Exploring one-to-one computing on the ground: the "100-dollar" laptop as a learning tool for socially-disadvantaged school children in India

In recent years, there has been an influx of single-user laptop projects in educational settings. The rationales are to address purported access gaps, foster student-led learning, and encourage the development of 21st century digital literacies. More recently, low-cost laptops are being distributed in developing country contexts, with the goal of providing children with new educational opportunities. However, technologies are being distributed even before the socioeconomic and cultural contexts of their use are fully understood. This work aimed to study one implementation of the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) initiative in a South Indian city. A naturalistic case study methodology was adopted to explore how the program manifested in a school for below-poverty-line children. The findings revealed that social, cultural, economic, and curricular considerations both enabled and constrained the program in many ways. This suggests that an understanding of the social-embeddedness of technology is vital to the success of such programs.