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Theory of Change - Peacebuilding and Development

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One Laptop per Child Doesn't Change the World | John C. Dvorak. Hands Across America, Live AID, the Concert for Bangladesh, and so on. The American (and world) public has witnessed one feel-good event (and the ensuing scandals) after another. Each one manages to assuage our guilt about the world's problems, at least a little. Now these folks think that any sort of participation in these events, or even their good thoughts about world poverty and starvation, actually help. Now they can sleep at night. It doesn't matter that nothing has really changed. This is how I view the cute, little One Laptop per Child (OLPC) XO-1 computer, technology designed for the impoverished children of Africa and Alabama.

Before you cheer for the good guys, ponder a few of these facts taken from a world hunger Web site. So what to do? "Sir, our village has no water! " But, wait. Of course, it might be a problem if there is no classroom and he can't read. The Problems with One Laptop Per Child : The World's Fair. They are cultural, philosophical, and political. Not even John Lennon can overcome the flaws, given their deep cultural basis. Nicholas Negroponte, co-founder and director of the MIT Media Laboratory, introduced the idea for the $100 laptop in 2005. The laptop would be geared towards children in “developing nations.” Its intent was to help education in those countries. As it happens, though, the project hit some snags. Issues with actual cost (the $100 laptop is no longer called that, because it costs $200?) We discuss One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) in my senior engineering class on technology and society (STS 401).

The first year I did this exercise, in Fall 2007, I’d say the two classes of 25 each were mostly irritated with OLPC, but considerate of how the project might work more effectively. This last semester, Fall 2008, for whatever reason, the students were far more frustrated with OLPC and the MIT design strategy. It’s an interesting project, this OLPC. Who is to Blame for OLPC Peru's Failure? An OLPC Intern Viewpoint. Jeff Patzer, a 2010 OLPC intern in Peru, is publishing an amazing set of posts where he tries to explain why the OLPC Peru "Una Laptop Por Nino" is failing.

His conclusions draw on his observations and experiences spanning twenty schools and countless interactions with the ministry and teachers over a period of approximately three months. And Jeff's overall impression? One thing was for sure, the teachers were not going to get the help they needed from the [Peruvian Ministry of Education]. The ministry was only good for lip service. They were in Lima, talking about the things that were happening, rather than in the field making it happen. Yes, its a stinging indictment of the One Laptop per Child Negropontism that "You Can Give Kids XO Laptops and Just Walk Away.

" Below, I've highlighted passages from each of Jeff's post that should have you clicking through to read more. Who's to Blame - Part 1 Who's to Blame - Part 2 Who's to Blame - Part 3 Who's to Blame - Part 4 Who's to Blame - Part 5. Reflections on the Success of OLPC in Education. Ron Canuel Ever since Dr. Negroponte presented his vision of providing children with a laptop computer, there has been no shortage of praise and criticism. I will not comment on the validity of the praise or the criticisms that have been brought forth, but when asked to present my insights on what I believed to be an important impact that the OLPC approach has had on education, I welcomed the invitation. In my opinion, the most significant contribution that the OLPC movement has performed is to illustrate how our current educational systems are increasingly falling out of step with children and the future.

In our School Board, with the 1:1 deployment that we have enjoyed over the last six years for all of our students, the issue of “control” vs “input” presented the greatest challenge. Old School: “Control” But since we have taught this way for so long, and it produced many of the people who are now reading this article, well, it must have worked!! New School: “Input The Challenge in Change.