Comments on: does giving out laptops help or hinder the digital divide?

By: Should XO Owners do something else? « Alaskan Librarian

Should XO Owners do something else? « Alaskan Librarian — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 19:44:36 +0000

[...] in the end I decided not to. I’ve been seeing things like Jessamyn’s librarian.net post does giving out laptops help or hinder the digital divide? and the June 5, 2008 Slate article The $100 Distraction [...]

By: davidc

davidc — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 17:27:03 +0000

the slate talked about similar research on a Romainan computer program.
http://www.slate.com/id/2192798/?from=rss

If computers don’t work for maths education what does?

By: cathy d.

cathy d. — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 00:34:18 +0000

I wonder if it’s really more a matter of correlation rather than causality. Can you tell I just read Freakonomics?

By: Karen

Karen — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 17:24:17 +0000

Some schools/math teachers are working to develop some numeracy. My 1st grader, who is in an accelerated program, has weekly “math extended response” worksheets. Not only does she have to figure it out, she has to explain it. This week’s was “X has 15 cookies, Y has 9, how many does X need to give Y so they have the same number?” My kid had the answer (3) in seconds. It took a ridiculous amount of time for her to be able to draw a picture, write a number sentence (equation), explain the steps and (her challenge) labeling the answer. But the process of thinking the steps through and articulating them is what will give the numeracy.

In contrast, my older who did not have these exercises, still uses her fingers and has little sense of the relationships between numbers … and would like everything to be resolved with a calculator or website.

By: Amanda

Amanda — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 19:57:36 +0000

Agree with PS – I’m not surprised. The only real area I would see any math learning program/software helping is in basic math fact drill (multiplication tables, etc.).

I think the temptation to surf is a HUGE distraction. The students reporting almost daily use of their computers for schoolwork are probably doing more surfing than schoolwork.

I’m speaking from experience. While my son was in middle and high school, I was a library circulation clerk/school educational assistant/sometimes a third job in retail or whatever, and he was eligible for free or reduced lunch. I installed some software on our shared computer to kick him off the Internet at certain times.

By: PS

PS — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 12:35:11 +0000

I’m not surprised. I teach linear algebra and freshman calculus at a big university. The thing students lack is numeracy. They lack basic number theory that you learn when you play around with numbers using your pencil and paper. You don’t get that from reading on a computer or using a math learning program. When you’re forced to figure things out because it’s just you and your homework, and no helping pink bunny to give you “hints,” you really get somewhere.

I’m not saying that everyone learns that way, but if you don’t get something, and you ask a human being to help you, the human can gauge what you don’t understand better than a computer can. In math, that’s critical.

Surfing on the internet is also a huge distraction. That said, I wonder what scores are like in the science and social studies categories. I wonder if having access to all the resources on the web helps those areas.

By: caleb

caleb — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 07:26:15 +0000

don’t listen to them. standardized tests are bunk.

By: Brian Herzog

Brian Herzog — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 02:34:28 +0000

I saw Ethan Zuckerman speak at NELA2008, and one point he made regarding OLPC is that, while the kids who got them loved them, the teachers hated them. He implied that the laptops were rushed into the schools (with good intentions), but the teachers were never trained how to teach to a room full of kids with laptops. Missing that potential might explain why getting a laptop wouldn't necessarily equate to doing better in school. How about this: give a man a fish, and he is fed; teach a man to fish, and he sits relaxing in a boat all day; train a man to manage a fishing fleet, and his entire village is fed.

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 23:16:15 +0000

I personally know and like the people who run the OLPC project.

That said, I have an OLPC and I don’t like it. I don’t think it’s just because I have experience with other operating systems, I think it’s actually not that simple to use. It’s feature rich, but the usability factor to me is weird and I can’t get beyond it. I love the project and I think it blazed important ground by tossing down the gauntlet that other people have picked up to create small cheap PCs, but I don’t think we’re seeing the massive buy-in from other countries that they were thinking they’d see and so I’m not sure — by my own admission because I haven’t been following closely enough — what the status of it is.

For anyone who has to wedge themselves into the Western business model, not being able to grok windows will be a problem and yet that’s a crappy reason to give Microsoft more money that they don’t deserve. I’m just not sure the OLPC os a genuine option response to that for many people.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 20:30:12 +0000

Interesting, I’m going to share this with my coworkers – and then sit down and read it as the topic fascinates me. This excerpt, though, begs a question:

“There is little evidence that more intensive computer use for schoolwork offsets these negative effects.”

I can’t help but wonder if students with learning disorders, who use assistive software on their computers, were included in this study.

By: james

james — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 17:11:18 +0000

that is interesting, and could be used to restrict access even? sort of “you’ll shoot your eye out kid” argument… more to it i am sure when you chop it up by parental supervisision etc.. but what about novelty factor, like after the new computer is getting old. will read the whole thing.

By: Kate B

Kate B — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 14:47:42 +0000

So what do you think about the One Laptop per Child campaign?