All that glitters
The latest contender for ultra mobile, yet rugged, and kid friendly computer dominance is the IDEO designed Spark. The world renowned innovation and design firm has partnered with Project Inkwell to conceptualize a slick rendering of what they imagine the future of educational computing to be for the K - 12 set.
The Spark is not pretending to be a magic bullet for poverty in the 3rd World as was the doomed OLPC. It’s also not claiming feats of bold innovation or insightful afforadances validated by shallow marketing driven “ethnography” like the Classmate PC.
Nope, the Spark is just good old design porn, devoid of any real indication it’s for kids other than the predicable choice of color.
You can’t blame IDEO, this is what they do, they design sexy things. Whether or not the thing will result in a meaningful experience for a kid is secondary. It would be great to have insight into IDEO’s design process and a sense of the core design hypotheses driving their thinking. But in absence of that information, what we do have is the functional requirements document IDEO most likely used to guide their designs.
Here are the primary purpose and the intended use as defined by Inkwell in their requirements document.
Primary Purpose:
Inkwell device(s) are to be designed for the specific purpose of supporting and enhancing instruction and learning for students enrolled in elementary and secondary school settings —grade levels 4 and above.
Inkwell device(s) facilitate, invigorate, and enable learning accommodating the unique needs of students anywhere and anytime they engage in learning activities (home, community, and at school).
Intended Use:
Inkwell device(s) should reflect the occupational and cognitive development levels of K12 students. Optimally, devices should be targeted to the unique need of students levels K-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12 maintaining a consistent transition of user experience from one device to the next.
Contradictory requirements aside, its purpose of targeting grade levels 4 and above, versus its intended use for student levels K - 12, what’s most striking is the passage ” facilitate, invigorate, and enable learning accommodating the unique needs of students anywhere and anytime they engage in learning activities (home, community, and at school).”
Anywhere is a pretty broad spectrum of potential environments of use, as is Anytime. It’s easy to see why IDEO presented the work they did, based on a charter this ambiguous. Project Inkwell has most likely not conducted much user segmentation beyond academic grade levels, or invested in any qualitative or quantitative research around their core user groups. Nor do they seem to have considered the contextual factors at work in designing technology for kids.
This lack of rigor is understandable for a non-profit that probably doesn’t have a lot of resources to throw around. IDEO’s effort I’m sure was pro-bono for the most part, and this roll out of the Spark seems more of a marketing ploy than Project Inkwell manifesting their educational philosophies.
That said, this is the same type of fly by the seat of your pants design that doomed OLPC and will most likely doom Classroom PC. It is critical to have a real understanding of all of the factors at play when designing for kids and technology.
What seems to be the main goal for most of these outfits is owning the digital experience within the classroom. There’s nothing wrong with that aspiration, but to truly realize it there has to be more work and effort put into the endeavor than a porous requirements doc and a pocketful of good intentions.
