Business Students Send Laptop to Third World Children
When Joanne Lazirko taught her Introduction to Information Systems course to undergraduate students this fall, she came across a “teaching moment.”
Lazirko, a faculty member at UWM’s Lubar School of Business, was discussing the digital divide -- the chasm between those who have access to technology and those who don’t -- when she recalled a charitable project that she thought might help drive the topic home.
The One Laptop per Child (OLPC) project, produces and distributes new, scaled down laptop computers for children in the developing world so that they have access to the technology that is so prevalent in the developed world.
Lazirko offered her students the opportunity to voluntarily donate the change in their pockets – which she would personally match – so that their class could donate one of the computers. The laptops run $200 per unit.
Student response was terrific, she said, providing more than half of the cost of the laptop. “It was a great lesson that we have a responsibility to the world in the area of technology access,” said Lazirko.
At their final exam, Lazirko brought in one of the computers to show students what they had donated. Two of her students told their parents about the program, and those families have also purchased computer for the OLPC project, she said.
“For less than the cost of a cup of coffee for these students, three computers are now on their way to children overseas,” said Lazirko.
