ICTD2007 Models for Low Cost Computing for Children Rabin Patra History of low cost computing * simputer, compudator popular * HP441 AMD 50x50 * olpc, classmate Parable... Models.. Single user, individually owned model * each child with own computer * usually taken home after school Single user, Shared computer * school computer labs, community centers, kiosks, * shared devices - desktop pcs, simputer handheld - could also use nComputing LTSP Multiple users, shared computer model * School computer labs - multiple children on one computer - multiple devices per computer? How do you compare? * Cost - Initial cost, running cost, replacement cost * Socio-cultural suitability - Teaching methods - Interviews with parents from rural India * Educational effectiveness - Findings from comparison of single user, multiple user games Economic Comparison * Example: computer aided learning to all schools in india * use real numbers dn population * graph: cost comparison for inidan schools - initial cost, replacement, and running, and teacher, and total per year * Compare these costs to budgets in various countries (see paper for numbers) Socio-cultural suitability * Fit with existing learning environment * ananny and winters have pointed out that a computing model brings its own ideology * single user model - constructive learning - stress of creative process led by children * multiple user on shared computer model - instructive learning - drill-type activities. * but what do parents want? Parent Preference sabout comptuers * Question: Where do you prefer computers - 31% Schools: only teachers can teach - 30% Schools: they cannot learn at home - 24% children learn better in collaboration - 8% Schools: don't want responsibility - 3% Home - ease of access, device safety Educational Effectiveness * What is the potential impact of learning with computers - primary benefitsL increased learning - secondary benefits: increased aspirations * How can we measure increase in leangin? - any benefit from collaborative learning? Study setup for multimouse games * Question: WHat is the effectiveness of learning in games Evaluation * Key observations - Alpha children dominate with single inpu - leaning is not equal for all students - more details in Pawar Pal Gupta Toyama in CHI 207 - Gain from mulitple user in engagement.. * (see paper for numbers comparing use models) [Question: how transferable are these results to other countries?] "My child will be respected": Parental perspectives om computers.. Joyojeet Pal Motivation * Resource question-mark: motivation to document environment * is this something we should be spending on? - could look at economic, comparative cost benefit - in this case, speak to parents about their perceptions Approach * study second order impacts of computers in rural india * Research Group: parents of children in villages alloted computers under the Computer Aided Learning (CAL) program * not specifically asking about computers, but on general perspectives on what happened when the computers came Methodology * Background Study (2005) - 140 interviews, 4 focus groups, 35 group observations * Interviews of parents - 203 parent interviews Environment: Occupational Push * Question: Would you want your kid to do what you do? - audience answer: why not? - indian parents answer: keen to get children out of agriculture * Families multi-generational in location - want kids to move out of the area entireley and search for jobs area - motivation for funding education - prime goal: government teaching jobs * But it is not just economic reasons - biggest problem is instability - tenure is a good thing * Parents felt that education wasn't necessarily going to get computer jobs - but might give a wider set of skills that will help them get gov't jobs Demand: Computers, Teachers, or Meals? * Quantitative data is only for 200 users * (see chart) * Compare preferences for schools: which are prioritized? * parents from various backgrounds * demand for meals goes up with wealth - demands for computers goes down * if the school didn't have meals.. didn't know what to do * comptuers vis a vis books... * what parents wanted was very contextual to the school in their area * Asked parents who was responsible for education: - 15% of the rural respondents said parents - overwhelming majority in urban took responsibility for child's education - question in rural: - who has to pay for it - parents are illiterate: so who has capability to teach Demand: Computers or English? * Imagine two schools: - one has computers but teach in local language - other teaches english but has no computers * Schools are getting students particularly because they are teaching english * Rural bangalore: 96% of parents said send to school with computers * Factory workers: to school with english - a sense of association with people in their immediate class that also use computers: swipe cards or computers in front of security guards - real power is in the hands of the people who speak english * Rural bangalore - experience is with people facing computers, they dont' see computer.. Computers contextualized socially * shared resouce - sense of communcal gain - ideas of equality: my child is using the same computer as the rich child! - pride: My village has computers - generational pride: I may be illiterate but my kids are literate and can use computers - but also communication and authority erosion as kids learn more - computers are not good for girls b/c it makes their dowry more expensive - small farmers see as negative - others said that it makes them more useful - positive perception * teacher as class symbol - local computer teacher as class breaker - child in the village as a computer teacher - child is local where many teachers are from urban areas Implications * short term - child attendance - household willing to invest 10rs/month for computer - parent involvement increased - parental involvment results in better learning... * long term - raised graduation rates..? Q&A Q: (Argentina) In argentina the school system is different. we have reasonably good schools/buildings, and the teachers are well prepared. but there is low literacy in countries. You analyse computers in schools, but need to link to computers in schools. Bringing knowledge to schools? What's the use of 1 million computers if 17% of its teachers never get internet. In the case of teachers propose one laptop per teacher + internet instead of one laptop per child. A: (Rabin). I only included the first step cost of ther computers, But one also needs to consider power, internet, training costs as well. Q: (for Joyojeet) A rich study of parental perceptions and aspirations. Look at the broader context of education etc. A huge crisise of farmers - education has an urban bias, which leads to farmers seeing it as a lower grade occupation. Schooling in any places - led to jobelss urban migration, etc. A: (Joyo) We asked parents this one question: when a person moves from your village to a city, what are they likely to do. Mostly the answer is construction laborer. Later we asked wheter it is better to be agri or construction laborer. Answer is better to be agri. There is a disconnect, they believe that their child won't be the construction laborer. "I tried to put my child through school and now he is a casual laborer" with dismay. The trigger towards urbanization has many more variables than that - and it is bound to happen - it will not stop. Looking at coastal areas, many marginal farmers and daily wage laborers will Q: Public spending as $15 billion. It's not that the education budget is too high, but that the national budget is too low. These numbers - benchmarked against the falling dollar. Nigeria is below international benchmarks... Looking at ICT for development. ICT computers in dev computers. Looking at $3billion,... if you develop locally then A: THe point is that most countreis cannot afford to buy computers for every child. The numbers are for public spending, and is not the GDP Q: (Keniston) Introducting computers into classroom - metrics for performance A: (Joyo) Bannerjee at MIT has done some work on this in India. APF can make some observations [Azim Premji Fdn]. Some demonstration in Gujarat of increases in mathemeatics and english Q: Actually increase in mathemeatics, but not english... A: Other than that not sure what there is. And I was not going after elearning directly Q: (John Canny) Studying symbolic value of computers for villagers. value, but not the effects of computers. What worries me is that there is a disconnect between perception and plausible reality of computers. Since most of the web content is in english. Language seems to a non native user that precedes internet access. If we contineu to try to address. They are naive about computing...The problem is that it seems to be that needs to be articulation about education about what's really possible. A strong constructivist approach lead It worries me to allow these misperceptiosn to continue A: Two types of parents: those that say computers are needed to do everything and believing that the computer can do everything! If you ask the same question to a service sector - of course they have to learn english first and then computers..