The Hayashi & Baranauskas Socio-Technical Evaluation

 

Hayashi and Baranauskas (2013) conducted an evaluation of the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) initiative from a socio-technical perspective. The study focuses on the effects of 520 laptops donated by the OLPC organization to a Brazilian public school (Miotti), which had approximately 530 members, a combination of teachers and students between the ages of 6 and 14 years old. Their plan aims at understanding how to best introduce digital technology into a developing country without detriment to their cultural values. 

Hayashi and Baranauskas (2013) found that the simple act of introducing a new technology into the classrooms did not immediately solve the issue of schools requiring the integration of technological advances in the name of progress. 
In essence, integration should take place at its own pace while taking into account the country’s cultural beliefs and traditions in order to make it meaningful (Hayashi & Baranauskas, 2013). 

Four cases highlighted in the socio-technical evaluation that contribute to the understanding of how to best integrate a new technology into a developing country include: (1) Transforming homework assignments: Students taking laptops home to conduct research that would otherwise require a trip to the library, (2) Integration of interdisciplinary activities: Creating meaningful uses for the devices, (3) Laptops inside and outside the school: Allowing students to bring laptops home or to extracurricular activities, and (4) Student volunteers: Colvin (2007) as cited in Hayashi and Baranauskas (2013) calls it “peer tutoring,” where older student volunteers educate younger ones in laptop use (Hayashi & Baranauskas, 2013). 

The use of laptops at Miotti afforded teachers and students with many benefits apart from learning the use of the technology itself, such as teachers being more involved in their students’ emotional responses by having the ability to do work at school that was originally intended as homework, and at home, parents being more involved in their children’s educational progress, as well as exposing other family members to the new laptops. Students with a bit more technical ability could mentor younger students, giving them a sense of pride and more responsibility (Hayashi & Baranauskas, 2013). The activities performed in the case studies also faced several challenges and criticism from other groups. Some teachers were not comfortable with the new laptops and did not feel the need to train in their use as a benefit to themselves, the school and its students, leaving only a handful of teachers willing to take on the challenge. At home, some parents were intimidated and hence did not allow their children to spend time on their devices, while others did not have internet access. 

Hayashi and Baranauskas (2013) explain that aside from internet access being an issue, at school the number of routers was limited and multiple connections could not be supported simultaneously. Also, there was not enough information technology (IT) support for the entire Miotti school, where even procuring extension cords was a significant expense it could not afford. There was the issue of safety as well, some children were not allowed to bring their laptops home for fear of theft or harm to the children. 

Although the OLPC initiative had the best of intentions at heart, the results of the Miotti school study cases show lack of planning in several areas. The findings in Hayashi and Baranauskas’ (2013) could have been identified prior to the deployment of the laptops with effective scenario-planning.

Integrating a new technology that is part of daily Western life into a developing country requires careful planning and analysis; it calls for a deep look into the country’s cultural beliefs and traditions. 

Developing countries may be more conservative and not only are parents more traditional, but they may completely reject the Western ideology and customs their children are being exposed to through the use of the laptops, those devices they as parents may not be able to operate and therefore alienate from along with their children. Scenario-planning by the OLPC organization would have uncovered these types of cultural and social challenges, including potential resolution to technological infrastructure issues and the necessary reconfiguration of laptops that were originally designed for the English language speaker. 

References 

Hayashi, E. C. S., & Baranauskas, M. C. (2013). Affectability in educational technologies: A socio- technical perspective for design. Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 16(1), 57-68. ProQuest Central.