for students an incredibly powerful.