User:Ndoiron/Out Of The Box

Concept

What does it mean to teach a laptop class that is Out of the Box?

Workbook Activities

Sugar has programs for basic computer literacy: Browse, Write, WikiBrowse, Paint, and TypingTurtle. Teachers hold classes on these programs with activities which are little different than workbook exercises: read this, write that.

But the laptops have more potential. The students should use activities which enable creating and activities which encourage exploration, disrupting old-fashioned education. Memorize is one of the most popular programs, because students can create their own flashcards. Schools with internet can also teach exploration through Browse, but students may not see the web as participatory (Googling celebrities, for example, instead of looking for pages and resources related to their own community).

The Interactive XO

For computers to take root in students' interests, and to prepare students to control or design future technology, I believe they should have access to advanced applications. In the book **The Diamond Age**, a computer called the Primer "reacts to its owners' environment and teaches them what they need to know" (CC-BY-SA Wikipedia). With mobile phones spreading to billions worldwide, and the Google CEO being one of many to suggest these mobiles will do everything from offer directions to diagnose patients, the future may be about these sensitive handheld devices.

The XO laptop has the Measure activity, camera, and microphone to sense its immediate environment. One of the Map activities lets students both develop maps, and organize information via a map (their photos written descriptions, and wiki articles in this case). Those activities have a lot of options and potential; what I did in two months at Kasiisi School, Uganda is only one test case, or a framework for setting up your own program.

Try your technology, trust your teachers, and believe in your kids! Activities connected to your surroundings make just as much sense, if not more, than abstract office applications.