Utilizing The Xo Computer For Undergraduate Research And Learning Opportunities

The One Laptop Per Child Project, created by the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) Foundation, the program’s mission is to serve the worlds’ children by providing educational opportunities through the creation of low-cost, durable “XO” computers with programming specifically designed for collaborative learning. The development and support of the XO computer involve many professional skills and fields; including engineering and education. Currently 1.2 million XOs have been deployed globally, including approximately 15,000 in US schools. The completion of this mission is often difficult both in securing funding and attaining access to skilled professionals, because the vast majority of the XO deployments are located in developing countries with few resources. Another aspect of technology deployments in developing countries rarely discussed is that many of the financial donors, both government and foreign, are more willing to contribute money to purchase computers, while very few contribute funding to develop the infrastructure and skilled professionals that are essential to the success of any technology deployment, regardless of location. This is a substantial problem when considering that research shows the initial costs of computer deployments in developing countries consists of only 25-33% of the Total Cost of Ownership over the course of a five year period. To address this problem, student organizations at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Skidmore College in New York have formed a collaborative relationship that also includes Paraguay Educa, an NGO coordinating the country-wide XO deployment in Paraguay. This collaboration was formed to help provide the country-wide XO deployment in Paraguay and the small, experimental deployment in Wisconsin with the required technical support. The joint project strives to utilize the skills and resources found on university campuses in the US to benefit disadvantaged students both within the US and abroad, while providing quality educational opportunities for undergraduate and graduate learning and research. The research conducted to-date that seeks to estimate the Total Cost of Ownership in computer deployments considers but does not include the voluntary contributions made by students. This paper strives to exhibit and examine the value of student contributions from the academic perspective. Further research is planned to formally evaluate the value of the student contributions and their effects on reducing the TCO for XO deployments in developing countries. The first section of this paper will explore the evolution of the Wisconsin OLPC project and its repercussions in the foundation of the UW OLPC and OLPC Skidmore organizations. The second section consists of a literature review of the cost of implementing computers in the US and developing countries, focusing on the Total Cost of Ownership model. Finally, the third section will discuss the service learning projects and evaluate the student learning and the benefits of forming collaborative relationships both within the United States and internationally. OLPC Introduction/Background P ge 14342.2 One Laptop Per Child is a non-profit organization based in Cambridge, MA, that designed and manufactures the XO computer, a durable, low-cost computer for use in elementary school education in developing countries. OLPC’s mission is to provide a means for learning, self-expression, and exploration for the nearly two billion children in the developing world that have little or no access to education. While by nature children are eager for knowledge, many countries have insufficient resources to devote to education—sometimes less than $20 per year per child (compared to an average of $7,500 in the United States). By giving children ownership of an XO laptop, OLPC provides children with a digital platform to the outside world, access to vast amounts of information, a way to connect with each other, and a springboard into their future. Moreover, countries involved in the project develop an essential resource—educated, empowered children. [2] One Laptop Per Child, UWMadison The Wisconsin OLPC Project was initiated by the former Chancellor of the University of WisconsinMadison, John Wiley, to investigate the viability of the XO computer as an educational tool for use within the state's economically disadvantaged areas. The project is currently being coordinated out of the Engineering Learning Center at the University of WisconsinMadison, College of Engineering and involves faculty and students from across the campus, most notably the School of Education, Computer Science, and the College of Engineering. The project was officially launched in June of 2008 with a six week pilot that was conducted as an undergraduate research project by a student and faculty members from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, College of Engineering. The student population that participated in the pilot consisted of nine minority children enrolled in a summer enrichment program. The pilot's main objective was to gain a general insight of the XO as a learning tool and to identify some of the possible obstacles that a teacher might experience when teaching with the XO. The research also looked at changes in the students' self esteem and strove to identify the learning outcomes experienced by the students as the project progressed. The pilot was run as an undergraduate engineering research project and involved nine disadvantaged minority students. The summer pilot highlighted not only the learning opportunities provided by the XO to the elementary students, but also the learning experienced by the undergraduate researcher. The Wisconsin OLPC project was expanded during the fall 2008 semester to include 75 XOs, deployed in seven independent sub-deployments that each consist of different student populations, learning environments, and educational content. Research on each individual project is being conducted as well as an "umbrella study" that will study and compare the various aspects of the individual projects to form a more broad understanding of the XO within various school environments. Parallel to these efforts, a group of students at the University of WisconsinMadison created the One Laptop Per Child, UWMadison (UW OLPC) organization to support the needs of the seven sub-deployments that are currently underway within the city of Madison. A central aspect of the everyday work being done by UW OLPC students is to further evaluate the collegiate learning that is occurring as undergraduate and graduate students volunteer to work on the project. Accordingly, the UW OLPC's mission statement is as follows: P ge 14342.3 "We are an organization established to promote interest in, provide support for, and develop a local community around the One Laptop Per Child vision. We view OLPC as a valuable educational platform rooted in innovative technology. Our goals include community outreach, student development, and educational research. To this end, UW OLPC has established and is expanding local, national, and international relationships. Opportunities are also available to tailor projects to member initiatives and address specific needs of existing OLPC deployments worldwide. UW's OLPC student organization exists as a dynamic epicenter for communication and coordination among the OLPC community at