I just returned from Project Inkwell's 4th Workgroup meeting. For those who haven't heard about it, Project Inkwell is dedicated to accelerating the adoption of 1 to 1 computing and its associated infrastructure, teacher training and pedagogy, into schools in the US and around the world. It is a consortium of educators, hardware manufacturers, software vendors, and practical visionaries, all, amazingly enough, working together towards the development of a spec for a student computing device and all its surrounding support systems. I am a proud member of the Project Inkwell Steering Committee.
Unlike Nicolas Negroponte's OLPC initiative, which aims to build an extremely basic, extremely inexpensive computer for the third world, Project Inkwell is aimed at helping produce a 1 to 1 computer and infrastructure for today's kids in the developed world, including the US, Canada, Europe, Japan, Australia, and other technologically advanced countries.
After a couple of years of preparation, the group is now bringing useful guidance to both the districts and states moving towards 1 to 1 initiaives and the companies that will supply them. To quote one participant, from the leadership of one of the largest US school districts, "No one else is doing this at this level."
For more information on Project Inkwell, please see www.projectinkwell.com.
Posted by Marc at July 29, 2006 10:34 PM