One Laptop Per Child

Xiao XiangCOMP1631,Winter 2011

Table of Contents

Introduction Mission Long-term Goals Five Principles XO Laptop Map Distribution Strategy Contributions Disadvantages

OLPC Organization

One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) organization is a non-profit company, which was founded by Nicholas Negroponte; In an attempt to distribute the laptop to the world’s poorest children.

Nicholas Negroponte unveiled the idea of OLPC, a $100 PC that would transform education for the world’s disadvantaged school children by giving them the means to teach themselves and each other.

Although it is an non-profit organization, it is funded by organizations such as Google, Ebay, AMD, Red Hat.

Mission

OLPC’s mission is to supply XO laptops to countries with world’s poorest children and to create educational opportunities.

Long-Term Goals

By providing each child with the laptop, OLPC’s goal is to have children collaborating with other children around the globe through, and sharing ideas via an internet connection.

Most importantly, “this is an education project, not an laptop project.”

—Nicholas Negroponte

Five Principles of OLPC

1. The kids are keep the laptop; This means children take the laptop home with them, and get to use it at their leisure.

2. Focus on early education; It gives children a head start with education, because information is at their fingertips.

3. No one gets left out; Laptop distributed at the same time, so no child is left out.

4. Connection to the internet; Makes gathering information much quicker and comprehensive.

5. Free to grow and adapt; It provides vast knowledge and adapts to child uniqueness.

XO Laptop

The XO is a potent learning tool designed and built especially for children in developing countries, living in some of the most remote environments. It’s about the size of a small textbook.

It has built-in wireless and a unique screen that is readable under direct sunlight for children who go to school outdoors. It’s extremely durable, brilliantly functional, and fun.

It is environmental friendly, and it is designed to work under harsh condition.

Schools in South America, Africa, and Asia are already using them.

OLPC Map

Learning how to learn

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-P5LsFfaro

Software

Specifications: -AMD Geode LX-700 C CPU, 433 MHz - 256 MB RAM, 1GB flash for mass storage Extremely low power architecture -7.5 in. LCD display. Two viewing modes Networking - Integrated wireless 802.11

Strategy in Distribution

The Xo laptop is given to the government and distributed by the school body.

Similar to school uniforms, the laptop handed out the first day of school, and they are to remain the student’s property.

The software is developed to function in several languages, to make the learning experience much more engaging.

Give 1 Get 1 Program

The “Give 1 Get 1” program was established as a donation plan in which you buy one XO laptop, and the second one is sent to a child in a developing country.

The program was a success that they decided to run a second “Give 1 Get 1” donation program in 2008.

Even though they were not as successful as they were in the previous year, they manage to distribute the laptop to 30 countries in Europe, USA, Canada, some central and south American, African, Asian countries.

Since, they have to decided mainly focus on fundraising efforts.

Global Contributions

The aim is to close information gaps between rich and poor countries by supplying laptops to schools.

OLPC devised cost amount of $100 per laptop. This means each child would own a computer, independent of any institution.

Along with its ambitious objectives, there are a few problems come along with this development…

Disadvantages

Providing children from completed access to the internet. Which raises question about information filtering.

How can we be sure that children accessing the correct information needed?

Will introducing laptop interfere with the information found in physical libraries?

Because the introduction of laptops may prevent children from seeking information in public libraries.

As with all new development projects, there lie unforeseen issues. They have to face challenges of cost distribution, maintenance and training.

There is a debate whether the organization should supply poor countries with nutrition instead of laptops.

The DisadvantagesDisadvantages (cont.)

Learning in progress

References

"One Laptop Per Child." America 201.14 (2009): 4. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 1 Feb. 2011.

"ONE LAPTOP PER CHILD COMES HOME." Current Events 107.15 (2008): 2. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 1 Feb. 2011.

Kenney, Brian. "One Child, One Laptop." School Library Journal Aug. 2006: 11. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 1 Feb. 2011.

McGregor, Susan E. "Bridging the digital divide in developing countries." New York Amsterdam News 97.1 (2005): 28. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 1 Feb. 2011.

Derived from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Laptop_per_Child#Distribution_model

Derived from: http://www.slideshare.net/jmdeleon/olpc-klug Images from: http://

www.google.com/images?q=OLPC+logo+picture&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:zh-CN:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=sglKTc62F4-p8Aao94m-Dg&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CCkQsAQwAA&biw=1280&bih=578

Video from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-P5LsFfaro