The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) Project has unveiled its latest creation — a slim-line touch screen computer that it says will sell for just US$75 when it is released in two years time.
That might seem a little ambitious since the organization’s current model, the XO, which was touted for years as the US$100 laptop, currently sells for US$188.
The non-profit organization was formed to bridge the global digital divide by building low-cost laptops for students in developing countries. The project has been hampered by poor sales, sparked in part by concerns that its innovative Linux-based operating system might be a disadvantage in a Windows-dominated world.
Last week a Windows-based version of the laptop was released.
The XO 2.0, as the new laptop will be called, is smaller and lighter than the current model and is designed for students who, in some cases, must walk kilometers to and from school.
“Being small is very important,” OLPC founder Nicholas Negroponte said in a statement on Wednesday. “The current one is a little too big; it’s a little too heavy.”
The XO 2.0 features a touch-screen keyboard that can double as a second display when the device is turned on its side like a book, allowing use by more than one student at a time. The second display does not add significant cost to the XO 2.0 because mass production of portable DVD players has lowered prices for display screens.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
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