Dr. David Cavallo, MIT Media Lab
What should education be when any information is just a few mouse clicks away. He showed a picture he found by “googling ‘boring school'” of some students in class looking tired:
Kids would rather be challenged than bored.
(He asked how many folks were blogging live…I think it’s just me!)
Cavallo disscusses the development of the $100 laptop. What we need is a lowcost computer for education, and because the computer industry ignored their pleas, they decided to build one themselves.
The laptop features these technical innovations:
LCD Technology
Mesh networking
Powermanagement
Manual power (crank!)
Industrial design
Modes of use
Stylus and touchpad
What we can do with connected computers:
New content
New activity
New forms of interactivity
New process of organizational forms
First thing they will do in laptop program in Brazil:
Wiki history:
The kids in the area will documenting the history of their town. They will talk to parents and interview them, etc as well as accessing Web sites. They will use a wiki instead of blogs so the kids can “argue with each other” — so they can build the resource together, be engaged and learn from each other.
Kids will be more engaged if they are writing not just for the teacher but for everyone else (and I’d say for the world too).
Slide: “The City We Want” (School kids taping video in a tiled space)
What would solve the violence problem in Sao Pablo? Kids say: an intelligent bus! The want it to be comfortable and know when it’s full.
What’s bad at school? Girls say going to the school bathroom. They did their own documentary about the bathrooms. The images were compelling but Cavallo doesn’t want kids to lose sight of literacy (mixed emotions). But they do get to see the different ways to represent things: text, video, sound, etc.
Our biggest goal for the laptop is not to just use it as a one way conduit for information but also to use it as a means of collaboration and creation. (YES!!!)
We have to get these ideas of engagement, collaboration, learning to teach, teacjhing to learn into our programs.
This was an engaging talk..it’s hard to capture it…
