Slides for my presentation at the Comparative International Education Society Conference 2013 at New Orleans, LA, USA on March 13, 2013 during the ICT4D Special Interest Group Highlighted Session: Technology and Education Shifts

1. March 13, 2013
Does the One Laptop Per Child
Initiative Improve Primary Education?
ICT4D: Technology and Educational Shifts
1:45pm - 3:15pm
Hilton Riverside Hotel, Second - Marlborough A
John Auxillos | Masters Student @ Tokyo Institute of Technology
Khishigbuyan Dayan-Ochir | Rural Education and Development Project, Mongolia
Sukhbaatar Javzan | Institute of Finance and Economics, Ulanbaatar, Mongolia
Bat-Erdene Regsuren | American University of Mongolia
Shinobu Yume Yamaguchi | Tokyo Institute of Technology
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2. Mongolia
 population: 2.7
million (2010)
 low population
density + nomadic
lifestyle
 literacy rate ~ 95%
 computer-student
ratio target: 1:25
 % of schools
connected to the
internet: 50% (2012)
Background
2
Transition towards
democracy (1990)
• decentralization and liberalization
• transition to market economy
• structural changes in all sectors
Issues of the education sector
1. decrease in education
budget
2. school drop-outs
3. urban migration of rural
teachers
4. inadequate infrastructure
5. curriculum content
6. aligning years of schooling to
international practice
7. lack of ICT skills and
equipment

3. Reference:
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Deployments
http://cartodb.com/attributions
http://cdb.io/10knTRF
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Background

4. Background
OLPC in Mongolia
electricity infrastructure
47 Schools 12,100 XO1 Distributed in 2008
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Electricity Grid
Town Generator
No Data

5. Background
OLPC in Mongolia
internet infrastructure (to school…)
47 Schools 12,100 XO1 Distributed in 2008
5
Fiber
Dial-Up
Wireless 3G
Satellite
No Internet
No Data

6. How do we do our research?
 What was the impact of the OLPC in Mongolia?
 Mixed-Methods Methodology
 blend of both quantitative and qualitative data
gathering techniques to increase robustness of
interpretation (Creswell 2010)
 Cognitive and Non-Cognitive Skills
Development Framework
Methodology
Cognitive
Quantitative Data
• mathematical
abstractions
• reading
comprehension
Non-Cognitive
• attitude
• confidence
• collaboration
• “soft skills”
Qualitative
Data
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7. Quantitative Data
 Instrument 1: National Achievement Test
on Mathematics and Reading
 World Bank Rural Education And
Development Project 2008 for Grade 5
students
 Math - number sense, algebra, geometry,
probability
 Reading - language meaning, grammar
 Instrument 2: Computer Attitude Measure
For Young Students (CAMYS)
 Teo & Noyes, 2008
 measures computer disposition for 11-12 year
old students
 Twelve 5-point likert scale questions on
1) perceived ease of use 2) affect towards
computers 3) perceived usefulness
Methodology
Quasi-experimental study: Paired 7 OLPC and 7 non-
OLPC schools with similar conditions
2008 2012
Data
Source
WB
READ
OLPC
Study
N 4750 1915
Content Math and
Reading
201
2
N
OLPC 967
Non-OLPC 948
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8. Qualitative Data
Methodology
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 Interviews (semi-structured)
 school administrators (3)
 local education specialists
& directors (4)
 parents (2)
 Focus group discussions (6)
 teachers (32)
 OLPC schools (6)
 Grade 5 Children (2 grps)
 education specialists
 Classroom observations (1)

9. Findings
What have we found?
(qualitative findings – aggregate picture)
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10. Findings
10
Teachers
Children
Parents
Community
Ministry
School
Management

11. Findings
Teachers
 OLPC -> triggered an ICT movement at school
 compelled to catch up with ICT
 team up to teach each other about ICT
 Teachers found means of maximizing the XO1s
 discovered/learned to rewrite lesson plan
(student centered approach)
 teachers recognized the XOs as a self-learning
tool for children
 Acknowledgement of benefits and concerns
 “great opportunity for children to be
exposed to ICT at an early age”
 safety of children (in Ulaanbaatar)
 "My kid spends all his time on this green thing"
 Possible concern for childrens' eyesight
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12. Parents/Community
 Positive acceptance of the
OLPC initiative
 Recognition of ICT opportunity
 Take financial responsibility
 Parents participating in school
activities
 OLPC initiative helped trigger
an ICT movement from the
grassroots level
 Children teach their parents
 Parents make creative works
on the XO
 Parent willing to buy a PC
 Parents request local
government for laptop project
Findings
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13. Management
Education Specialists/Ministry of Education
 OLPC initiative was
supported by the local
culture and environment
 Competition
 Close collaboration
 Schools and local
government are responsible
for integrating the XO in a
way they find fit
 weekly curriculum schedule
 special training (in addition to
the PMU training)
Findings
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14. Children
perspectives from parents and educators
 are more self-starting,
creative, confident,
curious, independent,
disciplined, and
collaborative
 in the classroom are
disciplined and excited
for lessons
 spend after school
hours self-learning on
the computer
Findings
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15. Findings: Khovd Case
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School Management
increase in medals
improves school reputation
great opportunity to use ICT at an early age
Children
enjoy playing and creating
helping each other out
staying after school to use the XO (and the connecting to the internet)
finding that accessing information on the internet is easy
would like to show our works
Tokyo Tech
unreserved
confident to express themselves
proud to show off what they can do
Parents
playing, exploring, creating
learn very fast
has willingness to teach family
center of ICT in the family
Teachers
disciplined
creative
collaborative
self-starting

16. Issues
 Different
understanding
of objectives of
the initiative
Findings
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OLPC improve quality of primary education
Ministry expose children to ICT, develop e-learning content
Teachers opportunity to be exposed to ICT
Improve children’s skills with the use of ICT (Khovd)
 Service and repair system gap
 Original idea: decentralized + grassroots level service and support
 Reality: some parents cannot pay, repair is done at the capital city,
policy focused on allocation of responsibility (i.e. parents pay for
repair, PMU will do repair work), software updates rarely pushed
 Uncertainty of the future of the OLPC initiative in Mongolia
 XOs deployed are 3-4 years in operation (2012 – no more spare
parts, laptop batteries are not functional)
 OLPC project management unit in Mongolia was dissolved and
integrated to the teacher development center
 Khovd province doing research on how to implement one-to-one
learning programs

17. Conclusion
Does the One Laptop Per Child
Does the One Laptop Per Child
Initiative Improve Primary Education?
Initiative Improve Primary Education?
at school and community level
1. Teachers, parents, school administrators believe that the
OLPC is changing the development of children.
2. The OLPC initiative was a trigger for ICT adoption from the
grassroots level. (“there is something going on”)
3. Further research is needed on the impact of the OLPC
specific to the culture (school level) in which it is used,
integrated and perceived.
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18. March 13, 2012
Thank you for listening!
John Auxillos | Masters Student @ Tokyo Institute of Technology
Khishigbuyan Dayan-Ochir | Rural Education and Development Project, Mongolia
Sukhbaatar Javzan | Institute of Finance and Economics, Ulanbaatar, Mongolia
Bat-Erdene Regsuren | American University of Mongolia
Shinobu Yume Yamaguchi | Tokyo Institute of Technology
Email us at:
auxillos@ap.ide.titech.ac.jp
khishid@gmail.com
yamaguchi@gsic.titech.ac.jp
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