Linux Handhelds in African Schools

blastard writes "Seems some students will be getting to use their Linux handhelds in school without getting into trouble. BBCNews has a story on fifth-graders in Kenya who will be using "E-slates" from EduVision. The EduVision site is available in German, English and Swahili."

Multilingual

[tagish]

The EduVision site is available in German, English and Swahili.

No it isn't. Only the English link works. Quality fact checking as ever :)

Not so sure about that....

[The Mutant]

I'm EMEA (Europe, The Middle East and Africa) Manager for a multinational financial services institution. Either myself or someone from my team spend a lot of time on client site at banks in Africa, so we've got some insight.

We take a lot for granted in the developed world. Even at the better run banks in Africa things we could do in less than a day take two or more.

Part of the problem is infrastructure : for example, the power in Lagos goes out constantly. Even the banks with UPS' get caught out sometimes.

Part of it is education : the skills just aren't as widely available as compared to the developed countries. Lot's of times it's the blind helping the blind. Yep, they muddle through but it takes far longer.

The OP had more insight into this problem : after the Company Man leaves there definitely will be loads of these devices that are unusable. Efforts of the curious children asdie, we see it all the time in the banks - why would it be different in the remote villages?

Oh and I'm not knocking these folks; they're just doing the best they can and I actually enjoy going down there to help them, but things are a lot different in Africa.

In case you're curious I've got few pix from my last visit/a : [you-suck.com]

Re:"without getting into trouble"?

[anum]

The main reason students have "handhelds" in American schools is to play games of one kind or another. Even if they are not loaded with any games they are often a distraction as the kids tend to fiddle with them instead of paying attention to the teacher.

And then there is the issue of cheating. You make crib sheets of the material that you are supposed to have memorized. During the test you just call up the info and write it down. I was doing this sort of thing with a graphing calculator in the early 90s in math class. Just think how useful my Zaurus would have been in History or Chemistry!

And wireless messaging must open up a whole new realm of collaboration when used in class. Pass notes? bah, you could pass whole books or complete test answers.

In order for the American school system to accept this kind of device they will need to either be highly restricted or change the school system entirely.

Terminal Servers

[LibrePensador]

A nice remotely-administered Linux Terminal Server would have been much more effective. Bigger screens to read from and a bigger platform of applications available. Put the /home/schoolbooks on its own HD caddy and ship an updated once to the schools once a year upon receipt of the old one.

Some links:

http://pxes.net
http://ltsp.org

Touchscreens can work with heavy plexi covers

[AlienRelics]

...use a very thick pane of plastic (this won't work with touch screens, and if you can't figure out why I'm not going to explain it)...

There is more than one kind of touchscreen. I have a touchscreen monitor that has nothing special on the surface of the glass that can wear off, no it doesn't use IR. And if you can't figure out what it is I'm not going to explain it...

OK, I just can't troll, I'll explain it. It bounces ultrasonics across the glass. Your finger dampens it, and it detects where and how the soundwave was distorted.

Works with plastic too, and thick glass or plastic is better than thin.

And there are other types of touchscreens that can use thick plastic covers. QProx makes a good one. http://www.qprox.com/ [qprox.com]