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  •   almost 10 years ago

Raspberry Pi in Education

The $35 4"x2" single board computer called Raspberry Pi is an ideal system for rural schools in Pakistan.
Any ideas about its uses?

  • 12 comments

  •   •   almost 10 years ago

    It is $35 for just the processor, you still have to add a keyboard, monitor etc

  • Manager   •   almost 10 years ago

    i will recommend to go from a problem to solution not the other way around.. may be the problem you would like to solve is better solved with Radio than Raspberry PI..

  •   •   almost 10 years ago

    Monitor, Keyboard and Mouse may be required only during configuration. These will not be required if you are using a Raspberry Pi as a "Server" e.g. for streaming educational video content to client devices like smartphones, tablets or laptops/desktops. You can also log into a Raspberry Pi from your laptop with no need for monitor, keyboard or mouse.

    Radio cannot stream video lectures and also it is a mono-directional non interactive medium. Students can live interact with a Raspberry Pi server.

  • Manager   •   almost 10 years ago

    Of course radio cannot stream video.. But who said anything about the video in the question or earlier comments.. By the way video is again a "solution"..

    My suggestion is to identify a "problem" first and then use the right tech to solve it.. Just my two cents..

  •   •   almost 10 years ago

    1. The problem is to educate the masses and i don't think it needs further elaboration.
    2. My thesis is that all conventional methods have failed. For example Each-One-Teach-One, Masjid-Maktab-Schools, Naye-Roshni-Schools, Taleem-e-Balighan and all similar projects could not solve our problem of education.
    3. If we do not adapt technology to assist our education system then we may not be able to bridge the gap. (It is reported that we are almost 100 years backward)
    4. Shortage of qualified teachers and financial constraints does not allow to control this declining education system.
    5. Streaming Video Lectures to teachers and students with technology may at least help to improve the quality of education.
    6. Raspberry Pi can do that with extreme ease and little cost. As far the client devices, android phones are now the cheapest available tools for that. Every school teacher/student will thus have access to world class lectures in Maths, Physics, Chemistry and Biology.
    7. It is not something new. A lot of countries are doing it. It is just that in Pakistan, we are always late in adapting technology.

  •   •   almost 10 years ago

    Your idea might not be exactly the same as the those being deployed by TeleTaleem (http://www.teletaleem.com), but it is right up there with them. While working with them, we had proposed to deploy the entire Wikipedia on a USB drive attached to a solar powered tablet running a customized Android OS. I suggest you apply for the second round of Ilm Ideas (http://www.ilmideas2.pk) grant which is currently open for proposals.

  •   •   almost 10 years ago

    The idea is to use a raspberry pi web server that is powered with a solar panel coupled with battery backup to overcome load-shedding and power problem.
    Install available open source streaming software onto it.
    Load free content that is in line with the curriculum but is of international standards.
    Use cheap android phones as client devices to access.

  •   •   almost 10 years ago

    Yes! Both Wikipedia for schools and Khan Academy video content are available for Off-Line use on a Raspberry Pi Server. Thanks a lot for the link to ilmideas.
    Khan Academy Lite:
    https://learningequality.org/ka-lite/

  • Manager   •   almost 10 years ago

    It is worth spending time breaking down a problem to a level where it becomes easier to solve (i.e. divide and conquer).. then comes the next stage on how to “scale” it. and more importantly how to “sustain” it. we will have a few mentors coming who would guide on these aspects.

    Problem mentioned above is a very high level. At first level, it can be broken down into various problems: e.g. how to bring in out of school children into school (i.e. 47% of children between 5-16 years), how to decrease the dropout rate (i.e. 31% till 5th, 72% till 10th), etc..

    Now each of these sub-problem can be further divided into even smaller problems around which a proof of concept can be developed during the hackathon e.g. a solution that decrease the dropout rate of, let’s say, children aged 5-7 in northern areas etc... Notice Northern Areas have a different infrastructural challenges than, let’s say, Punjab etc... there there are cultural differences which would force designer to tweak the solution for a particular community.

    happy hacking....

    ref for stats: http://www.dawn.com/news/1241630

  •   •   almost 10 years ago

    These are very valid points you have raised Asim Ghaffar Sahib. The reason I threw this topic in advance was exactly the same. It is indeed a complex problem and it would certainly require a lot of groups/teams covering various aspects. You are right that there are cultural and language variations that make it difficult to overcome the problem of providing uniform quality education to children in various geographically dispersed areas and communities. This is where technology comes in handy. Multilingual applications for children age 5-16 are quite possible.

  •   •   almost 10 years ago

    A simple problem to overcome is transformation of "language courses" such as Arabic, English, Urdu to raspberry pi.

  •   •   almost 10 years ago

    Ahsan Faroogui, I don't really understand your point but raspberry pi is just a computer like any other and will play a video recorded in any language and supported by writing on black/white board in that language.
    If you want to teach Urdu then just speak Urdu and write in Urdu on a suitable medium and Live stream or Play Video on demand using raspberry pi. Difficulty may be encountered if you want to have interactive exercises in Urdu or you want to evaluate students progress in Urdu. Most courses resort to MCQs to overcome such problems.

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