final keynote: one laptop per child

this was fab, and dispelled all my fears about pointless repetitive keynotes. even if the same talk does appear on another programme, i'm fairly certain i'd sit through it again.

it was a presentation by david cavallo of the one laptop per child (olpc) foundation. i've heard a lot about the olpc before, and was (am?) somewhat sceptical about their rather wooly sounding mission which is "...to stimulate local grassroots initiative designed to enhance and sustain over time the effectiveness of laptops as learning tools for children living in lesser-developed countries.". he's such an inspiring speaker though - genuine, engaging and down to earth, while obviously being very very clever at the same time - that i immediately started to feel guilty about feeling sceptical.

there were lots of gems in what he was saying that i think are relevant for a lot of the work we're doing. issues such as focussing on teaching that will make a real difference in context, including helping people with skills that will benefit the community short- and long-term; and demonstrating that you value students by trusting them with something (in this case, a laptop, obviously...but we've had many a similar discussion about 'you can't put expensive kit in there/loan things to students, they'll get ruined') - and the effect that that has on their perception of themselves, their attitudes, and their sense of responsibility. so students who have previously felt marginalised start to see themselves as people who can accomplish things. he stated a few times that fears of theft in poor communities hadn't been borne out in practice - while recognising that the distinctive design made it easily recognisable and therefore less appealing to thieves (the thinking being that it was easy to spot who was using one, and identify whether they were legitimate users).

there was something else that struck home about having things to explore that weren't necessarily part of the intended learning, but that might help spark curiosity. in this case, there was a 'view source' button available within the software on the laptops, the thought being that it wouldn't appeal to all, but that some children may pick up on this, explore it and start to develop an understanding. again (and predictably) thinking back to space design, having elements to break spaces up and giving people areas to explore is part of a range of ideas to help stimulate interest and engagement. any other examples of this?

anyway, enough rambling - but it was one of those rare joys, an engaging keynote :)