Techlearning blog

The minute my now 9 year old son saw pictures of the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project's $100 laptop, he was captivated. "Dad, do you think I could get one of those someday?" My answer at the time was, "I'm not sure. I think only students in poorer countries are going to be able to get those." I heard rumors these laptops might go on sale in the United States to help fund the project in other countries, but I didn't have my hopes set too high. I understood this project was developed for students in other countries with less available funding for education. I was surprised to hear Dr. Nicholas Negroponte, the project's chief advocate, mention that the average amount of money spent per year for a child in school in China was $20. In the United States, the average amount of money spent per child in school is around $10,000. There are BIG discrepancies in how much money countries spend for the public education of their students, and it seems logical that a project like OLPC would focus on developing nations.

Given these expectations, I was overjoyed last week to learn about OLPC's newly announced "Give 1, Get 1" campaign for the project's laptop, now named the "XO Laptop." Since orders for the OLPC laptop have not been as high as expected, and because many folks (like me) have expressed interest in purchasing a XO laptop for themselves and/or for their children, the project's directors have announced an opportunity to purchase two laptops for $399.

If part of your end of year / start of year family traditions include gift giving, why not consider the gift of a new laptop for a young person you know? As a bonus, in giving that laptop to someone you know, you'll also be providing an identical laptop for a child in a developing country. Lest you think this laptop is "just a toy," consider this paragraph from the XOgiving website's frequently asked questions page:

The XO laptop is a computer built for learning and designed specifically with children in mind. Because of this, the features deemed most valuable for its purposes are as good (and in many cases, better) than comparable features on a $1000 laptop. For instance, the XO’s screen can be viewed as clearly as a newspaper in broad daylight, and the wireless range of the XO is several times longer than your average laptop. It's also more rugged, resilient and power efficient than most other laptops on the market. While other features, such as power and speed, cannot compare to a $1000 machine, they are excellent for the XO’s $200 price point and meet the necessary requirements for learning.

One of my favorite technology advertisements of all time was from Adobe, and features a young girl with at least 10 different technology devices around her neck and on her lap: a cell phone, a flash drive, a mp3 player, a laptop, and more. The gist of the message was, "They're coming." Who's coming? The digitally equipped students. They are already in our classrooms with their iPods and cell phones. In the not too distant future, they'll be showing up with laptops as well.

What will teachers and administrators say if and when students show up at school with their own $200 laptops, expecting to use them for learning at school? In many cases, they'll probably say the same things we've heard in the case of cell phones and iPods: "Put that away, don't get that out, we're here to learn with textbooks, pencils and scantrons, not 21st century technology."

The march of disruptive technologies continues. We live in interesting times, but also an era filled with amazing opportunities for learning and collaboration. Are you striving, in the words of Alan Kay, to "invent the future" or "prevent the future?" By purchasing an XO laptop for someone you know and a child you don't know in a developing country, perhaps you can tangibly advance the agenda of helping empower the next generation to invent the future. With digital tools at their fingertips, amazing new worlds of opportunity await them.