Linux Handhelds in African Schools 148
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."
Re:HRMPH (Score:2, Insightful)
I imagine you imagine wrongly. No handheld is going to get that cheap anytime soon, and textbooks need "updates" far less frequently than hardware needs repairing or replacing.
Seems solid (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Wish we had these... (Score:5, Insightful)
I dont think you should underestimate children in any part of the world.
Give computers to a group of school kids in Dallas, Tokyo, Africa or anywhere and one or two curious of them will understand the in and outs of them in notime.
Looks great, but... (Score:2, Insightful)
i)Does EduVision also have a company selling myopia-correction glasses?
ii)I find it annoying enough when you have to keep flicking pages in a book, especially when studying. The pages of the eSlate will only allow a small amount of info to be visible at once. Perhaps they will use a hypertext format and have collapsible paragraphs (like text editor folds) to overcome some of the presentation difficulties.
Hard to see it working well in practice (Score:5, Insightful)
The main one is the complexity of the system. I can't imagine primary schools in rural areas in Kenya (or for that matter here in US) having the expertise to fix the problems that will surely arise sooner or later.
If the main goal is to give students access to the textbooks, why not simply preload the relevant ones on the handhelds and give them out to the schools, and do away with the whole satellite -> base station -> wireless network -> handheld business.
At what intervals do the textbooks need to be updated/replaced anyway? Probably less that the average lifetime of the handheld computer in the hands of a 10 year old.
/me smacks forehead (Score:5, Insightful)
I made it through elementary with an apple ][ in the corner of the class. Hell, we weren't allowed to have calculators until trig [e.g. high school or for science classes]. We had to "use our minds"
I [and I'm sure everyone else] has had a teacher at a time that was totally ineffective of getting the lesson plan delivered. No amount of "e-technology" would "e-help" the students "e-absorb" information that they don't "e-want".
Sure having access to computers is good but giving each student their own personal "e-slate" is just stupid. Specially given that the economic state there doesn't support it.
Tom
15 million books!!!! (Score:3, Insightful)
Kenya != whole of africa (Score:5, Insightful)
Kenya != whole of africa
I live in an "African" country and this seems rediculous to me.
Consider a couple of examples:
If the story is about Americans college students you don't have a title:
Students in North America...
Similarly for a story about something in China or Germany you don't title the story:
Scietists in Asia discover x
or
Scientists in Europe discover y
You you title it:
Scientists in China discover x
and
Scientist in Germany discover y.
The other thing that bugs me is that posters talk as if everyone from "Africa" is mentally handicapped or something.
Change the title to : LINUX handhelds in KENYAN schools!
What about Wikipedia? (Score:5, Insightful)
Ok, some will argue quality / neutrality / completeness isn't guaranteed on all articles - i'll say it's better'an nothing [and biaises exist in every material / textbook]
Re:Seems solid (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Hard to see it working well in practice (Score:5, Insightful)
Also has a much better user interface, hence the, er, remarkable sucess of electronic book systems in the developed world. Also books are an environmental win, while any electronic system will be an environmental loss.
OTOH, paper has a shorter lifetime in the hands of a 10 year old than a ruggedised electronic gadget should, so it's not obvious this is a silly idea. It will depend on the costs.
These are clearly based on the old Zarus models, so the development and tooling costs to make them were presumably nil plus the ruggedisation. The networking infrastructure is now mass produced and probably relativly cheap.
So it will come down to the expected costs of supplying up to date text books in all subjects, year on year over the lifetime of the hardware.
It probably replaces some writing materials and testing/exam infrastructure too.
On the whole though I suspect they'd be better off using the money to pay the teachers more, and maybe paying the parents of older kids to allow them to stay longer in school when they could be working.
Re:/me smacks forehead (Score:5, Insightful)
You're sterotyping the region. Kenya is not Congo or the Sudan. All of Africa is not covered with warmongering natives eating each other's hearts. Do they have the infrastructure of the US? No. But you're argument is like saying that a school in rural Idaho cannot get computers because there are poor people in Mexico. Only fat kids in Western nations can use computers? Or are you just afraid of more outsourcing as yet another part of the world becomes tech savvy?
Re:Really interesting... (Score:3, Insightful)
Those who do not learn from their mistakes are condemmed to repeat them.
The X-Box will only play MS software. The I-Opener will only work with their subscription service, The Cue Cat will only work with the Digital Convergance online database....
Yea Right!
Ho hum. (Score:3, Insightful)
I give the program about three months.
It's a nice idea, but I don't think it's sustainable.
Re:Wish we had these... (Score:3, Insightful)
And what do you mean "there will be no geek-students?" Are you saying that most children in Africa are stupider than Americans? And don't say it has to do with the amount of technology you grew up with; fiddling with tech devices has to do with how intuitive and creative you are. Are you saying that African children don't have this?
Most people have this horrific view of Africa from what they see on TV commericals like "Save the Children" and whatnot. They try and paint a horrible, savage view of Africa so that people will donate money to their cause. Yes, there are bad things happening in Africa, but that doesn't mean the entire continent is savage.
I hate it when people think that Africa is a mass of uncivilization, and there is no infrastructure except what the west has so graciously given. Yes, Africa is generally poorer than most continents, but that doesn't mean that all Africans are: a) stupid, b) poor, c)needy of the West's help
MOD PARENT UP (Score:3, Insightful)
Dunno 'bout you (Score:3, Insightful)
I've always wondered if somewhere in Africa is the schoolkid who will someday cure cancer, if only he/she can get an opportunity from programs like these. After all, just by sheer numbers alone there should be several dozen Einsteins in the developing world, just waiting to be discovered. If the human mind is the greatest of all national resources, then the developing world is vastly wealthier than all the developed nations put together.