Kenya orders 1.1m tablets from China

[RV Pundit]

You cannot equate a computer (whatever form) with pencil or book. Your problem is that it's better to have labs than tablets. That to me is just too much details (like buying PC or macbook or ??). We need to focus on the big picture. Computers (tablet) is quantum leap in teaching, learning and name it. You know it. It can even replace a human teacher. This is 17B well spent. We may differ with ministry of education on the minute details but surely we should appreciate what a ambitious and transformative this project is.

Why not use mainframes?  They call them the cloud these days.  In any case, this so-called laptop project cannot function without them.  I am assuming they will be downloading learning materials from somewhere.  You seem to conflate learning on a tablet with learning about them.  How many Kenyans are pencil or paper manufacturing experts for having used these things in school?

The most it will do is introduce a tool for learning - maybe a toy.  They will use tablets to overcome some challenges like text books and for augmentation of learning.  Unless there is something I left out.  They still need a good human teacher and learning environment - which ought to be the main focus of any serious education policy.  Some might be inspired - can't rule it out.  But a policy should not be made on the off-chance that something good might happen.

[Kim Jong-Un's Pajama Pants]

You cannot equate a computer (whatever form) with pencil or book. Your problem is that it's better to have labs than tablets. That to me is just too much details (like buying PC or macbook or ??). We need to focus on the big picture. Computers (tablet) is quantum leap in teaching, learning and name it. You know it. It can even replace a human teacher. This is 17B well spent. We may differ with ministry of education on the minute details but surely we should appreciate what a ambitious and transformative this project is.

Why not use mainframes?  They call them the cloud these days.  In any case, this so-called laptop project cannot function without them.  I am assuming they will be downloading learning materials from somewhere.  You seem to conflate learning on a tablet with learning about them.  How many Kenyans are pencil or paper manufacturing experts for having used these things in school?

The most it will do is introduce a tool for learning - maybe a toy.  They will use tablets to overcome some challenges like text books and for augmentation of learning.  Unless there is something I left out.  They still need a good human teacher and learning environment - which ought to be the main focus of any serious education policy.  Some might be inspired - can't rule it out.  But a policy should not be made on the off-chance that something good might happen.

The overall idea, using technology to solve educational challenges is good.  The way they are going about it is totally misguided.  I don't buy the self-learning mantra.  I don't even think that is what the whole program is actually about.

I think it would have been better if they had a mix of approaches.  Laptops(or whatever devices are appropriate) to schools that are challenged in terms of educational resources.  Labs in those that already have their fundamentals in place.  It's more targeted, sustainable and keeps the costs down.

[RV Pundit]

When you quote OECD (developed world =great teachers + good students) studies then clearly you need to do more homework; we are talking about a developing country with poor teachers and students; where a torn textbook has a big impact leave alone laptop.

please do more homework.

 

 

 

[RV Pundit]

Let try pictures from my facebook account showing kids in neighbouring school in my shags using the tablets.

The overall idea, using technology to solve educational challenges is good.  The way they are going about it is totally misguided.  I don't buy the self-learning mantra.  I don't even think that is what the whole program is actually about.

I think it would have been better if they had a mix of approaches.  Laptops(or whatever devices are appropriate) to schools that are challenged in terms of educational resources.  Labs in those that already have their fundamentals in place.  It's more targeted, sustainable and keeps the costs down.

[MOON Ki]

clearly you need to do more homework;

I have now done more homework.  I have learned that some guy at university found that once he had the internet, he didn't need teachers, which proves that  once kids are armed with, tablets lazy and incompetent teachers will be an irrelevant issue of the past.    Therefore, our kids will be able to locate ABCD on a tablet, learn how to type, and be able to take exams online.    Thus equipped, they will turn into many thousand Bill Gates, each bringing in USD 10B, which means Kenya will be one of the many countries that leap into the developed world by focusing solely on services, unless it decides to become a rare exception.  Solid proof that Jubilee is great for doing something that has never been done in Africa. 

How's that?   Do I pass?

[RV Pundit]

That there is an excellent summary of what I've been trying to tell you. We had nearly the same debate with Moonki when M-pesa just started in 2008 and less than 10yrs now - M-pesa revolution continues. We can talk about this in 20yrs and you'll appreciate what Mucheru means up there when he describe this as a big arse transformation. I am not aware of a country that has done what Jubilee is doing at that scale...1M tablets for every kid in every corner of kenya.

I have now done more homework.  I have learned that some guy at university found that once he had the internet, he didn't need teachers, which proves that  once kids are armed with, tablets lazy and incompetent teachers will be an irrelevant issue of the past.    Therefore, our kids will be able to locate ABCD on a tablet, learn how to type, and be able to take exams online.    Thus equipped, they will turn into many thousand Bill Gates, each bringing in USD 10B, which means Kenya will be one of the many countries that leap into the developed world by focusing solely on services, unless it decides to become a rare exception.  Solid proof that Jubilee is great for doing something that has never been done in Africa.  How's that?   Do I pass?

[RV Pundit]

Extra work. Bridge Intl have in very short years launched hundrends of low-cost schools that uses technology a lot. Gov need to adopt this bridge model in addition to tablets. This is called innovation. It doesn't matter if it's a slum school or  world class primary school in Karen...technology can bridge the divide.
http://www.bridgeinternationalacademies.com/approach/model/

We cannot go with "traditional model" that was used 100yrs ago if we have to leapfrog to developed world in few short years.

Indeed.   

[MOON Ki]

That there is an excellent summary of what I've been trying to tell you.

Indeed.     

We had nearly the same debate with Moonki when M-pesa just started in 2008

Do you ever get tired of making up stuff?   When and where did you have the debate with Moonki?   Weka evidence hapa hapa.

I am not aware of a country that has done what Jubilee is doing at that scale...1M tablets for every kid in every corner of kenya.

Kweli, Jubilee is great.

[RV Pundit]

Typo - Terminator aka Windy City of Chicago.

In the meantime here is what Kindles did to a school in Transmara....a glimpse of what it will do to rest of kenyan kids..esp those in Turkana or Mandera who probably get to touch a book for few minutes in school. The impact is not comparable to what you get from OECD school. Here the impact will be HUGE.

http://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2012/12/04/electronic-books-and-kindles-transform-education-in-trans-mara_c710484

Jubilee have made baby steps here...huge baby steps...now they need to keep investing & innovating through technology  in the education sector and it will pay off handsomely like M-pesa is doing now to the financial sector.

Do you ever get tired of making up stuff?   When and where did you have the debate with Moonki?   Weka evidence hapa hapa.

[Kim Jong-Un's Pajama Pants]

Your totally miss the point. Those computers (be they laptop or tablets) actually are the solution to the problem you describe. These tablet come preloaded with syallabus e-content, many e-books and thousands of resources (visual aids, tutorials, audio-visual guides, mutli-media, videos) that would be very expensive to have or impossible to have for kids in places like Turkana. They are actually a solution. You don't need a classroom when you have a tablet. This is the FUTURE. I mean there are studies that show if you leave these kids with tablets loaded with relevant content..they can actually self-teach. Having these computer will tremendously improve quality of education.

So these tablets will replace teachers who don't show up and teachers who don't understand what they are supposed to teach?   Interesting.    I note that in rich countries, where people can have gadgets pre-loaded with everything under the sun, people still get quite worked up about the quality of teachers or even just the teacher:student ratio.   Apparently people think teachers are important.   (See Toyama's example of tech professionals in Silicon Valley sending their kids to expensive schools that work to keep technology away from the kids.)

But maybe you should point us to the studies you have in mind, and we can then compare them with others.   An example of "others" would be those done by the OECD of its member countries (which include your beloved Estonia).   Last year the OECD issued a report it had done after quite extensive studies.    Michael Trucano---the World Bank's global lead on "innovation for education", with a focus on "technology in education" in low-income countries---has done a nice, little summary:

1.  'Computers' don't teach kids, teachers do (of course others do as well, including: peers; the students themselves; parents; etc.)

2. Mere access to technology makes little impact.

http://blogs.worldbank.org/edutech/OECD-PISA-computers-learning

Your statement that

If you connect this table to internet..you're opening the entire world to these kids..majority from humble background.

brings to mind what Andreas Schleicher, head of the OECD's  Directorate of Education and Skills, had to say:

"And perhaps the most disappointing finding is that technology seems of little help in bridging the skills divide between advantaged and disadvantaged students ... the socio-economic divide between students is not narrowed by technology, perhaps even amplified

and

"ensuring that every child attains a baseline level of proficiency in reading and mathematics seems to do more to create equal opportunities in a digital world than expanding or subsidising access to high-tech devices and services."
...
"building deep, conceptual understanding and higher-order thinking requires intensive teacher-student interactions, and technology sometimes distracts from this valuable human engagement".

http://www.zdnet.com/article/children-need-teachers-to-reach-them-not-computers-says-the-oecd/

I certainly felt I didn't need a teacher when I was in campus and got introduced to the internet.

"Proof by one example" is not much better than "proof by mere assertion".     Steve Jobs dropped out of university and still did well.   But we do not on that account recommend dropping out of, or not going to, university; Jobs himself was quite worked up about his kids completing university.

Yeah I guess those spending 17B have totally failed to see the issue.

On the contrary, the problem is that they see the "issues"---their issues--only too clearly:

*  Issue  No. 1 (and Most Important Issue): kula nyama.

* Issue No. 2 (Beneficial Side-Effect) is neatly summarized by Toyama:

Part of the problem we are having in this discussion, it it's not clear what jubilee plans with the "laptops" are.  Apart from issuing them to the students.  So it's not really clear to an outsider what they think laptops are supposed to achieve.  I don't get the impression Pundit knows either.  I'll look around for some document somewhere maybe Mucheru's ministry - otherwise it becomes a fact free discussion.

My thinking is that they are supposed to alleviate some of the challenges faced by disadvantaged kids in accessing education; in which case, there is nothing to quarrel with.  In principle at least.

[RV Pundit]

Don't project. I have taken time to keep up-to-date with this project. It started with developing e-content by KIE. Electrifying all the schools. Training 60,000 teachers. Procuring and now issuing 1M tablets pre-loaded with relevant content. This also include every school getting a projector, printer and some of the stuff teachers need to digitally teach. That to me sound like a great start. Mucheru and company need not stop there...they need to ensure all schools are connected to broadband internet. Then eventually train all teachers to be computer literate, push teaching aids to them and have them deliver their lessons & assignments digitally. Have kids sitting for online kcpe or kcse in few years. Text books, paper and chalk are going extinct in few years. Kenya can show the way (like m-pesa has done) for low-cost apt technology that can tremendously improve access and quality of education....while investing very little. You don't have to spend 10M dollars to build and ran a school like the US..when you can use cheap technology to ran a school that produces the same output with 100KUSD.

Part of the problem we are having in this discussion, it it's not clear what jubilee plans with the "laptops" are.  Apart from issuing them to the students.  So it's not really clear to an outsider what they think laptops are supposed to achieve.  I don't get the impression Pundit knows either.  I'll look around for some document somewhere maybe Mucheru's ministry - otherwise it becomes a fact free discussion.

My thinking is that they are supposed to alleviate some of the challenges faced by disadvantaged kids in accessing education; in which case, there is nothing to quarrel with.  In principle at least.

[Kim Jong-Un's Pajama Pants]

Don't project. I have taken time to keep up-to-date with this project. It started with developing e-content by KIE. Electrifying all the schools. Training 60,000 teachers. Procuring and now issuing 1M tablets pre-loaded with relevant content. That to me sound like a great start. Mucheru and company need not stop there...they need to ensure all schools are connected to broadband internet. Then eventually train all teachers to be computer literate and deliver their lessons & assignments digitally.

Part of the problem we are having in this discussion, it it's not clear what jubilee plans with the "laptops" are.  Apart from issuing them to the students.  So it's not really clear to an outsider what they think laptops are supposed to achieve.  I don't get the impression Pundit knows either.  I'll look around for some document somewhere maybe Mucheru's ministry - otherwise it becomes a fact free discussion.

My thinking is that they are supposed to alleviate some of the challenges faced by disadvantaged kids in accessing education; in which case, there is nothing to quarrel with.  In principle at least.

In which case it looks like what I have said in the last paragraph.  The provision of education where it is otherwise challenging.  I like the part where teachers are trained to utilize the tools - that is a good thing.  I'll scan through at Mucheru's website to familiarize myself more when time allows.

[MOON Ki]

Extra work. Bridge Intl have in very short years launched hundrends of low-cost schools that uses technology a lot. Gov need to adopt this bridge model in addition to tablets. This is called innovation. It doesn't matter if it's a slum school or  world class primary school in Karen...technology can bridge the divide.
http://www.bridgeinternationalacademies.com/approach/model/

We cannot go with "traditional model" that was used 100yrs ago if we have to leapfrog to developed world in few short years.

I took a quick look at that and read a part of the big report there.    Section 2 of the report is on "The Bridge Approach".   The very first subsection---one of several that describe the "components of a high quality education"---is this:

Dedicated Teachers

Mechanisms have been established throughout Bridge to ensure that there are teachers in every classroom every day.   Strict teacher attendance monitoring allows Headquarters staff to quickly identify academies where teachers are absent.   A network of substitute teachers ensures that if a permanent is not able to be at school, a substitute teacher can be dispatched to cover their class.

[RV Pundit]

The primary objective to to teach these kids digital skills. It no longer enough to know maths and english..you also need computing skills in 21st century. The secondary objective is that these tablet will make teaching of other subjects easy, fun and cheap. Of course you can throw in the fact that these tablets can hold thousands of books, resources, aids, videos and a huge library of resources that our poverty stricken schools do not have...and won't have anytime soon.

In which case it looks like what I have said in the last paragraph.  The provision of education where it is otherwise challenging.  I like the part where teachers are trained to utilize the tools - that is a good thing.  I'll scan through at Mucheru's website to familiarize myself more when time allows.

[RV Pundit]

Great. They are using technology to ensure dedicated teaching. They can detect if a teacher is absent. That is what TSC is grappling with..and now with tablet..in few short years...we can know who has turned off their tablet..and who is turned it on. We can even tell teachers to log in their presence....after ensuring every teacher is computer literate...issue them with tablet...and similar application like bridge have..both empowering -teaching aids/internet for research/preparation- and monitoring..and kenya will in VERY FEW years have dealt with issues that would otherwise have taken 100yrs...if we stuck with your traditional tried and tested model.

That is where we need to go...we have just started.

I took a quick look at that and read a part of the big report there.    Section 2 of the report is on "The Bridge Approach".   The very first subsection---one of several that describe the "components of a high quality education"---is this:

Dedicated Teachers

Mechanisms have been established throughout Bridge to ensure that there are teachers in every classroom every day.   Strict teacher attendance monitoring allows Headquarters staff to quickly identify academies where teachers are absent.   A network of substitute teachers ensures that if a permanent is not able to be at school, a substitute teacher can be dispatched to cover their class.

[MOON Ki]

So it's not really clear to an outsider what they think laptops are supposed to achieve ... I'll look around for some document somewhere maybe Mucheru's ministry - otherwise it becomes a fact free discussion.

Go here: http://www.education.go.ke/index.php/programmes/digital-learning-programme

Very informative.   

[RV Pundit]

Here is what Bridge Intl is doing in slum schools...Gov need to play catch up here. Those tablets are going to be underused initially but with time we can scale them up. 10yrs from now...someone will be saying this can only work for slum schools in developing countries like m-pesa.

[RV Pundit]

http://digischool.icta.go.ke/

It was long removed from Ministry of Education to Mucheru's ICT ministry.

Go here: http://www.education.go.ke/index.php/programmes/digital-learning-programme

Very informative.   

[MOON Ki]

Great. They are using technology to ensure dedicated teaching. They can detect if a teacher is absent. That is what TSC is grappling with..and now with tablet..in few short years...we can know who has turned off their tablet..and who is turned it on. We can even tell teachers to log in their presence....after ensuring every teacher is comput

As usual, it has all flown by you.

First, the point I was trying to make is that Bridge apparently considers teachers to be the most important component and does not believe that they can be replaced with technology.

Second, dealing with teacher absences is a management problem that cannot be solved by technology.   The issue is not that of merely knowing who is absent----that information is already available, whence (using GoK's data):

Reports, including a recent one by the World Bank, have said Kenya has some of the highest incidents of teacher absenteeism which, compounded by poor pedagogy, undermine the quality of teaching.

Rather the issues are (a) immediate-term, what do do with absences on the day .... see the Bridge approach; and (b) long-term, what to do with lazy, and habitually absent teachers.

[MOON Ki]

http://digischool.icta.go.ke/

It was long removed from Ministry of Education to Mucheru's ICT ministry.

I saw that.  It doesn't help with the sort of question Terminator is asking; all it deals with is the "roll-out".