Last Fall, the the government in India release the Aakash Android Tablet. It is a tablet that costs a mere $35 dollars (with a government subsidy, about $60 without) that the Indians hope will be used to connect millions of students to the greatest learning tool ever developed--the web. India, being one of the most populated countries in the world, has a huge share of impoverished people. Hopefully for this massive group of Indians, the tablet will better educate the future generations, leading to upward mobility and a drastically reduced number of poor.
This same model could be applied to the United States, one of the riches nations in the world. The US could relatively easily put this technology in the hands of its students. Unfortunately, Americans, as a whole, are a little spoiled. School-aged children are already familiar with top-notch technology by the time they are preteens. The Aakash, being less than $100 is not as powerful, responsive, and enjoyable to use as say, the iPad. I think many American children would have a difficult time regressing to this type of technology.
Educational technology in this case is very similar to food. If the Peace Corps showed up in some suburban white neighborhood and offered some kind of cheap, but nutritious gruel, the kids are probably going to respectfully decline. But if you take that same batch of gruel to the inner-city, it's going to be eaten. The difference is the kids are starving. For food. For education. For something better.
I think the Aakash could play a pivotal role in revolutionizing learning for millions (if not billions) of people around the world. I guess, you just have to find someone who is hungry.
Check out the Aakash on Wikipedia.
No comments:
Post a Comment