Education and technology

The OLPC laptop being introduced to children in Haiti

Technology plays an increasingly significant role in improving access to education for people living in impoverished areas and developing countries. Educational technology is not merely a matter of education and technology alone but is also about the societal culture wherein that educational technology is implemented.[8] Charities like One Laptop per Child are dedicated to providing infrastructures through which the disadvantaged may access educational materials.

According to one article,[9] technology in developing countries is mostly limited, but some countries do have new advances in terms of pro-technology policies and biotechnology developments. One position effect of improving technology in developing countries is less dependence of developing countries on developed countries' exports of goods or technology. Developing infrastructures, promoting entrepreneurship, and formulating more open policies to technology are all somewhat effective ways of improving education and economies of developing countries.

The OLPC foundation, a group out of MIT Media Lab and supported by several major corporations, has a stated mission to develop a $100 laptop for delivering educational software. The laptops were widely available as of 2008. They are sold at cost or given away based on donations.

In Africa, the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) has launched an "e-school program" to provide all 600,000 primary and high schools with computer equipment, learning materials and internet access within 10 years.[10] An International Development Agency project called nabuur.com,[11] started with the support of former American President Bill Clinton, uses the Internet to allow co-operation by individuals on issues of social development.

India is developing technologies that will pass learning materials directly to its students. In 2004, the Indian Space Research Organisation launched EDUSAT, a communications satellite providing access to educational materials that can reach more of the country's population at a greatly reduced cost.[12]

Educational tech (EdTech), mostly, information and communication technology can address issues, such as, an absent school teacher by conveying better lessons, preparing instructors and motivating students. In this generation, the price of educational technology has fallen to the point where EdTech is easily accessible even in generally poor nations. Tablets cost as low as $28 and India has the least expensive data plans on the planet. With less expensive data plans new companies such as ExtraClass has come into light which aims to provide affordable education to 260 million children.

The key job that innovation needs to play in education is proportional access to a portion of the core tools that can make an important effect in the lives of both instructors and students. Some important themes can be identified to create worldwide techniques to help advancements that match the particular needs of a developing society. Some of the significant topics is to guarantee that students have access to the correct learning material, particularly in their own dialects since it guarantees a better comprehension of subjects.

An AI-based tutoring system was put into an entry-level IT school in Pensacola by the U.S. Navy.[13] This system involves a human tutor who monitors the student's progress while providing individual assessments. According to the Navy, the students that worked with the digital tutoring system consistently performed better on the tests than did the students who did not use the digital tutor. The adaptive technology appears to affect students positively because it can assist individuals that have different learning skills than others and therefore better equipped to learn on their own.

Technologies are being developed to address different challenges in topics such as education, health and global poverty, but there are cases in which this is not working or the results achieved are far away from the expectations. Kentaro Toyama, in his book Geek Heresy mentions examples in which this happen. He highlights the cases of computers in Bangalore that are locked away because teachers don't know what to do with them and mobile phone apps meant to spread hygiene practices and fail to improve health in Africa. Moreover, these past decades there have been huge improvements in technology which have done little to reduce rising poverty and inequalities, even in developed countries like United States. In addition to this, an interesting example is the one found by the economist Ana Santiago and her colleagues at the Inter-American Development Bank which conclude no educational advantage in a One Laptop per Child program in Peru. Another team of researchers found similar results in Uruguay, and concluded: "Our findings confirm that the technology alone cannot impact learning".

 This article incorporates text from a free content work. Licensed under CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0 License statement/permission on Wikimedia Commons. Text taken from Rethinking Education: Towards a global common good?, 27–28, UNESCO. UNESCO. To learn how to add open license text to Wikipedia articles, please see this how-to page. For information on reusing text from Wikipedia, please see the terms of use.