Laptop Per Research Articles

Using Isocrates to Teach Technical Communication and Civic Engagement

Building on work by Dubinsky, Haskins, and Simmons and Grabill, this article explains how a technical communication instructor used Isocrates and informal usability testing to help guide a service-learning project involving the One Laptop Per Child XO-1 notebook. For the project, engineering students received feedback from peers and elementary school teachers to determine the feasibility of using the XO-1 with at-risk children aged 6 to 9. Despite initial positive impressions, the service-learning students discovered that the XO-1 was not suitable in this situation. This article discusses Isocratean theory and how his ideas can inform a pedagogy of civic engagement in technical communication.

Português

The goal of this paper is to analyze the benefits of using free software for the development of collaborative learning and networking in the context of the "One Laptop Per Student" program. The research was conducted in two schools of the public school system (federal and state) in two states in Brazil, which participated in the program. The methodology was guided by the principle of critical action research, used to investigate the changes in the school context based on the use of technology. We took part on the activities of usage of free software by providing support to teachers and students and by analyzing the free software that were used at the time of our research. We conclude that the use of Free software developed digital literacy, within the analyzed schools, and enabled learning, collaborative work, intercultural, creativity and authorship among students and teachers in the construction of knowledge.

O USO DO SOFTWARE LIVRE NA NA APRENDIZAGEM COLABORATIVA: LIMITES E POSSIBILIDADES DO PROGRAMA “UM COMPUTADOR POR ALUNO”

O objetivo geral desse trabalho é analisar o benefício do uso do software livre para o desen-volvimento da aprendizagem e da colaboração no contexto do Programa UCA – “Um compu-tador por aluno”. A pesquisa foi realizada em duas escolas da rede pública de ensino (fede-ral e estadual) participantes do projeto em dois estados do Brasil. A metodologia foi orien-tada pelo princípio da pesquisa-ação crítica, para investigar as transformações no contexto da escola com o uso das tecnologias. Participamos de atividades com o uso do software li-vre, fornecendo suporte aos professores e alunos e analisamos os softwares livres utiliza-dos. Conclui-se que a utilização do software livre criou, no interior das escolas pesquisadas, uma “cultura digital” e possibilitou a aprendizagem, o trabalho cooperativo, colaborativo, a interculturalidade, a criatividade e a autoria entre estudantes e professores na construção do conhecimento.

Understanding Student Attitude Towards Computer Education: A Survey of SHS in the Sunyani Municipality

The purpose of the study was to explore students’ dispositions and attitudes toward computer education. The need for the study emanated from the relevance of computer education in human and national development and the state’s interest in ICT for development which has made the study of the subject compulsory for all senior high school students. Explorative survey design was used and questionnaire was the tool developed to gather data from the respondents. The sample was selected through stratified and simple random techniques. The study disclosed that the majority of the students did not have access to computers at home and those who had it have not had it for long. The study also revealed that the female students had more positive attitude towards computer education than their male counterparts. Nonetheless, students did not perceive teachers to be giving preferential treatment to any of the gender groups during ICT lessons. The study recommends that the Government policy on “One Laptop Per Child” must be vigorously pursued to enable all senior high school students to have access to computers at home to improve their competencies and knowledge in Information Technology. DOI: 10.5901/ajis.2014.v3n1p11

From drills to laptops: designing modern childhood imaginaries

We introduce two case studies that illuminate a particular way of conceptualizing childhood and technology: the East Bay Fixit Clinic and the One Laptop Per Child project. Both cases borrow ideologies of childhood from contemporary American culture and ideas of technological potential from computer cultures. The developers and organizers in these two groups ground the resulting narrative in their own childhood experiences and their desire to provide the same kinds of experiences to children today. We highlight some of the dimensions of this narrative as well as some of its limitations in appealing to, and re-creating, a particular kind of child that resembles the organizers themselves: technically inclined, often oppositional, and often male. These cases highlight both the prevalence and limitations of using childhood ideologies in the design process by showing how these particular versions of childhood are enlisted to frame technological development and the social programs that promote it.

The Effect of Access to Information and Communication Technology on Household Labor Income: Evidence from One Laptop Per Child in Uruguay

The Effect of Access to Information and Communication Technology on Household Labor Income: Evidence from One Laptop Per Child in Uruguay

The Impact of a One Laptop Per Child Program on Learning: Evidence from Uruguay

We present evidence on the impact on students' math and reading scores of one of the largest deployments of an OLPC program and the only one implemented at a national scale: Plan Ceibal in Uruguay. We have unique data that allow us to know the exact date of laptop delivery for every student in the sample. This gives us the ability to use days of exposure as a treatment intensity measure. Given that there is some variation in the date of laptop delivery across individuals within the same school, we can identify the effect of the program net of potential heterogeneity in the rate schools gain improvements on students' achievement over time independently of the OLPC program. Our results suggest that in the first two years of its implementation the program had no effects on math and reading scores. The absence of effect could be explained by the fact that the program did not involve compulsory teacher training and that laptops in class were mainly used to search for information on the internet.

CURRÍCULO E TECNOLOGIAS EM UMA ESCOLA DO CAMPO: APROXIMAÇÕES INICIAIS

The text is cut from a doctoral ethnographic study and proposes an initial reflection on the curriculum of a school field full time with the One Laptop Per Student Program (PROUCA) in Campo Grande/MS. The methodology is a qualitative approach, using as an instrument of data collection through participant observation and field diary. In this text I understand that the curriculum involves school experiences, knowledge, power relations, culture, identity construction, among others. Supported by/the authors/and on the observations made in different school environments can infer that the school has researched practices educators who come from different knowledge/the alumni/with respect to the experience in the field (agricultural practices and zoonosis) but is still missing a reflection on PROUCA and its potential and the integral education of/the students/the time in - school spaces.

When prophecy fails

Inaccurate predictions about educational technology are discussed, and the tendency for them to go unchallenged. Their global generalizability is questionable when the expertise underlying them is restricted to local contexts or is unknown. The limitations of futuristic studies need to be stressed to prevent their conclusions from being applied out of context. Problems arise when studies inaccurately claiming to represent developing-world needs and conditions are used for educational planning in those nations. The article analyzes the predictions made by the annual Horizon Reports and the One Laptop Per Child project. It suggests that these projects are currently responding to criticism in a manner similar to that described in the classic study When Prophecy Fails.

Can One-to-One Computing Narrow the Digital Divide and the Educational Gap in China? The Case of Beijing Migrant Schools

One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) is a high profile initiative to narrow the inequality of access to ICT and improve educational performance. However, there is little empirical evidence on its impacts. In order to assess the effectiveness of OLPC, we conducted a randomized experiment of OLPC with Chinese characteristics involving 300 third-grade students in Beijing migrant schools. Our results show that the program improved student computer skills by 0.33 standard deviations and math scores by 0.17 standard deviations. The program also increased student time spent using educational software and decreased student time spent watching TV. Student self-esteem also improved. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Reply to Battro on the One Laptop Per Child

Dr. Battro takes issue with my paper on the One-Laptop-per-Child Programme that appeared in a 2010 issue of this journal (20/3). He raises a variety of issues that are relevant to this Programme but nowhere does he deal with my main point, namely, that poor countries simply cannot afford to give students their own laptops. The result would be as I show a serious imbalance in the education (and perhaps other) budgets.

One Laptop Per Child

One Laptop Per Child OLPC is a non-profit organization that has introduced the one to one modality in the use of computers for education in many developing and poor countries. It is based in the idea of an “expanded school” where each child and teacher owns his or her own laptop connected to the Internet. Children spontaneously work in collaboration and teach each other in many different settings at school, at home and in public places. Teachers are not limited to work in a computer lab or computer class in restricted periods of time and are able to coach the development of neurocognitive skills of each cohort of students. The one to one modality reflects a vision of social equity that is beyond sharing arrangements.

An open-source approach to music education through jam2jam XO

This article examines the philosophy and practice of open-source technology in the development of the jam2jam XO software for the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) computer. It explores how open-source software principles, pragmatist philosophy, improvisation and constructionist epistemologies are operationalized in the design and development of music software, and how such reflection reveals both the strengths and weaknesses of the open-source software development paradigm. An overview of the jam2jam XO platform, its development processes and music educational uses is provided and resulting reflections on the strengths and weaknesses of open-source development for music education are discussed. From an educational and software development perspective, the act of creating open-source software is shown to be a valuable enterprise, however, just because the source code, creative content and experience design are accessible and ‘open’ to be changed, does not guarantee that educational practices in the use of that software will change. Research around the development and use of jam2jam XO suggests that open-source software development principles can have an impact beyond software development and on to aspects of experience design and learning relationships.

Computers and the academic performance of elementary school-aged girls in China's poor communities

Experts agree that computers and computing play an important role in education. Since the 1980s there has been a debate about gender as it relates to computers and education. However, results regarding gender differences concerning computer use in education are not consistent. In particular there is little work done in China on this issue. Therefore, the overall goal of this paper is to demonstrate whether girls and boys can gain equally from computer-based education in China's elementary schools. To do so we analyze results from three randomized field experiments of a Computer Assisted Learning (CAL) program and One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) program. The field experiments are carried out in three kinds of schools: Shannxi rural public schools; Qinghai minority public schools; and Beijing migrant schools. Although CAL and OLPC have been considered cost effective means to improve learning outcomes, it is not known whether the programs impact girls differently than boys. Our analysis shows that, in fact, there were no differences between female and male students in either the improvement in standardized math test scores or Chinese test scores with either the CAL or OLPC programs. Our study suggests that among disadvantaged students in China's rural areas and migrant communities, there is reason to believe that computer based learning can benefit both girls and boys equally. This finding has possible implications for China's ongoing efforts to integrate computers and computing technologies into the nation's underserved schools.

Music as a tool for social transformation: A dedication to the life and work of Steve Dillon (20 March 1953–1 April 2012)

This article celebrates the life and work of Australian musician and educator Steve Dillon (20 March 1953–1 April 2012). It focuses on the most significant pedagogical and philosophical ideas that informed his community music practice, and illustrates these concepts with examples from his work with the Sweet Freedom, Accessible Interactions, DIScoveringABILITIES, jam2jam and One Laptop Per Child projects. In particular, the article focuses on Steve Dillon’s belief that music has profound transformative effects on people of all ages and cultures, and has the power to enable people to express themselves, build relationships and find their place in the world.

Technology and Child Development: Evidence from the One Laptop Per Child Program

Although many countries are aggressively implementing the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) program, there is a lack of empirical evidence on its effects. This paper presents the impact of the first large-scale randomized evaluation of the OLPC program, using data collected after 15 months of implementation in 319 primary schools in rural Peru. The results indicate that the program increased the ratio of computers per student from 0.12 to 1.18 in treatment schools. This expansion in access translated into substantial increases in use both at school and at home. No evidence is found of effects on enrollment and test scores in Math and Language. Some positive effects are found, however, in general cognitive skills as measured by Raven's Progressive Matrices, a verbal fluency test and a Coding test.

Technology and Child Development: Evidence from the One Laptop Per Child Program

Although many countries are aggressively implementing the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) program, there is a lack of empirical evidence on its effects. This paper presents the impact of the first large-scale randomized evaluation of the OLPC program, using data collected after 15 months of implementation in 319 primary schools in rural Peru. The results indicate that the program increased the ratio of computers per student from 0.12 to 1.18 in treatment schools. This expansion in access translated into substantial increases in use both at school and at home. No evidence is found of effects on enrollment and test scores in Math and Language. Some positive effects are found, however, in general cognitive skills as measured by Raven's Progressive Matrices, a verbal fluency test and a Coding test.

XO integration: voices from the field

The goal of this paper is to present the three experiences of the large-scale deployment of the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) XO laptops in the Republic of Haiti, Birmingham, Alabama, and Mongolia. These experiences provide an overview of XO integration, in an effort to present both successes and challenges that can occur during such endeavours. While each deployment faced its own set of challenges, there were consistent lessons across each implementation to be drawn for large-scale deployments of innovative technologies.

Material matters: stories of learning technology transfer

The Kinkajou microfilm projector and the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project are socio-technological schemes designed to support students in developing countries. This article discusses the disjuncture between the aspirations of the engineers of these projects in the United States and the practical reality of transferring these learning technologies to the global South. I suggest that an understanding of technological objects as ‘quasi’, drawing on philosophers Bruno Latour and Michel Serres, allows an alternative conception of technology transfer as a lively, connective process that includes both human and non-human ‘actants’. The New Zealand project ‘One Beep’, which allows the transfer of digital information via the radio network, may come closer to a ‘quasi-object’ by focusing on connectivity and existing media, rather than the object itself. Unlike the OLPC project or the Kinkajou projector, One Beep does not demand the abandonment of existing cultures of use or the invention of a culture of use from the outside.

USING AFFORDABLE TECHNOLOGY TO DECREASE DIGITAL INEQUALITY

School systems in the United States are increasingly integrating computers into the classroom. Yet, we know little about the factors that determine successful adoption, use, and attitudes toward the computers. The City Council of Birmingham, Alabama is the first in the United States to provide One Laptop Per Child XO laptops to all students in first-fifth grades in the Birmingham City School System. The purpose of this study is to present the survey results examining factors that are related to XO laptop usage and attitudes among fourth- and fifth-grade students in Birmingham City schools. The results indicate that factors vary depending upon the type of use or attitudes being examined. Teachers' use of the XO laptop in the classroom is a primary factor that is related to the frequency of XO activity use and students' attitudes toward the XOs, while teachers' ability is related to the hours of XO usage in school. These results highlight the importance of having well-trained teachers who embrace using the XO laptop in the classroom in order to facilitate positive attitudes toward technology and its use among students.