<incom> Robert Kozma: One Laptop Per Child and Education Reform

[Geert Lovink]

http://www.olpcnews.com/

One Laptop Per Child and Education Reform
By Robert Kozma

I am Robert B. Kozma, Ph.D., an international consultant on technology 
in service of developing countries. I have just returned from Kenya 
where I where I attended the eLearning Africa Conference in Nairobi 
from May 28-30.

The OLPC XO machine was displayed in the vendor area and several 
presentations referenced it. Having worked in Africa and other 
developing countries over the past ten years, I was prompted to reflect 
on the implications that One Laptop Per Child has for education 
improvement in these countries.

The OLPC group has come up with some truly novel features meant to 
address the specific constraints of users in developing countries, such 
as the mesh network, the dual-mode display, and a range off-grid power 
sources, although the latter are yet to be fully developed. This is not 
surprising, given its MIT Media Lab origins.

But Professor Negroponte consistently points out that, "This is an 
education project, not a laptop project." And this is where my 
reservations begin. Based on my 35 years of studying educational 
applications of technology in developed (the U.S. and a range of OECD 
countries) and developing countries (Thailand, Chile, Jordan, Egypt, 
Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya), I have to say that as an "education 
project" OLPC is fundamentally incomplete.

Screen technology isn't enough

Numerous research studies and my personal experience in many countries 
suggest that the mere introduction of computers into schools will not 
bring about educational improvement. Reforming education is hard work 
that involves making coordinated changes in pedagogy, curriculum, 
assessment, and teacher training, as well as technology.

While any one of these factors - such as technology - can be used as a 
lever to launch other changes, reform has to be viewed as systemic 
change. Without coordinating all of the components, it is more likely 
that change in a single factor - such as technology - will be merely 
assimilated into the current system unreformed or be rejected 
altogether.

But the OLPC education philosophy does not address the education system 
at all. The entire OLPC enterprise is based on the premise that if 
given the proper resources - in this case "appropriately designed" 
hardware and software - children will learn how to learn on their own. 
There is no consideration of how this intervention fits or does not fit 
with the current curriculum, assessment, or pedagogical practices.

The goal of the OLPC is laudable but I sincerely doubt that the 
pervasive use of computers envisioned by OLPC will be realized without 
addressing these overriding factors in the education system. Let me 
give two personal experiences that support my conclusion.

Several years ago, I visited a secondary school in rural Uganda while 
evaluating the World Links for Development program for the World Bank. 
A teacher was describing how excited his students were about projects 
they were doing with other students in Canada and South Africa. We were 
standing in the middle of the computer lab filled with twelve brand new 
work stations.

Yet it was the middle of the school day and the lab was totally empty 
of students. I pointed this out to the teacher and he said that since 
computers were not part of the curriculum and were not covered by the 
examination he could not use them during the school day.

In the second case, I was visiting a secondary school in Alexandria, 
Egypt and a social studies teacher was showing the exciting 
collaborative projects that students were doing in the computer lab. I 
happen to be accompanied by an inspector from the Ministry of Education 
who jumped at the teacher and berated him in front of all his students 
for deviating from the established curriculum for that day.

The dedication of these teachers was sincere and the enthusiasm of 
their students was clear. But I doubt that either these teachers or 
their students will be able to sustain their efforts without important 
changes being made in the system that they confront daily. To bring 
about education reform in developing countries, curricula need to be 
changed to move from rote learning to problem solving, creative 
thinking, and team skills.

National examinations need to move from the recall of facts to complex, 
collaborative tasks that involve the use of technology. And teachers 
need training in new pedagogical approaches. But Professor Negroponte 
shows only distain for teachers and the educational system, as 
evidenced by these quotes:

Children learn learning solo?

"Teachers teach the kids? Give me a break." (Negroponte, 2006, 
LinuxWorld Conference and Expo, Boston).

"In many countries, school is a treat. Teachers often don't show up." 
(Negroponte, 2007, UCLA, Los Angeles)

"In some countries, which I'll leave unnamed, as many of as one-third 
of the teachers never show up at school. And some show up drunk" 
(Negroponte, 2006, NetEvents Conference, Hong Kong). AIDS and malaria 
are common problems among teachers, as they are among the African 
population more generally, and they contribute significantly to 
absenteeism in the workforce. But I have met many teachers in Africa 
and I have yet to meet one that was drunk.

If only Professor Negroponte held the same level of positive regard for 
teachers and unbounded faith in their human potential as he does for 
students. Yet in many of his statements, Negroponte's attitude about 
teachers borders on contempt. It is difficult to see how the OLPC 
program can bring about positive change in education systems with this 
kind of cynical attitude at its core.

Which raises the question, why it is that OLPC is working with 
education systems at all? Instead, why are they not working through 
after-school programs where children can explore their own projects 
free of the constraints of the established curriculum, much as is done 
in developing countries with the Computer Clubhouse program?

The answer is that the business model demands that they work with the 
education system. In order to get the desired features of the XO laptop 
at a low price, OLPC needs the hundreds of millions of customers that 
can only be delivered by Ministries of Education (Negroponte, 2004, 
NetEvents European Press Summit).

This brings us back to the original question: Is this an education 
project or merely a laptop project? We know Lee Felsenstein's opinion. 
What's yours?