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Today's reading about the OLPC project reminded me of Innovations in Poverty Action, a research organization dedicated to finding new, research-based methods for improving outcomes and equity. A very interesting approach.

The real question is what the tablet can and cannot do

I would liken this to a graphing calculator (that is typically required of student's to purchase for the purpose of higher math classes) versus the classroom set of calculators typically found in the elementary math manipulative kits - the ultimate purpose of each device is very different - but the basic or fundamental features are the same - so for India, does it matter how "advanced" the system is if they really just want to get the poorest of its citizens on some type of level playing field?

This article reminds of what Professor Dede said in the class, that we are at the inflection point in the history of of educational technologies. The author confirms that with eleven marked changes.

This is a very exciting time but I noticed that the author cited evidence that I believe will only contribute to the achievement gap. He cites that poverty is increasing and every new educational effort requires money or families with time to spend with their children. The adults who focus on children in poverty are the teachers. Where are they in the list?

I agree overall about 2011 being an inflection point, but I also remember that IBM 360 and TV were supposed to revolutionalize education too.

Mobile Phones are being used to pull people out of poverty through informal learning and direct work applications

Over the past few years, there has been an increasing emphasis on girls and information and communication technology in the development sector. Large government donors, NGOs and the private sector believe girls could play a big role in resolving poverty and making development gains through ICT.

In Disrupting Class we explained that prosperity is a bittersweet reward. Poverty often serves as an extrinsic motivator for some students, as it causes them to endure monolithic, batch teaching of subjects like math and science. When prosperity has removed this source of motivation, the solution must be to make learning intrinsically motivating. Student-centric learning will play a key role in addressing this challenge. The purpose of this paper is to draw upon another model from our research on innovation to dive more deeply into students' motivation to learn. If children are motivated to learn and if we enable each one to learn effectively, we will have an education system with a great performance record. As the late educator Jack Frymier often said, "If the kids want to learn, we couldn't stop 'em. If they don't, we can't make 'em."