Effects of One Laptop Per Child Programs in the Daily Lives of People Excluded from the Community

The Role of South European Rural Schools

Authors

  • Joaquin Paredes-Labra Universidad Autonoma de Madrid http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2294-9121
  • Inmaculada Tello Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Spain
  • Alicia Kachinovsky Universidad de la Republica

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.47381/aijre.v27i2.116

Keywords:

family, primary education, OLPC, ICT, exclusion, Europe

Abstract

The aim of this study was to learn how the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) program in rural schools of a Southern European country offers opportunities to children, helps parents to get information and creates links with families and neighbours. The methodology was qualitative, with deep interviews with teachers, principals, parents and students from five Spanish rural schools. Among the findings, we observed that schools have new opportunities to link with communities and to communicate with parents when the curriculum is open and narrative. The shortcomings of policies, the academic role of projects and the resistance and prejudice of parents are preventing a better rapport between schools and communities in their fight against exclusion.

Author Biographies

Joaquin Paredes-Labra, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid

Joaquín Paredes, Doctor in Pedagogy, is a Lecturer at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain. He is also Secretary-General of SEP (the Spanish Educational Research Association) abd he was head of the Teacher Training, Innovation and Complexity in Education Research Group from 2011 to 2014. He is a former Vice-Dean of the College of Education, former Head of Department of Education and former Director of the Postgraduate Program of Education. His main research themes are digital literacy, computer uses in education and higher education didactics.

Inmaculada Tello, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Spain

Inmaculada Tello, Doctor in Education, is a Lecturer at the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Spain and the Vice-Director of the Department of Psychology. Her main research themes are E-learning 2.0, web design, teacher professional development, digital repositories, social justice and education.

Alicia Kachinovsky, Universidad de la Republica

Alicia Kachinovsky, Doctor in Psychology. is a Lecturer at the Universidad de la Republica, Uruguay. She is a member of the Institute of Clinical Psychology of UdelaR. The main themes in her research are psychoanalysis and education, children's stories, school failure and computer uses in education.

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Published

18-08-2017 — Updated on 01-07-2017

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How to Cite

Paredes-Labra, J., Tello, I., & Kachinovsky, A. (2017). Effects of One Laptop Per Child Programs in the Daily Lives of People Excluded from the Community: The Role of South European Rural Schools. Australian and International Journal of Rural Education, 27(2), 108–121. https://doi.org/10.47381/aijre.v27i2.116 (Original work published August 18, 2017)