Aberdeen Schools: One Smartphone Per Child

So what technology will prevail in schools? Will the schools invest in tablets, laptops, smartphones or teacher technology such as white boards?

It’s often interesting to read how one district, school or even country decides to place all their bets on one platform and we see mass buying. The converse is as often true with many authorities unsure of what will prevail and opting to spread their bets across all platforms. At the end of day it’s often down to cost and budget and who happened to make the best offer.

The Telegraph reports on Aberdeen's school authority which is planning on lifting its ban of pupil’s smartphones in some 62 primary and secondary schools. The authority have not only lifted the ban but propose to actively encourage smartphones as a learning tool in schools which will effect some 24,000 pupils.

The authority is also taking the bold step of addressing the digital divide between the ‘have’s and have not’s’ by investing some £860,000

 to provide access to a smartphone or tablet for all pupils.  

They state that access the internet in class unsupervised will be prohibited and filtered and that pupils would also not be allowed to make phone calls.

An investment of some £35 a head would appear small but could also have significant implications moving forward. Is the investment a one off and if so, how long before the technology bought requires replacement? If the investment is based on a rental model is it then an annual charge on the budget and does it then compete with other learning resources? Should parents buy their children the best device or align it to the schools, or just let the schools buy them full stop?

We are in favour of schools being technology enabled and all pupils being given access but find ourselves asking that old question of which came first the technology chicken or the content egg? 

original article: 'Phones for all pupils' to close the digital gap

One Laptop per Child

The One Laptop per Child programme has not received the backing many expected and has experienced what one may say is the difference between getting the handshake and PR and having a cheque in the hand.

The ambitious programme is being driven by the founding member of MIT media lab Nick Negroponte and is based on de-cluttering the laptop down to the basics, providing free open software and creating a computer that is practical, rugged, affordable and that has the potential to transform third world education. The early reviews have been glowing, and mass production is set to start next month.

Earlier, Mr. Negroponte had hoped for orders for three million laptops, but those pledges have fallen short. Orders of a million each from Nigeria and Brazil did not materialize, however Peru, for example, will take 250,000 over the next year and Mexico and Uruguay have made firm commitments. Western countries had also backed the programme with Italy having agreed to purchase 50,000 for distribution in Ethiopia.
Each country will have its own agenda with many using them to educate their children and substituting textbooks for online reading via the high resolution screens.



So why the slow take-up? The answer is probably as complex as politics itself and may not be openly supported by all technology companies and education suppliers. To give the programme a boost a new campaign has now been launch called “Give 1 Get 1,” in which Americans and Canadians can buy two laptops for $399. The give one to a child in a developing nation, and the other one will be shipped to the purchaser by Christmas. It is hoped that many will donate the extra to local schools and organisations.

The laptops are targeted to be $100 a machine, and sturdy enough to withstand harsh conditions in developing world, are energy efficient, with power consumption being 10% or less of a conventional laptop.

It’s a shame that the players can’t come together, governemts, development and aid agencies, teachers, publishers and the western public to make this happen. At a time when the UK booktrade debates whether there will be a digital iPod moment in the market we find ourselves waiting and not acting to make ‘one laptop per child’ provide the difference and be a true iPod moment for so many.

Different Cheap PCs

A pay as you go PC will hit the US market this summer. The model is from Zonbu, is Linux-based, will be priced at $99 with a $12.95 monthly subscription charge and can save $10 a month in electricity compared with a standard 200-watt PC. The computer is the size of a cigar box and uses a low-power Intel compatible microprocessor, comes with four gigabytes of flash memory instead of a disk drive, and saves energy with no drive or fan. The system will lack a keyboard, mouse and monitor, which the company will sell as options.

The Zonbu PC is targeted at the second PC in the home, cheap cheerful and practical. Will it take off? Personally we think its expensive for the limitations is has, but shows that many people are chasing the cheap PC.

A far more realistic and focused proposition comes from the One Laptop Per Child Foundation, which developed the XO laptop--a personal computer it plans to put into production in September at a cost of $176 (the device was originally touted as the $100 laptop). The One Laptop Per Child project is the brainchild of Nicholas Negroponte, the former chief of the MIT Media Lab.

We wrote about this in the Brave New World report and now out of the blue Intel has stated that it will support the project to put computers in the hands of poor children around the world, reversing its long-standing opposition to the proposal.

Current backers include Intel rival Advanced Micro Devices, which makes a microprocessor that runs the XO laptop, along with Web search engine Google, which is providing users e-mail accounts and free backup services. Software maker Red Hat, which developed computer programs for the device, and media giant News Corp. also have board seats. So educationalists now need to consider this new PC and its impact on their programmes