Last fall I proposed an idea to the NYICCSI, the New York Consortium for Study Abroad in India, that when we send our students to India we give them the $200 OLPC laptop to use during their stay. When the students would be ready to return to the US the laptops could be cleaned up and donated to a local elementary school.

The aim was to solve two problems:

1. Our students are currently lugging around a large bulk pack during their study abroad in India. By placing all of the articles onto the laptop's harddrive, we would eliminate some of the student's burden at a cost that is only marginally greater than purchasing a top of the line flash drive.

2. I wanted to find a concrete way that our students could improve the lives of at least a few of the people that they get to know while studying in a developing country. Of course our 22 laptops would only make a small dent, but perhaps we could inspire other colleges to follow our trend. Over several years, this might make a difference in one or two schools.

I have been looking into the feasibility of implenting this idea in a few years during the break. However, I was disheartened to hear today that Intel and OLPC have gone their separate ways. This is bad news. Intel's rival project is better funded but I fear that it is not driven by the proper motivation as OLPC. The lack of collaboration between OLPC and Intel means that it will be more difficult to lower the cost of these laptops. Moreover, if OLPC fails, it means that what began as an idealistic project will become yet another way of profitting from the impoverished countries.

Labels: india, teaching, technology