Deconstructing Product Design

XO-1 Laptop

Fuseproject and One Laptop Per Child Association, 2005

1. Many learning experts believe that effective education is as simple as giving children the tools and opportunities to learn, and then staying out of their way. This approach makes the learner a stakeholder in their education, giving them a greater locus of control and their learning activities a greater sense of purpose. Nicholas Negroponte, founder and chair of OLPC, comments: “Most people think that kids drop out of school in the developing world to go to work and earn money for their family or to work in the fields or to take care of the siblings or something like that. In fact, that happens — but the primary reason is that school is boring. It’s not relevant … This is ...