In this project-based class we will explore the range of topics that impact a large-scale technology deployment. Students will be exposed to the range of challenges to bringing new technology through a new channel to a new market place. The goals and implications of appropriate technology will be explored in depth as well. Students will learn about how to develop technology with full consideration to the implications of deployment. The central example explored in the course is the $100 Laptop, which is being launched by OLPC in the summer of 2007. Course topics are designed to be relevant to the OLPC mission; the potential to contribute to the OLPC project is expected to be an added motivation for students.
This 12-unit class will meet twice weekly for a total of 3 hours per week. The time will be split between a 2-hour lecture and a 1-hour innovative poster session benchmarking the progress of student projects. Individuals and/or groups will present goals and plans for a project and "products" of their work on alternate weeks; the format is poster in an open critique session. Projects might range from an exploration of the implications of past technology deployments in the Third World to OLPC-specific topics such as new software or accessories for the laptop. An extended public poster and demonstration session will be in lieu of a final exam.
The course will make extensive use of guest lecturers from the Media Lab, OLPC, and beyond. We have tentative commitments from Nicholas Negroponte, Walter Bender, Sandy Pentland, Calestous Juma, and Michail Beltsas, schedules permitting, and are continuing to arrange other speakers.
The $100 laptop design will be including ways to improve upon its success. We will give an overview of physical, electrical, and software design constraints and opportunities.
The software environment that runs on the laptop is open, relying on Linux and Sugar, and includes software tools for Python, Java, C-sound and Squeak. We will consider ways to showcase, make available and use these tools.
Education might be typified by learning processes and planning for acquiring knowledge and skills. Constructionism, an innovative approach in which project-based learning gives students skills and knowledge, is a focus of the OLPC effort. This will be contrasted with traditional educational approaches, such as the learning and memorization of facts, which will inevitably be part of the content that governments use in deploying educational laptops as well.
We will consider how to keep the child's ownership of a laptop from becoming a security hazard. How do we make "leashes" so that the laptop is only useful to the owner, without jeopardizing the laptops? How do we prevent laptop abuse and avoid laptop kidnapping?
Localization of laptops includes embodying language and culturally appropriate features into the technology and deployment of the system.
Content on the computers, such as facts and approaches to solving problems, must be prioritized and presented productively. What will be the ecology of approaches for acquiring and disseminating cultural, social and scientific information?Creating networked communities for local and global interactions and collaborations will be an important factor in the laptop's success.
The impact of the laptop will go far beyond the classroom. We will explore models of use to make the children more connected, self-confident, and supportive of their family and community. Technology platforms such as the $100 laptop will serve purposes beyond learning, from toy-like systems for personal and group enjoyment, to providing tools for communication and solving everyday problems.
Models of social change are central to the value of the laptop. We will explore examples and theory of appropriate technology to consider how deployment can be improved.
* OLPC is a non-profit organization that grew out of and continues to collaborate with The MIT Media Lab. OLPC's goal is to provide children around the world with new opportunities to explore, experiment, and express themselves. OLPC's children's machine, aka "XO" and "the $100 laptop," is scheduled for widespread deployment in 2007.