Hi all, the Peruvian Ministry of Education and the Inter-American Development Bank are currently working on a fairly extensive evaluation of OLPC in Peru.
The first preliminary report from that evaluation was just published and it makes for a very good and interesting read: Evaluación Experimental del Programa “Una Laptop por Niño” en Perú: http://www.iadb.org/document.cfm?id=35370099 As to be expected - based on my own experiences while I was in Peru as well as talking to a lot of people who've worked there in the past - these first results aren't particularly great. From an implementation point of view this paragraph from page 11 sums up some key findings: "Aspectos relevantes a considerar en la implementación son 1) la demanda de mayor preparación de los docentes, 2) el bajo porcentaje de alumnos que puede llevar la laptop al hogar, 3) la baja conectividad a Internet y a la red local, 4) la falta de soporte técnico y pedagógico en las escuelas y localidades." * demand for better teacher preparation * low percentage of pupils who can use the laptop outside of school (~50%) * lack of connectivity (only 1,4% of schools have Internet access, Mesh use is very limited) * lack of technical and educational support in schools Additional findings are that the use of the XOs in schools drops of significantly after some months, that the use is very often limited to typing up texts written on the chalkboard, and that so far very few impacts in terms of learning have been encountered (though that last point could change in future evaluations given the short amount of time that many schools have had the XOs). I know, I know, some people will be more than happy to shot the messenger here. But in that case I'd suggest that (1) people simply ignore my ramblings (2) read the original report (remembering that it's not Intel, Microsoft or OLPC News but the IADB in collaboration with the Peruvian MoE who wrote it) (3) and then see what you think yourself. Cheers, Christoph -- Christoph Derndorfer co-editor, www.olpcnews.com e-mail: christ...@olpcnews.com _______________________________________________ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
