Hi Marc,<br><br> I am working at India's first pilot site for OLPC at Khairat near Mumbai. Here is what I have to say from my practical experience. <br><br><div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div class="Ih2E3d"><br><br></div>I agree with that. I don't know about the computer interface but for<br>the physical part it is a matter of showing how to do things. But<br>still this is an important aspect. I suppose your daughter is not
<br>living in India, there is a big difference between children living in<br>western countries and those living in India. In India, there are not<br>so many things they can play with. They don't have toys for example,
<br>the parents living in small places have also the basic needed things.<br>So they have more problems to deal with technological devices.</blockquote><div><br><br><br>Well I dont see the kids here having problems dealing with technological devices. They enjoy every bit of it. Offcourse there our some local problems related to electricity in rural areas but that too is been worked on. They enjoy discovering on their XOs. And what follows is the process of learning in a group with this self learning initiative. Teacher acts as a medium of taking them to new paths and they explore every bit of it.... i mean if given a taste of some activity ... they go on making a creative picture out of it. Well there is much more to
it.Khairat Chronicle gives a much better picture of the whole situation. <br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><br><br>Well, if you see the practical aspect, the XO is weak. To buy < 100
<br>you have to go for G1G1. Means you have to have an physical address in<br>the USA, you have to arrange and pay UPS postage and indian custom<br>fees (high !). Once you have the computers in India, where do you go<br>for support ? This is actually the worst aspect of XO. You can buy Eee
<br>PC in India and Asus has offices and resellers to provide support.<br><div class="Ih2E3d"><br>Let me make you aware that the work on building a system for all the Indian Requests for XOs and all logistics attached to implementation of OLPC in India (which includes support) has already started and is been worked at. Also a website and payment gateway is been worked on. You will be made aware of complete details in some few days to follow. We have already receiving some requests coming in from across the country. With the vision of OLPC we intend to take this to all the rural parts of the nation thus bridging the digital divide and such a initiative takes a while for the system to be in place for it to be successfully deployed across the nation.
<br></div></blockquote><div> <br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><div class="Ih2E3d"><br></div>That is not what I meant... Children cannot learn by themselves. They
<br>need teachers. Trying to impose a technology to the teachers against<br>their will is a very bad idea. And as I see it, teachers in India are<br>easily lost when you come "out of the book". So it is important to be
<br>sure they are going to use the computers and not keep them in the<br>cupboard...</blockquote><div><br><br> Well what I understand is that nothing is been imposed on teacher neither on students. I think education is more of a fun to them and now they learn with much more interest. As I said before dont tell them how to cook .. just give them the ingredients and then we will all see what delicacy they make. And with XOs I have seen them doing that. I think it is just the beginning .. OUR OLPC MESH NETWORK is going to set its NODES all across the NATION .. and then we all will be connected through this beautiful technology spreading this wave of new era of learning which is based on the principles of constructivism , creative thinking and self learning.
<br><br><br> Amit <br>OLPC India Team.<br> <br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><br><div class="Ih2E3d"><br>-<br>
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