According to Eben
Upton, co-founder of Raspberry Pi, the importance of his work as he sees it is
to get kids to play around with a bare-bones computer system at an early age so
that it might stoke their interest in computer science. But another byproduct
of the technology is that the units are inexpensive enough to translate to less
developed countries as full-fledged personal computing options and help to
bridge skills gaps therein. Although smaller, more localized technology
production firms (like the one that brought the Inye, a tablet PC developed in
Nigeria, to market) have not been sustainable in the developing world’s
emerging market, imported options like Raspberry Pi are proving to be one
possible solution to bridge the “technology gap” in these areas.
With ever more
affordable technology available to access the bulk of the world’s information
infrastructure, that leaves the content to consider; thanks to “the world’s
first superstar teacher” (per one Russian venture capitalist), Khan Academy’s
Salman Khan, there exists a repository of thousands of videos in six official
(and over 30 unofficial) languages ready and waiting for the 30+ million
students who access them each month (up from 2 million just a few years ago).[1]
And that is only one site, amongst hundreds that aim to offer educational
programming to students around the world. So, the majority of the world has
means of access, and there is content available. Can this equate to better, more
effective educational systems on a global scale? That is the question. What
future can technology provide when it comes to teaching the coming generations
the kinds of things that are, and will be, important?
Technology is not
in itself a panacea to all educational ills—several studies have explored the
limitations of laptops and iPads just dropped into the hands of young students.
While many experts in both technology and education believe that continuing
advances in technology can provide solutions, others vehemently disagree.
According to author and professor Kentaro Toyama, speaking about his previous
work with Microsoft, “even when technology tested well in experiments, the
attempt to scale up its impact was limited by the availability of strong
leadership, good teachers, and involved parents — all elements that are
unfortunately in short supply in India’s vast but woefully underfunded
government school system. In other words, the technology’s value was in direct
proportion to the instructor’s capability.”[2]
Rather than
assuming that either way is the only way, then, our challenge is to figure out how
one can merge these concerns and find a technology- and human-powered solution to the issues raised above. As the class
has seen in the course readings up to this point, one key to social innovation
is sustainability. It seems that to fully capitalize on the kinds of advances
made via the development of products and services like Raspberry Pi and Khan
Academy, one cannot forget the necessity of the human quotient and its
significance in translating the tangibles of tech to the intangibles of life.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.