Changes

3. I contrast this with the sad state of the computer industry's attempts to sell computers to schools: "[] says teachers need high-end laptops but students will just be accessing content and communication so need basic functionality." While there is nothing fundamentally wrong with giving children access to content, does that really constitute the basic functionality needed by the learner? The good news is that Sugar (and Etoys) can run on these "basic" platforms. We should stop selling teachers and learning short by dumbing down the opportunities to use computation as a thing to think with.

3. I contrast this with the sad state of the computer industry's attempts to sell computers to schools: "[] says teachers need high-end laptops but students will just be accessing content and communication so need basic functionality." While there is nothing fundamentally wrong with giving children access to content, does that really constitute the basic functionality needed by the learner? The good news is that Sugar (and Etoys) can run on these "basic" platforms. We should stop selling teachers and learning short by dumbing down the opportunities to use computation as a thing to think with.

4. Christoph Derndorfer, who is on another of his world-wide tours of OLPC deployments – this time to Latin America – just reposted a link to Michael Trucano's restating-the-obvious article on 1-to-1 laptop deployment pitfalls on the World Bank's website. (Most of Trucano's well-worn advise applies to any learning initiative; alas, he does not provide much insight for those of us trying to actually solve real problems on the ground.) I will give Christoph the benefit of doubt that with the coincidence of his post that he is not deliberately making a backhanded disparagement of the deployments in Uruguay and Paraguay he has visited. While these deployments have not yet reached the status perfection, the deployment teams at Ceibal and Paraguay Educa have never strayed into the dangerous waters described by Trucano:

4. Christoph Derndorfer, who is on another of his world-wide tours of OLPC deployments – this time to Latin America – just reposted a link to Michael Trucano's restating-the-obvious article on 1-to-1 laptop deployment pitfalls on the World Bank's website. (Most of Trucano's well-worn advise applies to any learning initiative; alas, he does not provide much insight for those of us trying to actually solve real problems on the ground.) I will give Christoph the benefit of doubt that with the coincidence of his post that he is not deliberately making a backhanded disparagement of the deployments in Uruguay and Paraguay he has visited. While these deployments have not yet reached the status of perfection, the deployment teams at Ceibal and Paraguay Educa have never strayed into the dangerous waters described by Trucano:

:''1. Dump hardware in schools, hope for magic to happen''

:''1. Dump hardware in schools, hope for magic to happen''