5 ms·

On the OLPC

8 points by tdonia 17y ago

ZeroGravitas 17y ago
Good read, though not really about the OLPC. Cites a bunch of studies that show that introducing computers into schools in a cack-handed manner doesn't help. Tends to suggest this is the computers fault rather than the people rolling it out though. "The World Bank studied a program in Colombia that increased the number of computers in schools ... and found no impact on student outcomes ... it was clear that the teachers simply weren't using the computers" Found the info about the rise of private schools in slums and the impact of deworming (in both Africa and the US) surprising and interesting but I'm not a big fan of "you can't provide computers/open source software/better government until you've done X". Why not do both? In fact why not do anything that's shown to help, and prioritise by ROI? Also interesting to see one of the easy and effective education reforms (grouping by ability, not age) is referred to as 'tracking'. I recognize the buzzword because the 4th series of the Wire mentions in passing that this is politically frowned upon in US schools.
- curtis 17y ago
  > Good read, though not really about the OLPC. I agree. In fact I think the article would have been better if it hadn't been about the OLPC at all, or if it had only mentioned the OLPC in passing.
onreact-com 17y ago
"the studies found that children using the software scored no better than peers who did not have access to the software" Yeah, but at least they know how to use computers while those without OLPCs do not.
- SamAtt 17y ago
  I'm not sure that's true, at least not with the OLPC. The OLPC doesn't resemble modern interfaces (see screenshot here: http://morgancollett.files.wordpress.com/2007/05/olpc-taskview.png http://morgancollett.files.wordpress.com/2007/05/olpc-taskvi...) so I don't know how much it prepares kids for using full blown computers.
  - thwarted 17y ago
    Ah, the business case against alternative interfaces: if it doesn't encourage you to use Powerpoint and Excel, it's an empty experience.
    - SamAtt 17y ago
      The question was "Will this teach kids how to use computers" and my answer was "it's an alternative interface so not necessarily" So I don't see how your comment is relevant. Sure there are situations where an alternative interface is a good thing but not when you're stated goal is to teach kids how to use modern computers. When that's your goal you want to have an interface that resembles everything else that's out there and the simple truth is Windows, OS X and just about every variant of Linux have certain conventions (basically their shared Xerox Parc heritage) that aren't shared by the OLPC
      - jcl 17y ago
        Actually, there are not a lot of interface concepts that are common to Windows, Macintosh, and Linux that are not present in Sugar. Textboxes, buttons, scrollbars, dropdowns, icons, context menus, toolbars, etc. are all present. It even has alt-tab application switching. The major things that Sugar lacks from the common UI experience is overlapping windows and text-based menu bars, which are not difficult to learn once you have a solid understanding of the other stuff. (It's kind of funny: people argue for a traditional interface for OLPC to teach kids to use Office, while Office's new "ribbon" interface is arguably closer to the toolbar-based applications in Sugar than most other Windows applications.)
        TomOfTTB 17y ago
        What interface doesn't have text boxes, scroll bars, etc…? Let me ask you this: Other than "to be clever" what's the point of creating an alternative interface in a device that's supposed to be a teaching machine? When we teach people to drive don't we use real cars? Would it make sense to use a car that had the brakes on the steering column but was the same as normal cars in every other way? Teaching isn't about inventing new things it's about finding a way to convey old things to people who don't understand them. P.S. The ribbon does in fact suck, you'll get no argument from me there.

8 points by tdonia 17y ago

Good read, though not really about the OLPC. Cites a bunch of studies that show that introducing computers into schools in a cack-handed manner doesn't help. Tends to suggest this is the computers fault rather than the people rolling it out though. "The World Bank studied a program in Colombia that increased the number of computers in schools ... and found no impact on student outcomes ... it was clear that the teachers simply weren't using the computers" Found the info about the rise of private schools in slums and the impact of deworming (in both Africa and the US) surprising and interesting but I'm not a big fan of "you can't provide computers/open source software/better government until you've done X". Why not do both? In fact why not do anything that's shown to help, and prioritise by ROI? Also interesting to see one of the easy and effective education reforms (grouping by ability, not age) is referred to as 'tracking'. I recognize the buzzword because the 4th series of the Wire mentions in passing that this is politically frowned upon in US schools.

curtis 17y ago
> Good read, though not really about the OLPC. I agree. In fact I think the article would have been better if it hadn't been about the OLPC at all, or if it had only mentioned the OLPC in passing.

onreact-com 17y ago

"the studies found that children using the software scored no better than peers who did not have access to the software" Yeah, but at least they know how to use computers while those without OLPCs do not.

SamAtt 17y ago
I'm not sure that's true, at least not with the OLPC. The OLPC doesn't resemble modern interfaces (see screenshot here: http://morgancollett.files.wordpress.com/2007/05/olpc-taskview.png http://morgancollett.files.wordpress.com/2007/05/olpc-taskvi...) so I don't know how much it prepares kids for using full blown computers.
- thwarted 17y ago
  Ah, the business case against alternative interfaces: if it doesn't encourage you to use Powerpoint and Excel, it's an empty experience.
  - SamAtt 17y ago
    The question was "Will this teach kids how to use computers" and my answer was "it's an alternative interface so not necessarily" So I don't see how your comment is relevant. Sure there are situations where an alternative interface is a good thing but not when you're stated goal is to teach kids how to use modern computers. When that's your goal you want to have an interface that resembles everything else that's out there and the simple truth is Windows, OS X and just about every variant of Linux have certain conventions (basically their shared Xerox Parc heritage) that aren't shared by the OLPC
    - jcl 17y ago
      Actually, there are not a lot of interface concepts that are common to Windows, Macintosh, and Linux that are not present in Sugar. Textboxes, buttons, scrollbars, dropdowns, icons, context menus, toolbars, etc. are all present. It even has alt-tab application switching. The major things that Sugar lacks from the common UI experience is overlapping windows and text-based menu bars, which are not difficult to learn once you have a solid understanding of the other stuff. (It's kind of funny: people argue for a traditional interface for OLPC to teach kids to use Office, while Office's new "ribbon" interface is arguably closer to the toolbar-based applications in Sugar than most other Windows applications.)
      - TomOfTTB 17y ago
        What interface doesn't have text boxes, scroll bars, etc…? Let me ask you this: Other than "to be clever" what's the point of creating an alternative interface in a device that's supposed to be a teaching machine? When we teach people to drive don't we use real cars? Would it make sense to use a car that had the brakes on the steering column but was the same as normal cars in every other way? Teaching isn't about inventing new things it's about finding a way to convey old things to people who don't understand them. P.S. The ribbon does in fact suck, you'll get no argument from me there.