Since our first day at Al Ishraq school, we were told of a school where each child had a portable laptop given to them. Very intrigued and very curious about how the use of laptops might be used or integrated in teaching, we requested to visit that school. After a one-hour bus and a tuk tuk ride, we arrived at Tharcel Hasanth Vidyalayam, a primary school in Palamunai. The principal and the English teacher greeted us with enthusiasm and proceeded to explain how they acquired these laptops. They explained that they were selected (because they were small, rural and poor) by the Ministry of Education to participate in a pilot program funded by the World Bank, which we later found out was called One Laptop Per Child (OLPC). Insert wiki link
Each laptop weighs about 2 kilos, is ‘weatherproof’, low maintenance and has a solar powered battery which can be used to charge computers without electricity. This feature is extremely relevant for charging computers in areas where electricity is scarce or too expensive to access. A team of computer consultants at the Ministry of Education developed the software inside these laptops to include the entire primary school syllabus in Tamil, Sinhala and English. The English teacher could not elaborate on how long the pilot program would last and which criteria would be used to measure success of the OLPC pilot program by the Ministry of Education. We did find out that the school is visited every fortnight for observations. Depending on the success of that program however, all Sri Lankan school children will receive these laptops in due time.
Our observations:
We observed that students had a good level of comfort in navigating a computer and that the tasks were engaging (except some of the younger children in Class 1 who had difficulty reading the instructions of the computer activities). However we were disappointed not to see the laptops used as part of a lesson. Instead, we saw students in one class choosing any activity of interest and there was little teacher mediation.
Upon reflection, we were pleased to see such high student engagement in the laptops. In addition, we observed collaboration between students where students helped other students navigate the sites. If the objective of these laptops is to familiarize students with technology and give them resources to consolidate their learning, the laptops seemed to serve that purpose. Our concern however is that these laptops would further decrease teacher instruction which is already very minimal.
~Alex & Bindiya
Really interesting) If you guys decide to study this, there is a lot of literature on the level of support teachers need to infuse technology into their curriculum as opposed to just using it as an adjunct as it is here. I am very intrigued by the solar battery--wish my computer had one:) And, on a social note--what a joy it must be for you two to be together and be working together:) Loves!
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