One Laptop Per Child in Rural Kenya: Student Perceptions about Computers, School and Self-Efficacy after One Year with XO Laptops and Constructionist Learning

Abstract

In 2009, the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) non-profit organization ran a pilot program called OLPCorps Africa. The intention was to provide funds and one hundred of the group's iconic green and white XO laptops to volunteer teams partnering with established non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in order to deploy the computers in rural African locations. This paper reports evaluation data from one OLPCorps Africa deployment in rural Kenya and examines how a specific setting challenged assumptions about the nature of inducing educational change through technology introduction. Survey questions reveal significant decreases in students&rsquo perception of school as fun; questions about self-efficacy show no significant change; and responses about computers illuminate what students knew about computers before and after the intervention. These results raise provocative questions about the OLPC program, how OLPC&rsquos endeavor relates to its historic context, and a need for future research.