Technophobia

I came across this organisation which provides e-readers to schools in low-income countries.

An organisation with a similar theme is OLPC (One Laptop per Child) who coordinate the provision of low-cost, low-energy using laptops to schoolchildren in low-income countries.

I have some reservations about their programmes. I have never directly worked with them, and so have no way of knowing how they deal with these issues, which are not discussed on their website. I wonder how they deal with the inevitable risk in very disadvantaged regions that the laptops will be stolen and sold, by parents of recipients, or by corrupt education personnel. I have worked in areas where textbooks had to be kept under lock and key because it was understood that once a book left the classroom, it would be taken and sold. I have seen market-places full of items labelled AID- NOT FOR RESALE.  The laptops are intended for the children to take home and learn from on their own initiative, as well as in the classroom.  So, I would like to know how OLPC monitor the laptops, and ensure that the children can continue to use them.

 I spoke with someone who had worked with schools who were recipients of the OLPC laptops, who said that after a very short time, the kids were way ahead of the teacher in their use, limiting their effectiveness as a classroom tool.

I also have reservations about concentrating on laptops in areas where old-fashioned pencil-on-paper (chalk on slate) literacy has still so far to go. I believe that literacy must come first.

This reservation does not apply to the e-reader project, because reading is reading is reading, and an e-reader is just a medium for access to books. But I think the number of suitable books available must be quite limited as yet, and e-readers break down, which books don’t.

My concern about these innovative projects are that they may be driven by those who understand technology, and develop these devices to adapt to the context as they understand it, but are perhaps not aware of all the issues being faced in education in the countries where they are distributed.

Or perhaps I'm just being a technophobe, and overly hesitant in accepting innovation in education?