Technology and mother-tongue literacy in Southern India: Impact studies among young children and out-of-school youth - Wagner, Daniel A; Daswani, C J; Karnati, Romilla (Information Technology and International Development, 2010)
The present research began with one main question: How can new technologies be effective for poor and illiterate children and youth in developing countries? We addressed this question through a research-based implementation project in India that included the development of local language multimedia software for literacy; a built-in, user-friendly interface; and the use of existing computer infrastructure. Two studies were undertaken in Andhra Pradesh state. One included a sample of youth and young adults who had never gone to school (or dropped out early) in peri-urban Hyderabad, and the other was composed of young second- and third-grade school children in rural West Godavari district. Based on a short-term intervention program, research results demonstrated a modest positive impact on the learning rate in reading with both groups of learners (when compared with control groups without the multimedia intervention). The findings provide support for the view that information and communications technologies for development can assist in promoting literacy among the poorest of the poor. In addition, the present results support the view that the digital divide, as it evolves over time, will only be narrowed when content-based solutions are sensitive to, and built on cultural and linguistic diversity.
KerkoCite.ItemAlsoKnownAs: 2339240:FMDF5K5E 2405685:IT38D8P5
Keywords: ⛔ No DOI found

Can One Laptop Per Child Save the World's Poor? - Warschauer, Mark; Ames, Morgan (Journal of International Affairs, 2010)
The One Laptop per Child (OLPC) program is one of the most ambitious educational reform initiatives the world has ever seen. The program has developed a radically new low-cost laptop computer and aggressively promoted its plans to put the computer in the hands of hundreds of millions of children around the world, including in the most impoverished nations. Though fewer than 2 million of OLPC's XO computers have been distributed as of this writing, the initiative has caught the attention of world leaders, influenced developments in the global computer industry and sparked controversy and debate about the best way to improve the lot of the world's poor. With six years having passed since Nicholas Negroponte first unveiled the idea, this paper appraises the program's progress and impact and, in so doing, takes a fresh look at OLPC's assumptions. The paper reviews the theoretical underpinnings of OLPC, analyzes the program's development and summarizes the current state of OLPC deployments around the world. The analysis reveals that provision of individual laptops is a utopian vision for the children in the poorest countries, whose educational and social futures could be more effectively improved if the same investments were instead made on more sustainable and proven interventions. Middle- and high-income countries may have a stronger rationale for providing individual laptops to children, but will still want to eschew OLPC's technocentric vision. In summary, OLPC represents the latest in a long line of technologically utopian development schemes that have unsuccessfully attempted to solve complex social problems with overly simplistic solutions.
Publisher: Journal of International Affairs Editorial Board KerkoCite.ItemAlsoKnownAs: 2339240:GXQVYARZ 2405685:9BRCRSSN 2405685:PUTV3LIS
Keywords: ⛔ No DOI found

A roadmap for education technology - Woolf, Beverly Park (2010)
KerkoCite.ItemAlsoKnownAs: 2339240:JRU5TLIL 2405685:THRU8AZY
Keywords: ⛔ No DOI found