One Laptop Per Child - The Dream is Over

Alanna Shaikh - September 9, 2009 - 8:06 am

 

(photo credit: laihiu)

The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project started out with big dreams. Founded by Nicholas Negroponte of MIT’s media lab, it promised a hundred dollar laptop that would be sold directly to Ministries of Education in huge lots. The laptop, they promised, was the new pencil. It was going to revolutionize education in the developing world.

It didn’t.

The laptop never came down to the hundred dollar price that was promised. The huge orders never materialized, and the project was very slow to allow sales to NGOs and charities instead of just governments. They abandoned the human-powered power source. They abandoned the special child-friendly OS. The laptop still didn’t sell to their target market in the developing world.

Americans wanted the OLPC. We fell in love with its tremendous promise and adorable shape. (note: I own an OLPC) We were the first market it conquered. OLPC launched a give one-get one promotion that let individuals pay $400 to donate one laptop and receive one for themselves. It was a huge success, except that OLPC wasn’t set up for that kind of customer order fulfillment. Laptops arrived far later than promised, and several thousand orders were simply lost.

Once the laptop finally started arriving in the developing world, its impact was minimal. We think. No one is doing much research on their impact on education; discussions are largely theoretical. This we do know: OLPC didn’t provide tech support for the machines, or training in how to incorporate them into education. Teachers didn’t understand how to use the laptops in their lessons; some resented them. Kids like the laptops, but they don’t actually seem to help them learn.

It’s time to call a spade a spade. OLPC was a failure. Businessweek called it two years ago. Now, Timothy Ogden, editor-in-chief of Philanthropy Action has made a compelling argument to give up on OLPC. He points out that supporting de-worming programs has more impact on child learning than the OLPC laptops.  The laptops were designed without end-user input, they cost too much both to produce and to run, and they’re now being outcompeted by commercial laptops. Only about a million OLPCs have shipped so far.

Some people call OLPC Nick Negroponte’s vanity project. I wouldn’t go that far. But it’s not going to change the world, or even affect it all that much. One Laptop per Child got everyone thinking about the education in the developing world. It spawned the commercial laptops that are now out competing it. But that’s all. The dream is over.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2) Subscribe to these comments

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Program indir @ Dec 19th 2009 2:56PM

The dream is not over. When OLPC started there were no low cost laptops. We created the category less than four years ago and it now represents almost one third of the world production of latops. I am not aware of too many technologies that have gone from “impossible” to such wide adoption

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CarlosXO @ Sep 11th 2009 7:56AM

This is a response to Alanna Shalikhʼs post of September 9, 2009 titled “One Laptop Per Child - The Dream is Over”

Will not repeat the excellent points brought by previous responses including Mr. Negroponteʼs.

This is my own personal view, I am one of the over one thousand volunteers working in Uruguay, in a group called Red de Apoyo al Plan Ceibal, RAP Ceibal.

The OLPC plan in Uruguay is well and alive, with no plans to disappear.

One important fact: The main opposition candidate in next month presidential elections, has gone to extremes to explain how good the Plan Ceibal is.

He publicly recognized it as one of the good projects implemented by the current government.

My wife and I lived and worked in New York City for over forty years.

During those years we participated first-hand in the introduction of two new technologies in our business.

In 1983 we introduced the first computer in our office.

In 1997 we started a website and used it as the center for our business.

Those two introductions of new technologies were no different from what we see in Uruguay with the XO computers and Plan Ceibal/OLPC.

The normal reaction of most human beings to any new technology is fear.

And the immediate reaction to fear is rejection.

Yes, a lot of people, have a negative first reaction.

Particularly the older individuals who have had successful careers for many years without the new technology.

Those who repeat their comments without thinking, of course don't help the process of accepting new modern tools.

But technology doesnʼt go away so easily. And much the less when young children without prejudices or fears have tested it, liked it and approved it.

And much the less when those children are all the elementary school students and every year more and more in high school.

They keep the computers after leaving elementary school where they received them as their personal treasure to keep.

We should not worry about those rejecting the idea.

Pretty soon they will see others succeeding and find out they too could succeed.

And those detractors will imitate the leaders.

Let me finish with a success story that makes me very proud.

We recently had the pleasure and honor of helping a school teacher from Uruguay, Fabiana Marella, make a remote presentation of her paper to Squeakfest USA 2009, an international conference at UCLA, University of California at Los Angeles.

Recording of her original presentation:

http://squeakland.org/resources/audioVisual/movie.jsp?id=54

Our spanish version of the same presentation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0A61eiW7r4annotation_id=annotation_127705...

Carlos Rabassa

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