Hmmmm... I have to agree with Christoph here. I didn't really see it as being dramatic at all, but quite factual in fact. The western small deployments really don't give us any useful stats on what is happening on a larger scale in the third world. And its important to acknowledge the differences between these, which Christoph listed quite concretely. I think what may not have come across obviously enough was that we need way more data from the field, in places where Sugar is being used on a large scale, and this data is just not getting to us. I for one, would love to have some cold hard facts about Sugar as used in South America and Africa.
kind Regards, David Van Assche On Thu, Aug 13, 2009 at 2:21 PM, David Farning <dfarn...@sugarlabs.org>wrote: > On Thu, Aug 13, 2009 at 5:42 AM, Christoph > Derndorfer<e0425...@student.tuwien.ac.at> wrote: > > Sean DALY schrieb: > >> IMHO, close study of small deployments makes them incredibly useful to > >> all teachers and Learners. The observations and take-aways need to be > >> triaged of course, starting with what can/should be done by Sugar > >> Labs, but I am convinced many learnings will benefit large > >> deployments. Until reliable means of sharing experiences and feedback > >> (polls, questionnaires, council of deployers, etc.) can be put in > >> place, microscopic study of a classroom using Sugar is well worth the > >> effort, in particular for revealing blockers. > >> > > I'm not sure I really agree with this statement... > > Christoph please keep the dramatic headlines to olpcnews. > > In the above paragraph, Walter notes that many lessons can be learned > from controlled environments which can then be applied to larger > scaled, less controlled environments. > > Please note, this does not _exclude_ anyone from providing feedback > from large scale deployments. Nor does it _prevent_ anyone from > creating small scale deployments anywhere in the world. _all_ it > states is that it is often cost effective to start small and grow as > lessons have been learned. > > And yes, Christoph I _am_ holding your writing to a higher standard. > Several times, you have described yourself as the voice of the > project. > > david > > > Extrapolating the data and drawing conclusions based on observations in > > a trial that represents less than 0,01% of all current Sugar > > installations is a risky endeavor at best and a serious mistake at > > worst. Even more so when the environment between the trial (in this case > > GPA) and the global deployments really couldn't be more different in > > just about every way imaginable (SoaS vs. XO, summer classes vs. regular > > year-long classes, Boston connectivity vs. Rwanda connectivity, 25 > > installations in a school vs. 1000 installations in a school, US power > > infrastructure vs. Nepali power infrastructure, having a team consisting > > of Walter / Greg / Caroline supporting the efforts vs. being lucky to > > maybe have a single person who has used a computer before, 25 pupils in > > a classroom vs. 80 pupils in a classroom, users that were raised in > > urban North America vs. users who don't have electricity at home, and I > > could go on...). > > > > Yes, some of the findings at GPA will indeed be of a broad and general > > nature and subsequent actions will benefit all Sugar users. Yes, > > projects like in Alabama, Austria, the UK and similar places will be > > able to learn many things from the GPA pilot. > > > > But let's not forget that the current million Sugar users and (if the > > reports are to be believed) also the next million Sugar users are much > > more likely to be found in Ancash, Kigali or Sichuan rather than Boston, > > London or Vienna. And I doubt that you'll find too many schools in those > > places that have a profile similar to GPA [1]. > > > > Just my 2 Nepali Rupees, > > Christoph > > > > [1] "The Gardner Pilot Academy is the flagship full-service community > > school within the Boston Public Schools (BPS). The school's vision is to > > educate the minds and develop the characters of all students in > > partnership with families and community. To achieve this GPA provides > > high quality teaching along with a range of social, emotional and > > enrichment programs delivered by means of partnerships with an array of > > community organizations and individuals. Over the past twelve years, GPA > > has developed strong associations with four universities, several health > > and mental health agencies, the YMCA, and various organizations teaching > > visual and performing arts. As one of just 20 pilot schools in the BPS, > > GPA is exempt from district mandates. Therefore, GPA has autonomy in the > > areas of budget and personnel, along with the freedom to implement > > innovative curricula, assessments, and interventions." > > ( > http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Gardner_Pilot_Academy#Gardner_Pilot_Academy) > > > > -- > > Christoph Derndorfer > > co-editor, olpcnews > > url: www.olpcnews.com > > e-mail: christ...@olpcnews.com > > > > _______________________________________________ > > IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) > > IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org > > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep > > > _______________________________________________ > IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) > IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep > -- Stephen Leacock<http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/s/stephen_leacock.html> - "I detest life-insurance agents: they always argue that I shall some day die, which is not so."
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