eLearning with Rhiannon


For her fifth birthday, Rhiannon got her first laptop. You can see it by clicking here. Note that it is neither a Dell nor an HP. It is a Barbie. To be more specific, it is a Barbie Diamond Castle laptop. For ages 3-5. Now what would a three-year-old want with a pink laptop other that to chew on it, or use it as a stool in order to reach something better to chew on? We'll never know the answer to that question as Rhiannon got her laptop at five. Call her a late-adopter.

So what does said laptop do? It comes loaded with eleven pre-installed "games". Now, dad knows a little about eLearning (enough to avoid the hyphenated spelling), and a little about games, and in real life tries to make people believe him when he says that he has to play World of Warcraft as part of his job.

Anyway, these "games" are pixellated adventures featuring Barbie and an anonymous "friend" of Barbie (I secretly think Barbie is bi, but has Ken's eager approval on this score), a diamond castle, and a whole lot of noise. Apparently, makers of kids' electronics think that kids want a sound and light show. Wrong. They don't want this from Barbie. They want this from Pink Floyd. What kids (ages 3-5) want from a talking box is for it to tell them where mom and dad hid the Christmas presents this year, why Uncle Bob lives with Uncle Ned, and how to drive. Or rather, how to drive to McDonald's with the cash that the talking box has told them how to retrieve from another talking box called an ATM.

For those children who actually care about learning and letters, or taking orders from Barbie in-game like, "type the letter 'O' you knee-biting banshee" (I added this last part for comic effect), this laptop is perfect. And it actually seems to be working.

Rhiannon starts her day with a bowl of Cheerios, milk, a Disney multi-vitamin (now! with more princess flavor!), and her laptop. Much like dad in his home office. But while dad's PC talks to him quietly via the magic of the email, Rhiannon's is shouty and full of Casio-riffic monophonic "music"! But she loves it. And she plays along and types the right numbers and letters. If only the keyboard was QWERTY... I am writing Mattel a note. On the Barbie laptop.

These typing games, spelling games, addition and subtraction games, head games, war games, Olympic games, etc., do seem to wear thin on Rhiannon though. Occasionally she will exhibit computer "Turet's Syndrome" where, out of the blue, she'll yell, "that's what I typed in, LADY!" Barbie does not enunciate all that clearly, especially "C" and "Z", so Rhiannon is left scrambling for what to type. When pushed, Rhiannon fights back, and I wonder if Barbie won't end up with a pixellated black eye after Rhiannon has had enough of trying to spell "Czechoslovakia", which her maternal grandmother still thinks is an actual country. Perhaps it is wishful thinking.

After dinner, it's more laptop time, which is supplemented with books, dollies, blocks, and coloring. And Rhiannon understands already that there is no substitute for being read to by a real-live person, or that writing on paper can be so much more satisfying than typing "b-u-l-e-m-i-a" into a pink plastic talking box. Rhiannon drew princes and princesses tonight, and Wonder Woman, and a bunch of other people in dresses, and gave them names, and signed her work. No automated voice shouted or gave approval. No frenetic music played. Instead, pictures were passed around for coloring and have been added to the art stash which dad keeps hidden in his office for when Rhiannon is out of college and wondering what she was like as a kid. The Barbie laptop? No save/print features. That note to Mattel is getting longer.

Rhiannon. 5 TBs of Cuteness.

Andrew (Papa)