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."

Wish we had these...

[Tavor]

When I was in Fifth grade, I would have loved having a computer issued to me. Would have greatly furthered my abilities as far as computers go. Of course, there are many problems with this. Textbooks don't run out of batteries, which can be a problem sometimes in rural, third world areas. Think about it, these old textbooks aren't updatable, but they have lasted much longer than these handhelds will likely will. Also, here in the United States we sometimes had more technology in the classroom than our teachers knew what to do with, and that canbe a problem as the students here likely have never seen such devices before. There will be no 'geek-students' to help the teacher, after the Company man leaves. Upgrading from books so soon, when we are still using books in America sounds like a double-edged sword to me.

Re:HRMPH

[Grey Ninja]

I actually see the benefit in this. The handhelds are designed to replace the textbooks that would normally be in use. I would imagine that buying the textbooks, shipping the textbooks, and keeping the textbooks up to date would be a lot more expensive in the long run than by simply buying inexpensive computers for the kids. The computers likely wouldn't be anything to write home about, but it would get the job done.

Re:Wish we had these...

[dhbiker]

From what I read on the bbc web the devices are going to be recharged each day at school by docking them into cradles that will be powered off a solar panel on the roof.

Why shouldn't these handhelds last 10 years (or more)? I mean most people upgrade simply to have the latest greatest thing. These handhelds already do everything they need to, the only thing I could see being a necessity is changing the rechargable batteries once the original ones begin going flat too quickly

E-slate or iPaq?

[crahan11]

The site mentions the E-slate and its slide out keyboard, yet all the pictures are of students using HP iPaqs. So what are they using?

"without getting into trouble"?

[SLi]

IANAAmerican, so pardon my ignorance, but do you actually get into trouble there for something like this?

Why on earth?!

Re:Wish we had these...

[Anonymous Coward]

This post was typed on a nearly indestructable IBM Model M keyboard. These are awesome...two weeks ago I discovered a big box full of these, never been used, still in their original packing. I shoved all of my $10 plastic-fantastic keyboards into a closet and am now in 'click-clack' heaven! :-)

Re:Wish we had these...

[fireboy1919]

They get dropped and stepped on once, and the screen breaks.

They fall out of a window, and the screen breaks.

A can of food falls on one, and the screen breaks.

They fall of a desk and hit a sharp object (like, for instance, a pencil poking out of a bookbag), and the screen breaks.

They either need to not use touch screens and 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), or they need to get the screens for cheap and be capable of swapping them out for cheap.

I don't think that cheap parts are beyond the realm of feasability, though. A lot of the price of current electronics is in the percieved price. There's not a great reason why a $500 electronic device is more expensive than a $100 device. It's all based on what the market can bear, and in this case, it can obviously bear very little.

Why this is not a good idea

[Anonymous Coward]

There'll still be fifth-graders when the aid agenceys leave, and as soon as these run out of batteries they'll be useless. This is always that case with foriegn aid, be it with hospitals or schools.

AFAIK, most of western Kenya is pretty poor in terms of how much money most people have. (Food in rural areas generally isn't such a large problem thanks to subsistence farming.) For much of it education would be a luxury. I think this would have been better spent on building more schools.

Re:What about Wikipedia?

[andyr]

Indeed.

Shameless plug

Wizzy Digital Courier [wizzy.org.za] puts down an affordable internet connection, with a complete remote installation of wikipedia (1Gig database, 14Gig pictures) in schools in South Africa.

/Shameless plug

Computer for tribals

[hamishmorgan]

This reminds me of the time I was working with Karen tribals in Northen Thailand. I was contacted by a representative of Sun Micro who (as part of their charity program) wanted to give schools in the region computers so they could communicate children from other parts of the world. A noble idea but rather short sighted since these villages did not have electricity or so much as a phone line.

If they really wanted to help the children then how about buying their land from the Forestry Commission so they didn't get moved every time more lumber was needed. And how about giving financial incentives to farmers up stream so they didn't pollute the river with pesticides. Oh and how about razing some awareness of the troubles in Myanmar so that the villages didn't get shot when walking to near the border.

But hey, I'm sure board-room people of Sun got a nice warm fuzzy feeling when they though of the whole computers for tribals idea.

Re:Wish we had these...touchscreens

[panurge]

Although these won't be used in schools (yet...?) I remember an experiment in which a gorilla was using a touchscreen in conjunction with a computer as part of a psychological experiment. The screen was, I think, ultrasonic; in any case, the outer layer was inch thick Makrolon. As the gorilla used to signal frustraton and a desire to stop work for the day by charging the screen full on, it needed to be.

But then, hardened computers need not be that expensive. I remember the original Husky, and I still feel I should have got some sort of sales demonstration award for the reaction from the surrounding soldiers when the one I was using went under the tracks of an armored vehicle, and after removing the mud was completely undamaged.

Re:Does it run Ubuntu...?

[notthe9]

Imagine a beowulf cluster of these running Ubuntu...