The XPrize Foundation announces $15-million open-source literacy prize

jeremy · 09-24-2014, 11:11 AM

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Summary: The XPrize Foundation, best known for its spaceflight challenges, has announced an earthly focus: Creating an open-source application that can teach a child to read, write, and perform arithmetic without a teacher.

I still wear my XPrize t-shirt for the first sub-orbital private manned spaceflight from Mojave Space Port. The XPrize Foundation is best known for this and other high-technology challenges such as the prizes to land a private robot on the moon and to create a true Star Trek style Tricorder. Now, the Foundation has turned its eyes closer to home with its new Global Learning XPrize.

With this, the first open-source software XPrize, the Foundation is challenging teams to create software that will teach a child to read, write, and perform arithmetic without a teacher. The prize? $15-million.

Why are they doing this? Because more than 250 million children around the world don't have basic literacy skills. Without these fundamental skills, potential is locked, the door of opportunity is closed, and entire nations are condemned to poverty.

The goal is not to replace teachers, but to bring an educational solution where few or no schools exist. This will not be an easy goal to achieve. Children using the program must gain basic reading, writing, and mathematical skills in just 18 months without the aid of an instuctor.

More at ZDNet...

--jeremy