The Learner Matters, not the Device

I saw, thanks to OLPC News, these two videos.

iPad first day, used by 9 & 4 year-olds from Cameron Moll on Vimeo.

Isaac (4yo) using the XO laptop from Cameron Moll on Vimeo.

Of course, they make me want to have an iPad, and they let me ponder what might be possible with the proposed XO-3.

But they also made me think that what is great about these videos, and about what I have seen with our 5th graders working with the XOs and SOAS and other technologies is that it is the learner that matters, not the device. The device can call something forward in the learner (which, I believe, is there naturally), but the device is NEVER going to be the thing.

How, then, do we allow this natural learning to become unleashed?

New Beginnings

Okay, first, it's been a million years since the last post. I have been involved with my doctoral research and generally way too busy. Nevertheless, it seems time to get back to work.

So much has been happening with our project and with the XO Laptops and Sugar software around the world, that it seemed like time to restart the blog.

Onward and upward!

Little Bloggers

The blog Rising Voices recently posted a story about children in Uruguay being trained to blog using their XO Laptops.

Pablo Flores of Ceibal, the governmental organization in charge of distributing OLPC laptops in Uruguay, will organize a series of workshops which will gather national and international bloggers with the young laptop-toting students to show them how to set up a blog and take advantage of other social media tools.

So now, what happens when those students have a global voice? What do they say and to whom? And then what happens?

Improvisation in Rwanda

I saw this short article from Engadget about students with XO laptops in Rwanda.
They were finding their way to the airport near them to take advantage of the airport's WiFi connection.

Talk about becoming independent learners!

New Model - People plus XOs

I just saw this article on Electronista outlining a new internship program announced by OLPC.

It seems that if you are a college student, you can get training (in Rwanda in June) and then will be able to take 100 XO Laptops and other equipment directly into schools in Africa.

Undergraduate and graduate students from around the world will be eligible to participate, with each student team receiving 100 XO laptops and related accessories as well as $10,000 to cover operating costs.

What is interesting to me, as someone managing a deployment of 140 XOs is the recognition that while the XOs are the powerful educational tool, it is the intern who can light the fire.

Good Overview of What XOs Can/Should Do

A recent posting on OLPC News outlined a strong overview of what educational computers should do. It then assesses the XOs against those expectations.

I found the discussion really clear and useful. You can check it out here: 
The Future OELPC: One Educational Laptop Per Child

Let me know what you think.

Followup on the $10 Laptop

The other day, I meant to post about the proposed $10 laptop being developed in India.

Here is a post from the Tech Learning blog following up on the story:
A $10 Laptop?

What do you think?