Hi Magda. I don't know if you've heard or not but Birmingham, Alabama is the first large scale dissemination of the XO laptops in the United States. Birmingham is a high poverty city with around 90% African American residents. I have a grant from the National Science Foundation to examine the educational, career, and social impacts of the XO laptops in Birmingham. We're focusing more on how technology usage changes and the various types of impacts of this usage on the students and teachers.
I applaud your efforts to do field research on the impacts of the XOs. I think there is a lot more research like this needed. I have just recently learned that there is an anthropologist from Denmark who is here in Birmingham doing some field research on the XOs. If you're interested I'll be glad to pass along his contact info (with his permission). You can email me off list if you'd like his info. I look forward to hearing more about your work! Shelia ************************* Shelia R. Cotten, Ph.D. Associate Professor Department of Sociology 460N Heritage Hall 1401 University Blvd. 1530 3rd Ave. S. Birmingham, AL 35294-1152 205-934-8678 [EMAIL PROTECTED] -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of JTD Sent: Friday, September 05, 2008 2:26 AM To: The Digital Divide Network discussion group Subject: Re: [DDN] PhD research on OLPC Magda Brilliant... I love what you are doing... I am sort of envious as there are so many wonderful issues to research that I did not think of when I did my doctoral work.. Anyhow... on to your topic... there was a time when I was not a believer of OLPC... yet I am enlightened now after viewing OLPC from an education perspective. you ask for opinions... yes it is an amazing initiative... there have been various computer projects that have brought to light the need for low power devices that are appropriate for emerging markets, yet it is probably OLPC that has opened more disruptive discussion on deployment in the largely ignored segment of those who cannot afford mainstream technology at developed world prices. Yet the real importance is that OLPC is not about the technology... sure it brings amazing technology to light... but lift the sheets and you will see it is about changing the way we teach and learn... in my personal opinion it is about thinking out of the box, a realization that if one learns how to learn they need not depend on schools... if deployed correctly it can give kids a tool that will excite them in their exploration of the world around them - opening up new paths to creative inquiry where encouraging their community to take rethink traditional rote learning of pre-digested approved curriculum. I suggest seeing OLPC in action in a remote/rural or disadvantaged community... the greatest change will be visible where few options for decent quality schooling are present. best of luck on your study... hope you will regularly report back to us... Cheers Tim __________________________________ John "Tim" Denny, Ph.D. Advisor- International Development, Education and ICT Executive Director, PC4peace http://www.pc4peace.org Advisory Board, Masters of Development Studies -RUPP International Journal of Multicultural Education, Electronic Green Journal http://www.avuedigitalservices.com/VR/drjtdenny Join Cambodia Joomla! Users group - http://groups.google.com/jugcam "The diligent farmer plants trees of which he himself will never see the fruit." Cicero (106-43 BCE) On Thu, Sep 4, 2008 at 10:12 PM, Magda Pischetola <[EMAIL PROTECTED] > wrote: > Dear collegues, > > I've been reading with great interests your posts in the latest months and > now I'd like you to ask your opinion about a topic that is going to be an > important part of my research. > > I am doing my PhD in Italy with a project on the Digital divide from the > point of view of Education. I am studying how can education reduce the DD > with media literacy and how teachers can help children to achieve a good > level of the so-called "digital skills", to access ICT and Internet and to > produce development. > > Now, this year I will follow a field research in a primary school where > teachers are going to introduce the OLPC laptop as a tool in their method of > theaching. Then, in the new year I'd like to compare the results to another > area of the world (I'm thinking of Buenos Ayres, Argentina). > > I'm asking to you all what you think - out of any preconcept that I might > share - about the initiative of OLPC in the world (if it is a goof initiave > or not and why) and which aspect would you stress in a field research like > this one (e.g. skills of the teacher, self-learning of the child, > creativity and flexibility of the project, etc.). > > I will appreciate very much your help. > Thank you! > > Magda Pischetola > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Poco spazio e tanto spam? Yahoo! Mail ti protegge dallo spam e ti da tanto > spazio gratuito per i tuoi file e i messaggi > http://mail.yahoo.it > _______________________________________________ > DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list > DIGITALDIVIDE@digitaldivide.net > http://digitaldivide.net/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide > To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message. -- _______________________________________________ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@digitaldivide.net http://digitaldivide.net/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message. _______________________________________________ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@digitaldivide.net http://digitaldivide.net/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
