Blandin on Broadband

Last night I watched 60 Minutes. I loved their story, What If Every Child Had A Laptop? It featured Nicholas Negroponte, a professor at MIT, who has been working on building super tough laptop computers for kids in third world countries. The target cost is $100 per laptop.

The computers include lots of kid-friendly features, such as a webcam, WiFi access, bright colors, touch handles and batteries that last up to 12 hours, which means kids without electricity in their homes can bring home the machines to show their families and do homework.

Negroponte started a school in rural Cambodia in 1999. It is the test pilot for his idea and first graders there have each received a super tough computer.

It was fun to see the computers in the homes without electricity. It was fun to see kids teach each other how to use the computers. One aspect I didn’t want agree with is that Negroponte seemed to think that giving a kid a computer was enough – you didn’t need to teach them how to use the computers.

I have a first and second grader, they spend a fair amount of time online – but I like to know what they’re doing because you can run into some scary things and/or you can waste an awful lot of time. I think you need a teacher to help kids recognize a scary area before they get in too deep and to help kids be constructive online – at least part of the time.

I actually was a computer teacher for a very brief time. And I think kids can figure out how to play online – but they need help learning to use the computer as a tool.

What I did love was that eventually these computers will available in the US market but when they are the rule will be that you can buy one for your kid but you also have to buy one a kid in need. Heck – seems like a deal for me to get a super tough computer for $200 each!