Re: [IAEP] Some curious social-psych research, with applications to OpenHatch, Nell, and...?
Another resource might be looking at the online learning program that Dweck's team produced: http://www.brainology.us/ Here is an interesting tidbit in the last video on this page: http://www.brainology.us/webnav/dr-dweck-interviews.aspx Using an EEG while students did problems they found that students with a fixed mindset paid close attention when they were told if the answer was right or wrong but students with a growth mindset also paid close attention when they were told what the right answer was. I think this is very important research for understanding what it means to learn how to learn. Cheers, Caroline On Sun, Mar 18, 2012 at 9:12 PM, Michael Stone wrote: > Asheesh, Karen, (and various other friends interested in learning... :-) > > If you haven't already done so, you folks should think about finding > yourselves > copies of Carol S. Dweck's book: "Self-theories: their role in motivation, > personality, and development" [1,2]. > > The punch-lines that I see for OH [3,4], Nell [5], and friends include: > > a) When faced with challenging problems, some people become frustrated, > bored, or distracted while others become patient, focused, or excited. > > b) Variation in (a) can be predicted by measuring the subjects' agreement > with statements about the malleability and nature of "intelligence" > or by measuring preferences for learning goals vs. performance goals, > e.g., via the following measure, taken from the book's appendix: > > Task-choice Goal Measure: (suitable for ages 10 and older) > > Sample instruction: > > "We have different kinds of problems here for you to choose from. > There is no right answer -- different students make different > choices. > Just put a check in front of your choice." > > Question: > > I would like to work on: > > __ Problems that aren't too hard, so I don't get many wrong. > __ Problems that I'll learn a lot from, even if I won't look so > smart. > __ Problems that are pretty easy, so I'll do well. > __ Problems that I'm pretty good at, so I can show that I'm smart. > > c) People who preferred opportunities to learn over opportunities to look > smart or to avoid looking dumb were unaffected by treatments designed > to > increase confusion (like being asked to learn from a booklet > containing an > intentionally confusing paragraph) while people who stated the other > preferences were quite negatively affected by the "confusion" > treatment. > > d) Subsequent interventional studies showed that the correlation > described in > (b) survived treatments designed to shift people's beliefs and > preferences > in both directions, like being asked to read appropriately crafted > stories > about how recognized geniuses accomplished their intellectual feats. > > Items (b) and (d) certainly seem like they might motivate some new OH / > Nell > tweaks, no? > > Regards, > > Michael > > [1]: http://www.amazon.com/Self-**theories-Motivation-** > Personality-Development-**Psychology/dp/1841690244<http://www.amazon.com/Self-theories-Motivation-Personality-Development-Psychology/dp/1841690244> > [2]: Caroline (cc'ed) introduced it to me in response to a recent bit of > gentle > provocation [5] on the part of myself, Chris, and Scott... > [3]: http://openhatch.org > [4]: http://lists.openhatch.org/**pipermail/devel/2010-December/** > 001703.html<http://lists.openhatch.org/pipermail/devel/2010-December/001703.html>; > better citations welcome > [5]: > http://cananian.livejournal.**com/66008.html<http://cananian.livejournal.com/66008.html> > -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] Sugar Labs: account confirmation
Hi Valerie, I'm forwarding this to the list. I'm not sure who is managing the moodle site these days. The text can be found here: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Sdenka_Salas_-_The_XO_Laptop_in_the_Classroom Its a great book! I especially like the use of folk tales in Lesson 12. Enjoy, Caroline On Wed, Jun 29, 2011 at 2:43 PM, Valerie Taylor wrote: > I would like to access the course: Introduction to XOs for the > classroom. It needs a key for access. I have sent a Moodle message to > Liddy Nevile - listed as the teacher for this course. > > I'm hoping that this is a good resource and will be helpful to a > broader audience as we move forward with the Sugar Labs Replacing > Textbooks project. > > It looks like there hasn't been any activity in over a year. Are there > others who can grant access to the course? > > Is there any need for this course to be locked? > > Thanks > ..Valerie > > > On Wed, Jun 29, 2011 at 6:40 AM, Solution Grove > wrote: > > Hi Valerie Taylor, > > > > A new account has been requested at 'Sugar Labs' > > using your email address. > > > > To confirm your new account, please go to this web address: > > > > > http://schools.sugarlabs.org/login/confirm.php?data=nZPBs8OF1h1vIAX/vtaylor > > > > In most mail programs, this should appear as a blue link > > which you can just click on. If that doesn't work, > > then cut and paste the address into the address > > line at the top of your web browser window. > > > > If you need help, please contact the site administrator, > > > > Solution Grove > > ad...@solutiongrove.com > > > -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] Experience using Elgg?
Yes, I have lots of experience with Elgg. On Sun, May 15, 2011 at 10:52 AM, Valerie Taylor wrote: > Does anyone have experience using Elgg - the "open source social > networking engine that provides a robust framework on which to build > all kinds of social environments"? > http://elgg.org/about.php > > How was it used? How well did Elgg meet requirements? > ___ > IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) > IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep > -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] volunteer translators needed
Hi Tim and Beth, We are training a group of volunteers from the Haitian Coalition in Etoys tomorrow. We have some practice at teaching Etoys at this point. How/what would you like me to teach them about translating? What is the minimum they need to know to start helping you? Thanks, Caroline On Thu, May 5, 2011 at 10:18 AM, Timothy Falconer wrote: > Hi partners and friends, > > We're looking for a little help with our Waveplace courseware. We're hoping > to get it all translated into: > > Haitian Creole > French > Spanish > Portuguese > > Our funds are limited, so I wanted to know if you have any volunteers who > could possibly help in this effort. > > Our courseware is located at > http://wiki.waveplace.org/display/wp/Courseware. So far, the lessons we > have finished are: > > General-->Basic Etoys <http://wiki.waveplace.org/display/wp/Basic+Etoys> > (needs > outlines and projects translated) > Language > Arts-->Storytelling<http://wiki.waveplace.org/display/wp/Storytelling> (needs > outlines translated) > Mathematics-->Geometry <http://wiki.waveplace.org/display/wp/Geometry> (needs > outlines and projects translated) > Science--> Motion <http://wiki.waveplace.org/display/wp/Motion> (needs > projects translated) > Health--> Clean water <http://wiki.waveplace.org/display/wp/Clean+Water> > (unfinished > but can translate what projects are finished) > Health--> Malaria <http://wiki.waveplace.org/display/wp/Malaria> (unfinished > but can outlines in the meantime) > Technology-->Sugar <http://wiki.waveplace.org/display/wp/Sugar> (needs > outlines translated) > > As you can see, it's a bit of work. Many things are already translated into > Haitian Creole, but not everything. > > Please let me know if you can offer any help to us! > > Thanks so much! > > -- > Timothy Falconer > Waveplace Foundation > http://waveplace.org > + 1 610 797 3100 x33 > > > > > ___ > IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) > IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep > -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] First day of Etoys class in Somerville
Thanks Thomas thats incredibly helpful and I'll try these out tomorrow. On Mon, Apr 4, 2011 at 10:22 PM, Steve Thomas wrote: > Caroline, > > Your students asked: > > Etoys questions include: > > >1. How do we make a mouth that moves? > > When you first open Etoys click on the "Gallery of Projects" then in the > second row, first item from the left is a "Bouncing Ball Animation" > basically it behaves like flip animation (where you draw the different > positions on the edge of each piece of paper and flip through the pages to > animate). Have the kids make different drawings of the mouth and place each > one in a Holder. Then open the Holder's viewer go to the collections > category and you can iterate through the items in the Holder and set the > Mouth graphic to the "Holder's player at cursor graphic" To get the > "Holder's player at cursor graphic" tile you need to click on the > >- How do you control the placement of a speech/thought bubble. One > girl made a very large heart with a face and the speech bubble appeared > right at the top, it would look much better if it were over on the side > and > closer to the mouth. But I don’t see how to control how it is > positioned. > > Unfortunately you can not control the placement. What you could do is grab > an image of the speech bubble and move the grabbed image to a different > spot. > >- How do you make moving eyes (from the object catalog)part of an > object so when you move the object with a script the eyes move too? > > If you place the eyes on top of the object you want to embed them in, then > get the halo for the eye and click on the menu icon (top row, second from > left), then select "embed" and choose the name of the object you want to > embed them in. OR get the Halo of the item to which you want to add eyes > then from the menu icon enure "accept drops" is checked. Now anything you > place on that object will be embedded in it. NOTE: you may want to turn off > "accept drops" once done, also if you move an object (using the move icon, > instead of the pick up icon from the Halo, it will not embed). > >- How do I control when a speech bubble appears and disappears. I > seemed to be able to get it to appear fairly easily with the various > options > in the script but it then seemed to disappear again immediately. > > Hmmm, can you share an actual project when this happens? Usually to get a > speech bubble to disappear I use the "stop saying or thinking" tile. not > sure why it would disappear otherwise. > > > I'll try and post an Etoys minute some time tomorrow night to show how > these things can be done. > > Stephen > > > On Mon, Apr 4, 2011 at 9:46 PM, Caroline Meeks > wrote: > >> Report is here: >> https://docs.google.com/document/d/1z2wFRkZPOxKpREA6sV1-XVdxjm7bC9jP50KWkdL6d64/edit?authkey=CP7cjcgL&hl=en# >> >> We are working in a computer lab in a housing project in Somerville run by >> the Haitain Coalition of Somerville. We are using etoys to start with to >> help support collaboration between Waveplace and the Somerville Haitian >> Coalition. The students did very impressive work for the first day. >> >> We are using E-toys on a USB stick that works on both PC and Linux and >> hopefully mac in a day or two. The goal is to have it >> also automatically backup to dropbox. This currently works on XP, hopefully >> ubuntu will be next. >> >> We could use help from E-toys users. I have a bunch of how do I do this in >> E-toys questions in the report. >> >> We could use help in writing the backup script for ubuntu. >> >> Check out the report. It has nice screen shots. :) >> >> Thanks, >> Caroline >> >> -- >> Caroline Meeks >> Solution Grove >> carol...@solutiongrove.com >> >> 617-500-3488 - Office >> 505-213-3268 - Fax >> >> ___ >> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) >> IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org >> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep >> > > -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
[IAEP] First day of Etoys class in Somerville
Report is here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1z2wFRkZPOxKpREA6sV1-XVdxjm7bC9jP50KWkdL6d64/edit?authkey=CP7cjcgL&hl=en# We are working in a computer lab in a housing project in Somerville run by the Haitain Coalition of Somerville. We are using etoys to start with to help support collaboration between Waveplace and the Somerville Haitian Coalition. The students did very impressive work for the first day. We are using E-toys on a USB stick that works on both PC and Linux and hopefully mac in a day or two. The goal is to have it also automatically backup to dropbox. This currently works on XP, hopefully ubuntu will be next. We could use help from E-toys users. I have a bunch of how do I do this in E-toys questions in the report. We could use help in writing the backup script for ubuntu. Check out the report. It has nice screen shots. :) Thanks, Caroline -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] Need to find usb Microscope under $50 for XO
Caryl, Intel sold the microscope to Digital Blue: http://store.digiblue.com/Digital_Blue_s/27.htm http://store.digiblue.com/QX5_Computer_Microscope_for_PC_p/db12013.htm But I don't think they are actually manufacturing them. I worked on a project to make an educational website that went with the microscope but I think they had quality problems with manufacturing and a business opportunity with disney and the microscope just wasn't a priority for the company. The microscope used a propriety driver and software. Even if you get one off of ebay I am doubtful you can get it work on Linux. I don't think they ever got it working on a mac. Cheers, Caroline On Thu, Feb 10, 2011 at 12:11 PM, Caryl Bigenho wrote: > Hi All... > > Has anyone tried an "Intel Play QX3 Digital Computer Mocroscope like this > one on an XO? > > http://bit.ly/eu1iPh > > It is mentioned in this very old link: > > http://lists.laptop.org/pipermail/etoys/2006-October/000158.html > > It is no longer manufactured, but there are some available at ebay (as > shown above). > > I would really like to get some kind of usb microscope that could be used > with the XO to have at SCaLE 9X at the end of this month and to explore > features for the water/health lessons some of us are working on for Haiti. > > Cherry Withers has ordered a microscope, but it is currently backordered > and probably won't arrive in time for SCaLE. > > Has anyone else used one with an XO? If so, what kind? Where is it > available? Is it plug-n-play or do you need to install software? Anything > else I should know? > > I really don't want to use one that relies on the XO computer camera to > function. > > Thanks, > Caryl > > ___ > IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) > IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep > -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] Another interesting Map
Thanks Caryl, Very interesting. I took a quick look at the methods They say they adjust for poverty and English Language Learners and Special Education. The first two I understand but it seems to me the number of children with physical special needs should be fairly constant, perhaps varying with poverty so should not need adjusting for. We know that black males are vastly disproportionally designated as special education and that poor teaching itself can cause disabilities. So I am not impressed that they are controlling for special education designation. It also doesn't look like their calculation takes into account the cost of students going to prison as adults. The school to prison pipeline is a huge economic drain. I also don't see that it takes drop out rate into account. Caryl, I think its a myth that good teachers can make up for broken systems. Perhaps this map can point people a couple of places where things are working that can be learned from, although I would look very hard at special education, drop out rate and incarceration rates before I decided any school system was working well based on this data. I don't see how you can look at places where they aren't working and point to a specific cause such as teacher effort or quality. Looking at the data from Massachusetts, it seems to completely follow how urban/difficult the demographics seem to me. so I really wonder if they did their controls correctly. My son;s school system, Winchester, was the very top most efficient school system in MA. Its a smaller town, very white, very rich, very very well education. Hmm, I actually don't see any difference between Adjusted and Basic ROI in Massachusetts, perhaps this map is just plain broken? On Mon, Jan 24, 2011 at 1:36 PM, Caryl Bigenho wrote: > Hi All > > > Please grant me a small rant... > > > Here is another interesting map for you. It is supposed to show the > "return on investment" (ROI) for schools in the United States, where data is > available, based on per-pupil spending and scores on achievement tests. > Some states, such as Montana and Massachusetts, did not have data available > to be included (or perhaps they did not release it for the study). The New > York City school system is not included, even though most other districts in > the state are. > > > http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2011/01/educational_productivity/ > > > The take-away I got from this map was that, in 2 areas I am familiar with, > Southern California and the Dallas-Fort Worth area, the high ROI districts > are in the more well-to-do suburbs while the low ROI districts are where the > less affluent families, often with children who are English language > learners, and/or living in unbelievably stressful circumstances. Los Angeles > is one of these, with the lowest possible ROI. > > > Yet, I know, first hand what the teachers are doing in Los Angeles. And, > while some of them are definitely not effective, most are dedicated, hard > working educators. With very limited resources, they have to deal daily with > the kinds of problems teachers in the suburban districts can only have > nightmares about... classroom shootings, lock-downs, child labor, children > having children, astronomical drop-out rates ... and the list could go on > and on. You name it, it will be there, and common. > > > These children are in as much need of help as any others, anywhere else in > the world. Yet we all tend to look outside our country for projects where we > can feel good about helping needy children. > > > Sorry for the rant I know others have said all this before, but not > enough of us see it, and sometimes I too, tend to forget it. > > > Caryl > > _______ > IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) > IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep > -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
[IAEP] Bring your own laptop program
http://beta.aalf.org/cms/?page=Global%20Story-%20Forest%20Hills http://fhsdppl.wetpaint.com/ This is an article by a school system that decided rather then buying students a laptop they would encourage all students to bring their own technology to school everyday. I wish it included numbers as to how many students brought which technologies and what their socio economics were. The second link is the school website. Looks like they are using Google apps and open office. -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] Link for Maple Syrup?
http://itd-usr.blogspot.com/ Ian uploaded a new image yesterday which can be used as a demo. There is still some significant technical changes that he is working on so we are not asking for systematic testing help on this iso. If you do have comment we are certainly interested. Thanks! Caroline On Mon, Nov 1, 2010 at 1:49 PM, Caroline Meeks wrote: > There will likely be a new iso coming out today. However, the one's Tom > points to are probably fine for showing people demos. > > Here is Ian's technical blog. http://itd-usr.blogspot.com/ He announces > new iso's there. > > The latest iso has some speed up of the boot and shutdown and some fixes > for specific issues with graphics cards on specific computers. But it has > other known problems. > > We are not yet promoting this work as classroom/home ready until we have it > working in the field which is why its so hard to find. Its coming along > well though so hopefully soon! We will be looking for testing help soon, > but not on this weekend's iso. > > Thanks! > Caroline > > > On Mon, Nov 1, 2010 at 1:36 PM, Thomas C Gilliard < > satel...@bendbroadband.com> wrote: > >> Caryl: >> this page has details: >> >> >> http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Community/Distributions/Ubuntu#Maple-syrup_Ubuntu_10.04_LTS_with_Sugar_and_many_other_applications_for_netbooks >> http://people.sugarlabs.org/it/OLD/ (original site) >> >> Enjoy; >> >> Tom Gilliard >> satellit >> >> Caryl Bigenho wrote: >> >> Hi All, >> I have a copy of Maine 1 to 1's Maple Syrup that I run in a Virtual Box on >> my MacBook. I need to share the link on the olpc-socal list, but Google >> isn't very helpful this morning. Can someone send me the link for the >> download? >> TIACaryl >> >> >> -- >> >> ___ >> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop >> project!)i...@lists.sugarlabs.orghttp://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 >> > > > > -- > Caroline Meeks > Solution Grove > carol...@solutiongrove.com > > 617-500-3488 - Office > 505-213-3268 - Fax > -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
[IAEP] "Grannie" support for children's learning with computers
I didn't want to post on the long thread about NN and teachers but I do want to post a query. My next implementation site will be center on a computer room in a public housing project. The community is blessed to have many elders living there and a strong community life with adults and children interacting regularly. The computer room is always staffed with an adult and my observation is that its usually an elder. The staffer has no idea what the kids are doing on the computer and whether or not its appropriate. We will be supplying computers for people's homes and giving bootable USB sticks with open source educational software and classes to both children and adults. I'd love to run a class for "elders" on how to help children learn with computers even if you don't know how to use one. This would be both for the computer room monitors and for "grandparents" (meaning any older person who has a individual relationship with a child). Does anyone have curriculum or suggestions on what to teach that will help these adults joyfully support and guide their children's learning and exploration? Can anyone point me to the original research that sparked the "Grannie" thread? Thanks Caroline -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] Link for Maple Syrup?
There will likely be a new iso coming out today. However, the one's Tom points to are probably fine for showing people demos. Here is Ian's technical blog. http://itd-usr.blogspot.com/ He announces new iso's there. The latest iso has some speed up of the boot and shutdown and some fixes for specific issues with graphics cards on specific computers. But it has other known problems. We are not yet promoting this work as classroom/home ready until we have it working in the field which is why its so hard to find. Its coming along well though so hopefully soon! We will be looking for testing help soon, but not on this weekend's iso. Thanks! Caroline On Mon, Nov 1, 2010 at 1:36 PM, Thomas C Gilliard < satel...@bendbroadband.com> wrote: > Caryl: > this page has details: > > > http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Community/Distributions/Ubuntu#Maple-syrup_Ubuntu_10.04_LTS_with_Sugar_and_many_other_applications_for_netbooks > http://people.sugarlabs.org/it/OLD/ (original site) > > Enjoy; > > Tom Gilliard > satellit > > Caryl Bigenho wrote: > > Hi All, > I have a copy of Maine 1 to 1's Maple Syrup that I run in a Virtual Box on my > MacBook. I need to share the link on the olpc-socal list, but Google isn't > very helpful this morning. Can someone send me the link for the download? > TIACaryl > > > -- > > ___ > IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop > project!)i...@lists.sugarlabs.orghttp://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 > -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] NN, Mitra, and the role of the teacher
On Thu, Oct 28, 2010 at 4:34 AM, Christoph Derndorfer < e0425...@student.tuwien.ac.at> wrote: > Zitat von John Watlington : > > > There is no argument that a great teacher influences many >> children in the right direction. >> >> But such an effort to improve teachers is completely orthogonal >> (i.e. independent) to both Sugar and OLPC. Better teachers >> are needed whether or not the kids get laptops. >> > -1 In this community we never say "We need better kids". We believe that all kids can learn and we believe that with constructivist tools and collaborative learning they have the potential to go from where they are to anywhere and everywhere. But we take the same people, just 10 or 20 years older and we say. "These teachers are not good enough, we need better teachers".Why do we not believe in the potential for constructivist tools and collaborative learning to help the adults currently in the classrooms become extraordinary teachers? > +1 > > > Should OLPC or Sugar Labs consider developing and disseminating, this >>> teaching style, and a curriculum for training teachers? >>> >> >> "The teachers must be trained first" is a line frequently used to >> delay deploying the laptops. >> >> Presenting it with Sugar or OLPC would be a disservice, IMO. >> Sugar and OLPC have the most to offer in classrooms where >> the teachers are horrible or missing. >> > > Where have you seen evidence of this? > > Thanks, > Christoph > > -- > 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 > -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] an ardent proposal to bring *LOVE* back into Sugar Labs
it ideally if you can, but most important all speaking our > consciences towards deciding quickly and carefully, however we proceed. > > (4) First kill all the lawyers (but please Shakespeare DO read our "SFC > by-laws" at > http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Sugar_Labs/SFC-SugarLabs_Agreement and > http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Sugar_Labs/Members/List carefully before the > light goes out :) And if a board meeting is needed to finalize any > electoral learning learning consensus(es) emerging above, or > similar/otherwise, please Walter/CJB schedule this very quickly before I go > offline most of Sat Oct 30 to Sun Nov 14 to volunteer building > http://blueTarpSchool.blogspot.com in Haiti. > > (5) I Love Haiti, but can't promise Sugar/OLPC/Realness/FabLab/Whatever > Local Lab Port-au-Prince just yet on this trip -- but I *will* do what I can > to convince my traveling companion (Tim Falconer, > http://waveplace.com/news/blog ) rest you assured!! > > (6) Fall in Love again, it won't hurt I promise... it might even hopefully > spur you to add your name here: > http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Oversight_Board/2010-2011-candidates > ___ > IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) > IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep > -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] Ideas
Hi Patricia, I have had requests for a few things over the years. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuisenaire_rods - these are popular math manipulative and an online version would be cool. A book creation tool that allowed children to create their own illustrated book then printed it out in such a way that it could be easily folded into a book. Here is a page on how to print to fold into a book: http://www.suite101.com/content/easy-printandfold-books-for-children-a140496 Far more involved is writing programs that help support "RTI" which is a process of repeated short probes, then targeted practice in the areas determined by the probes, then reevaluation. Let me know if that is the level you want to work at, its a lot more involved the then other two ideas. Thanks! Caroline On Wed, Oct 20, 2010 at 1:00 PM, Patricia Curtis wrote: > Hi All > I am a developer , and i am looking to start a new OLPC activity, and > i would like some ideas of what is *needed *on the OLPC, rather me > spending time writing than just another activity that few would use. > > Thanks > > Trish > > ___ > IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) > IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep > -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
[IAEP] How can we consistantly evalutate CRT monitor quality?
Hi Peeps! Looking for people with experience in hardware refirbishing. This fall I'm working on a stick project in a city near Boston. The project is not ready for press yet, the organization we are working with has a communication plan that puts communication with the residents first, in the form of open meetings. Thus I don't want to prempt them with press. So thats why I'm being vague on a public list. Please no blog posts about this yet. Our goal is to pass out hundreds of computers to the families living here. We have support from the school department in the form of hunderds of Pentium 4 boxes and the high school vo-tech students are testing them, combining memory etc. Overall things are going well but I could use help with today's small challenge. The donation is boxes only. We will need to collect monitors. The organization we are working for already has a half dozen extra CRT monitors and I also have donated monitors and when I asked for computer donations last fall I turned down a ton of the big CRT monitors. I have confidence in our ability to get monitors. Here is the technical issue that I am asking for help with. Some of these old monitors are dim and otherwise not of good quality. But they are still usable. However, I'd like to pass out the better monitors first. To get to scale I will need many different people helping with hardware setup and evaluation. Is there a way to have different people repeatably agree on how "good" a CRT monitor is? Is there a quantitive measure that is reasonably easy to use? A test image that can somehow get repeatable results by different people? Thanks! Caroline -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] Etoys, is it difficult or easy?
First let me say that based on my experience working with second and third graders in an inner city public school, eToys, Scratch and Turtle Art, none of them are inherently too difficult for elementary school children, especially with 1:1 help at the start and all of them have the potential to be very engaging. But we can still think about what makes it easiest and gives us the best ramp up at which age levels. When I think about challenge I am thinking about it in terms of game design. Like the graph on this page: http://mashable.com/2010/07/13/game-mechanics-business/ <http://mashable.com/2010/07/13/game-mechanics-business/>Game designers think there is an optimal level of challenge at each point to keep people engaged. So my hypothesis is that in 5th grade the drawing in eToys is in that optimal zone, of not too challenging but not boring either. However, by 8th grade the drawing is falling toward the boring side and the bricks are in that optimal zone of challenge. Another question is, once they have gotten engaged and past that first session, to a "hello world" sort of level, which system makes it easiest to progress and learn? Which is best for which learning goals and content areas? Just because kids like it better on Day 1 doesn't mean that system will be a superior learning tool two months later. Which is sort of a long +1 to Gerald that challenge is good. I was incredibly impressed with students ability and willingness to keep applying effort in working with content and concepts that challenged them. That is a key part of learning to learn. Cheers Caroline On Mon, Sep 27, 2010 at 7:31 PM, Dr. Gerald Ardito wrote: > Alan, > > First, I just want to clarify that I meant "challenged" in a positive way. > The 5th graders dove into Etoys first through painting, and then through > scripting. However, I agree with what you say about artifacts of a > pedagogical approach. We saw this, too. > > Our learning situation involved 4-6 student "experts" with whom I spent > time showing them the key elements of Etoys needed to begin the project. > Then, when we introduced this project to larger class, these "experts" were > free to move around the room helping other students. > > We found this model to be a good one for generating a very productive > classroom environment with the XOs (in fact, it was the topic of my > dissertation which I completed last May). However, I wished we had spent > more time with the scripting piece. We had not developed those skills > enough. > > Thanks. > Gerald > > > On Mon, Sep 27, 2010 at 7:10 PM, Alan Kay wrote: > >> I'd be curious to hear what the process is with the 5th graders. These >> were our main subjects. We worked only through regular classroom teachers >> (who had been carefully coached). You will not see any "challenged" 5th >> graders if you use a one on one session with them for about 20-30 minutes. >> The best way to do this is to teach a few this way, and then use "a >> spreading wave" of one on ones. We found that this was much better with both >> children and adults than to try to teach all of them in mass. >> >> So you might be seeing artifacts of pedagogical approach here (and a lot >> of "challenged" students result from such artifacts). >> >> Cheers, >> >> Alan >> >> -- >> *From:* Dr. Gerald Ardito >> *To:* Caroline Meeks >> *Cc:* Cherry Withers ; danielgast...@yahoo.com.ar; >> Tim McNamara ; Steve Thomas < >> stevesar...@gmail.com>; iaep >> *Sent:* Mon, September 27, 2010 2:29:57 PM >> >> *Subject:* Re: [IAEP] Etoys, is it difficult or easy? >> >> Caroline, >> >> You are remembering well. And I agree with your hypothesis. >> >> The 5th graders took pretty well to Etoys. It is the drawing piece that >> hooks them, and then the scripting part that really challenges them. And the >> 7th and 8th graders love Scratch. It is interesting to me because they also >> do plenty of "painting" of sprites and backgrounds, but something about the >> bricks seems to match their thinking process. >> >> I am getting ready to introduce my current 7th grade classes to Scratch >> and am looking forward to that. >> >> Thanks. >> Gerald >> >> On Mon, Sep 27, 2010 at 12:21 PM, Caroline Meeks < >> carol...@solutiongrove.com> wrote: >> >>> Gerald did some interesting work last year introducing both Scratch and >>> eToys to 5th and 8th graders. >>> >>> Gerald please correct me if I am misremembering. >>> >>> I think the results were the 8th grade
Re: [IAEP] Etoys, is it difficult or easy?
Gerald did some interesting work last year introducing both Scratch and eToys to 5th and 8th graders. Gerald please correct me if I am misremembering. I think the results were the 8th graders took to Scratch more and the 5th graders took to eToys more. Our hypothesis is that the first thing you do with eToys in draw and that is very accessible to 5th graders. They can engage with the system before they have to start understanding programming. On the other hand 8th graders were directly ready to engage with programming and had a easier/faster time picking that up with Scratch. This is very much a hypothesis, not proven and not based on much data but it would be interesting to explore further. On Sun, Sep 26, 2010 at 12:22 AM, Edward Cherlin wrote: > OK, I'll send it to you separately. Anybody else is still welcome to join > in. > > On Sat, Sep 25, 2010 at 20:47, Steve Thomas wrote: > > Edward, > > Thanks, please send me the outline and what you think needs to be more > > "easily discoverable" and I will work on it. > > Stephen > > > > On Sat, Sep 25, 2010 at 6:06 PM, Edward Cherlin > wrote: > >> > >> It is true that you can do all of these things in EToys, if you know > >> where to start. It is also true that the start screen of EToys could > >> be improved by providing a path to each of them, and to other > >> education modules, and Etoys could be improved with a few more > >> introductory modules. > >> > >> Since children and untrained teachers cannot be expected to discover > >> these paths, and paths in other Activities, on their own, I am in the > >> middle of writing a guide to Discovery on the XO. The starting point > >> is my Wiki page, > >> > >> http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/The_Undiscoverable > >> > >> http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Sugar_on_a_Stick > >> The undiscoverable is an unofficial FAQ for tips, tricks, and > >> solutions to common problems that may otherwise be tricky to find. > >> These are being considered for inclusion in the official SoaS > >> documentation. > >> > >> The Etoys section needs vast expansion. I have an outline in mind, > >> which I can share with anybody who would like to work on it. > >> > >> On Fri, Sep 24, 2010 at 15:59, Tim McNamara < > paperl...@timmcnamara.co.nz> > >> wrote: > >> > The analogy doesn't quite fit, as it's possible to do complex things > in > >> > all > >> > of those tools and it's easy to do simple things in EToys. Each > Activity > >> > can > >> > be used in this learning model, e.g. training wheels to motorbike. > >> > > >> > Tim > >> > > >> > On 25 September 2010 05:48, Cherry Withers > >> > wrote: > >> >> > >> >> And Scratch? ... don't remember where I read it, but it sounded > >> >> logical > >> >> to me. > >> >> Use progressively difficult tools for progressively difficult tasks. > >> >> To confirm this statement, I add the phrase: "Visible learning, > >> >> invisible > >> >> technology". > >> >> Children would first learn TurtleArt. > >> >> When they outgrow it switch to Scratch. > >> >> When all its possibilities are exhausted, continue with eToys. > >> > > >> > ___ > >> > IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) > >> > IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org > >> > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep > >> > > >> > >> > >> > >> -- > >> Edward Mokurai (默雷/धर्ममेघशब्दगर्ज/دھرممیگھشبدگر ج) Cherlin > >> Silent Thunder is my name, and Children are my nation. > >> The Cosmos is my dwelling place, the Truth my destination. > >> http://www.earthtreasury.org/ > >> ___ > >> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) > >> IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org > >> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep > > > > > > -- > Edward Mokurai (默雷/धर्ममेघशब्दगर्ज/دھرممیگھشبدگر ج) Cherlin > Silent Thunder is my name, and Children are my nation. > The Cosmos is my dwelling place, the Truth my destination. > http://www.earthtreasury.org/ > ___ > IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) > IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep > -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] Plan Ceibal on YouTube
Caryl, These look wonderful! I love the TV studio! Maybe we can get some high school spanish students to write subtitles in English. On Mon, Aug 16, 2010 at 5:18 PM, Caryl Bigenho wrote: > Hi Folks, > > > Today someone on the Uruguay list posted several links, one of which goes > to the index of the Plan Ceibal videos. I went on to the English version > and picked one to watch... a second grade music lesson using Tam Tam Mini. > It is totally amazing! A great lesson. It does say that the teacher and > students are from a special music school. I don't know if this is a Magnet > School or a program outside the regular school day. I did notice most of the > students are girls. I haven't seen the entire lesson yet as You Tube is > stalling about halfway through. > > > Here is the link to the list of videos with instructions for finding what > you want on You Tube. You can get a lot of great ideas for using the > Activities with a class, even if you don't understand Spanish. > > > > https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1SupEJMPd3dxWFS6bCMMu1Zb7N-fcwlNGLBCF1ei4Jpc > > > All of these were shot in the same studio, probably in Montevideo where > Plan Ceibal has their headquarters. The desks are nothing like what they > have in their real classrooms. The children and teachers all wear white > coats, which seems to the the norm for special occasions. > > > It is really interesting to see how the teachers have developed lessons > using the Sugar Activities. It would be really great to write up lesson > plans from these and translate then into many languages to give teachers > more ideas about how to use the Activities. I wonder if Plan Ceibal would > give us permission, especially if we gave credit to them and to the teacher > who designed the lesson. > > > Hope you find some you will enjoy watching as I have. > > > Caryl > > ___ > IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) > IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep > -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] New FLOSS Manual "Reading And Leading With Sugar" chapters need review
I just got this off of a blind friend's website. Press Release - More than doubling the number of books available to print disabled people of all ages, today the Internet Archive launched a new service that brings free access to more than 1 million books — from classic 19th century fiction and current novels to technical guides and research materials — now available in the specially designed format to support those who are blind, dyslexic or are otherwise visually impaired. http://www.archive.org/iathreads/post-view.php?id=305502 Not clear to me how completely open this is. I see references to qualified people needing a key. :( On Mon, May 10, 2010 at 5:59 PM, Caroline Meeks wrote: > > > On Mon, May 10, 2010 at 10:46 AM, James Simmons wrote: > >> Caroline, >> >> Thanks for your feedback. >> >> Only one Activity supports Text To Speech at the moment: my own Read >> Etexts. You need a Plain Text file to use that, and I will have a >> chapter on creating those. In fact, I will have chapters on creating >> books in every format we support, plus I will have a detailed chapter >> on how to scan books and how to make your own home book scanner from >> common household items. I don't have any text in the scanning chapter >> yet but I do have a couple of illustrations (with many more to come): >> >> http://en.flossmanuals.net/bin/view/ReadingandSugar/ScanningBookPages >> >> I agree with everything you've said, mostly. As far as the >> presentation of contents goes, I'd like to get all the content I have >> to present in the book in a sequence that seems logical to me, then >> get feedback on the ordering of topics. It may be that I move the >> chapter on book formats after the one on e-book Activities. It may >> also be that I remove references to Sugar from many chapters so those >> chapters can be shared with another book just about e-books (proposed >> title "Everything You Always Wanted To Know About E-Books But Were >> Afraid To Ask"). >> >> Audiobooks *might* be in scope. Project Gutenberg has them, but most >> are just read by a text to speech program, so the student would be >> better off downloading the e-text and using Read Etexts to get speech >> and highlighting. I think they have some read by humans too, but >> there's no way short of downloading them and listening to know which >> ones they are. >> >> I worked on scanning a whole book this weekend, plus I wrote most of a >> chapter on how you can easily make PDF's: >> >> http://en.flossmanuals.net/bin/view/ReadingandSugar/MakingPDFs >> >> In the end, I think everything you want will be in the book, plus some >> stuff on copyrights and Creative Commons licensing, plus some other >> stuff I haven't thought of yet. >> >> Thanks again, >> > > Thank you for this important work! > >> >> James Simmons >> >> >> On Mon, May 10, 2010 at 9:12 AM, Caroline Meeks >> wrote: >> > Hi James, >> > I have just skimmed so far. Looks great! >> > One of the issues schools have is students who can not read text well, >> > either from a vision problem or a reading problem. A great deal of what >> is >> > taught is taught through text, especially science and social studies. >> It is >> > important that children who cannot understand the text can still learn >> the >> > content. In addition, reading books for pleasure is a vital way for >> children >> > to learn about the world and expand their horizons and thinking. One of >> the >> > wonderful things about technology is that students who can't read text >> can >> > still listen to text and learn. Sugar is for all children, and not all >> > children can see or decode text, so listening to text should have equal >> > standing as a way to read. >> > I think it would be useful in the section that goes over the different >> > formats and programs to explicitly say which can support text to speech >> and >> > which can't. >> > It would also be great if you could write a section on how teachers can >> > create documents that can be read to the students. I'm almost certain >> that >> > for a teacher to retype or scan in a text book and then let a student >> > read/listen to it, is fair use. Certainly that is something that the >> > special ed teacher at the GPA was interested in doing. I'm sure other >> > teachers with students who can't read text at grade level will also be >> > interested in
Re: [IAEP] New FLOSS Manual "Reading And Leading With Sugar" chapters need review
On Mon, May 10, 2010 at 10:46 AM, James Simmons wrote: > Caroline, > > Thanks for your feedback. > > Only one Activity supports Text To Speech at the moment: my own Read > Etexts. You need a Plain Text file to use that, and I will have a > chapter on creating those. In fact, I will have chapters on creating > books in every format we support, plus I will have a detailed chapter > on how to scan books and how to make your own home book scanner from > common household items. I don't have any text in the scanning chapter > yet but I do have a couple of illustrations (with many more to come): > > http://en.flossmanuals.net/bin/view/ReadingandSugar/ScanningBookPages > > I agree with everything you've said, mostly. As far as the > presentation of contents goes, I'd like to get all the content I have > to present in the book in a sequence that seems logical to me, then > get feedback on the ordering of topics. It may be that I move the > chapter on book formats after the one on e-book Activities. It may > also be that I remove references to Sugar from many chapters so those > chapters can be shared with another book just about e-books (proposed > title "Everything You Always Wanted To Know About E-Books But Were > Afraid To Ask"). > > Audiobooks *might* be in scope. Project Gutenberg has them, but most > are just read by a text to speech program, so the student would be > better off downloading the e-text and using Read Etexts to get speech > and highlighting. I think they have some read by humans too, but > there's no way short of downloading them and listening to know which > ones they are. > > I worked on scanning a whole book this weekend, plus I wrote most of a > chapter on how you can easily make PDF's: > > http://en.flossmanuals.net/bin/view/ReadingandSugar/MakingPDFs > > In the end, I think everything you want will be in the book, plus some > stuff on copyrights and Creative Commons licensing, plus some other > stuff I haven't thought of yet. > > Thanks again, > Thank you for this important work! > > James Simmons > > > On Mon, May 10, 2010 at 9:12 AM, Caroline Meeks > wrote: > > Hi James, > > I have just skimmed so far. Looks great! > > One of the issues schools have is students who can not read text well, > > either from a vision problem or a reading problem. A great deal of what > is > > taught is taught through text, especially science and social studies. It > is > > important that children who cannot understand the text can still learn > the > > content. In addition, reading books for pleasure is a vital way for > children > > to learn about the world and expand their horizons and thinking. One of > the > > wonderful things about technology is that students who can't read text > can > > still listen to text and learn. Sugar is for all children, and not all > > children can see or decode text, so listening to text should have equal > > standing as a way to read. > > I think it would be useful in the section that goes over the different > > formats and programs to explicitly say which can support text to speech > and > > which can't. > > It would also be great if you could write a section on how teachers can > > create documents that can be read to the students. I'm almost certain > that > > for a teacher to retype or scan in a text book and then let a student > > read/listen to it, is fair use. Certainly that is something that the > > special ed teacher at the GPA was interested in doing. I'm sure other > > teachers with students who can't read text at grade level will also be > > interested in doing that. > > Consider adding sections about where to get free audiobooks to your > > wonderful coverage of where to get free books. > > On a separate note, would it work to put the section on book formats > towards > > the end of the chapter. I think the sections on how you read the books on > > Sugar to be more interesting. I'm worried that people won't make it > through > > the drier, more confusing, reference materials on book > formats, until they > > are motivated and excited by seeing all the things they can do with the > > books. > > Thanks! > > Caroline > > > > On Thu, May 6, 2010 at 3:53 PM, James Simmons > wrote: > >> > >> I've started work on another FLOSS Manual, this one about how to get > >> the most out of Sugar as an e-book platform. It will cover what > >> Activities are used for e-books, where to get books, pros and cons of > >> the various e-book formats, and wil
Re: [IAEP] New FLOSS Manual "Reading And Leading With Sugar" chapters need review
Hi James, I have just skimmed so far. Looks great! One of the issues schools have is students who can not read text well, either from a vision problem or a reading problem. A great deal of what is taught is taught through text, especially science and social studies. It is important that children who cannot understand the text can still learn the content. In addition, reading books for pleasure is a vital way for children to learn about the world and expand their horizons and thinking. One of the wonderful things about technology is that students who can't read text can still listen to text and learn. Sugar is for all children, and not all children can see or decode text, so listening to text should have equal standing as a way to read. I think it would be useful in the section that goes over the different formats and programs to explicitly say which can support text to speech and which can't. It would also be great if you could write a section on how teachers can create documents that can be read to the students. I'm almost certain that for a teacher to retype or scan in a text book and then let a student read/listen to it, is fair use. Certainly that is something that the special ed teacher at the GPA was interested in doing. I'm sure other teachers with students who can't read text at grade level will also be interested in doing that. Consider adding sections about where to get free audiobooks to your wonderful coverage of where to get free books. On a separate note, would it work to put the section on book formats towards the end of the chapter. I think the sections on how you read the books on Sugar to be more interesting. I'm worried that people won't make it through the drier, more confusing, reference materials on book formats, until they are motivated and excited by seeing all the things they can do with the books. Thanks! Caroline On Thu, May 6, 2010 at 3:53 PM, James Simmons wrote: > I've started work on another FLOSS Manual, this one about how to get > the most out of Sugar as an e-book platform. It will cover what > Activities are used for e-books, where to get books, pros and cons of > the various e-book formats, and will conclude with instructions on > creating your own e-books in the supported formats and options for > getting the books distributed. The last part has not been written > yet, but I've got some people interested in helping me put it > together. I plan to scan in some old books from my own collection and > get them in shape to donate to the Internet Archive and Project > Gutenberg. The book will document the whole process. > > In the meantime the Sugar-y chapters are pretty much complete and > could use a review. Any suggestions or feedback would be welcome. > The book is at: > > http://en.flossmanuals.net/ReadingandSugar/Introduction > > Thanks, > > James Simmons > ___ > IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) > IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep > -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
[IAEP] OLPC, Sugar and Sugar on a Stick in Global Issues curriculum?
fds.oup.com/www.oup.com/pdf/13/9780199180813.pdf<http://www.google.com/url?sa=X&q=http://fds.oup.com/www.oup.com/pdf/13/9780199180813.pdf&ct=ga&cad=:s7:f1:v0:i1:ld:e0:p0:t1273165601:&cd=eL1QoInFCms&usg=AFQjCNG3AVszquKZGyi5RadCXIdsYYcY7A> <http://www.google.com/url?sa=X&q=http://fds.oup.com/www.oup.com/pdf/13/9780199180813.pdf&ct=ga&cad=:s7:f1:v0:i1:ld:e0:p0:t1273165601:&cd=eL1QoInFCms&usg=AFQjCNG3AVszquKZGyi5RadCXIdsYYcY7A>My google alert showed up with this pdf. Interested piece of curriculum about Sugar, OLPC and Sugar on a Stick. Anyone know who wrote it? -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
[IAEP] Announcing a development sprint in Maine to work on getting Sugar in the Maine based 1 to 1 for netbooks in schools spin.
FOSSED is a major open source for educators conference in Maine that both teachers and developers attend. This year we will be working to bring together developers with interested in Sugar are invited to come and work with the developers are already working with schools in Maine. Here is some background: Many of you may know that Maine has lead the way in the US with 1 on 1 Apple laptops for middle schoolers, paid for out of the state budget for the last several years. What you may not have heard is when the state expanded the program a bit over a year ago the state wanted many districts to pay $250 per year to lease apple laptops with software for middle and high school students. Many of Maine's towns and rural areas thought that was too much! So they came together and formed a coalition. They created their own open source distro packed with educational software: open1to1.org. They negotiated a deal to buy netbooks for $289 (buy not lease!) About 3000 students are using open source in Maine today! The project url is: http://open1to1.org Now they want to add Sugar to Open 1 to 1!! :) Please come help us kick off this effort in Maine July 7th to 9th!!! The conference url is http://www.fossed.com/. Developers will receive a VERY significant discount (probably about half price, details are being worked out now) and still get lodging, all you can eat great food and access to sessions. -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] Data vs Critical Thinking - Can Sugar give schools both?
resources, I don't imagine that we will ever really eliminate this dilemma. > > Interestingly I worry about it on the other side in this case. In the > kindergarten class I observed the struggling students had an hour of small > group phonics lessons. The other students had shorter reading groups and in > the rest of the time they played with blocks, math games, used computer > software and read. I worry about the struggling students having enough time > for exploration and play. > > To me our goal needs to create technology that provide the best possible > experiences for students receiving the intensive instruction and those who > are left with more time for individual activities and I think Sugar can > absolutely support both. > > Personally I'm more impressed with the data collection and analysis part > of RTI. I the goal I'd like to see us work towards is to sue the data used > to give every student instruction right in their zone of proximal > development and to make it easy for teachers to find alternative teaching > approaches for students who don't respond to the first way something is > taught. > > I do think there is power in learning from research > backed pedagogical methods like RTI, especially when > they emphasize something like Data which is a good match for technology. > However, this is a good conversation because part of RTI is very based in > the US public school culture of spending more resources on special ed > students. So we need to dissect it and take the pieces that create better > learning for all students. > > Thanks! > Caroline > > > > > > On 04/20/2010 09:29 AM, Caroline Meeks wrote: > > Hi Subbu, > > Not off topic in my opinion. > > RTI consists of: > > 1. *Scientific, Research-Based Instruction- Delivered in Tiers, with > students who are struggling getting more intensive instruction.* > *2. Screening of all students.* > *3. Progress monitoring (about every 2 weeks) for the students getting the > more intensive instruction (the 'intervention').* > * > * > *US based discussions of RTI focus on how it effects the pipeline to > special education. But in many OLPC contexts I don't think there is a > special education to be referred to. I think if kids can't make it in the > general classroom they drop out. Thus a system that keeps more kids on > track is valuable.* > * > * > *Discussions of how to improve instruction is very on topic for RTI. In > RTI terms you could think about it in two ways. Are the materials part of a > Tier I (all students) instruction or are they for Tier II, for struggling > students. The great thing about technology, be it a laptop or a mp4 player, > is that it could be used in both ways. The whole class could use it, and we > could help teachers match up specific weakness in students with specific > learning objects for a Tier II like intervention.* > * > * > *I'm focusing a lot on the screening and progress monitoring pieces of RTI > because, thanks to huge, long, high stakes tests that teachers don't see > results back from for months, assessment has gotten a bad name. > RTI assessment is quick and results are immediate, specific and actionable. > * > * > * > *Yes, on the cell phones/hand helds for doing the assessments. In the US > palm pilots are used. I do think setting it up on a cell phone would be far > more economical.* > * > * > *Thanks for responding. :)* > * > * > *Caroline* > > On Tue, Apr 20, 2010 at 9:36 AM, K. K. Subramaniam wrote: > > On Tuesday 20 April 2010 06:01:33 am Caroline Meeks wrote: > > Why can't computers for children both give them the means for creation, > > independent learning, collaboration etc etc. and give their teacher > > detailed, nuanced, actionable data on what skills they have mastered and > > what they are still struggling with? > Computer-centric vocabulary is becoming obsolete today. Talking about > computers today is a bit-like talking about DC/Induction motors in our > homes. > We don't think of mixers, juicers, grinders, washing machines etc as motor > machines, do we? Kids don't think of mobile phones as computers. They > think > of them as phones, cameras, voice recorders, mp3/mp4 players etc. > > >Problem solvers, groundbreaking pioneers and visionary leaders need to > know > >their phonics and their basic math skills. We have the capability to > build > >tools that help teachers know and track which students are struggling with > >what skills, and provide the collaborative framework for them to collect > >data and share it to determine what works to teach t
Re: [IAEP] Data vs Critical Thinking - Can Sugar give schools both?
ound > since it was discovered that it encouraged failure. > > > > > Your proposal indicates "more intensive instruction" for the "students that > are struggling", which is nice, no doubt for those, but maybe unfair to the > others. It appears many more "scholar athletes" lately are getting > diagnosed for disorders that allow them to use chemicals that otherwise are > banned... I am concerned that if the way to get better schooling is to be > lower tier, there might be a rush for it. > > > Nod, I agree. I think there is a fundamental dilemma that society and > indeed every teacher faces around who gets instructional attention. My hope > working with technology is to raise the general level and the amount of > resources, I don't imagine that we will ever really eliminate this dilemma. > > Interestingly I worry about it on the other side in this case. In the > kindergarten class I observed the struggling students had an hour of small > group phonics lessons. The other students had shorter reading groups and in > the rest of the time they played with blocks, math games, used computer > software and read. I worry about the struggling students having enough time > for exploration and play. > > To me our goal needs to create technology that provide the best possible > experiences for students receiving the intensive instruction and those who > are left with more time for individual activities and I think Sugar can > absolutely support both. > > Personally I'm more impressed with the data collection and analysis part of > RTI. I the goal I'd like to see us work towards is to sue the data used to > give every student instruction right in their zone of proximal development > and to make it easy for teachers to find alternative teaching approaches for > students who don't respond to the first way something is taught. > > I do think there is power in learning from research > backed pedagogical methods like RTI, especially when > they emphasize something like Data which is a good match for technology. > However, this is a good conversation because part of RTI is very based in > the US public school culture of spending more resources on special ed > students. So we need to dissect it and take the pieces that create better > learning for all students. > > Thanks! > Caroline > > > > > > On 04/20/2010 09:29 AM, Caroline Meeks wrote: > > Hi Subbu, > > Not off topic in my opinion. > > RTI consists of: > > 1. *Scientific, Research-Based Instruction- Delivered in Tiers, with > students who are struggling getting more intensive instruction.* > *2. Screening of all students.* > *3. Progress monitoring (about every 2 weeks) for the students getting the > more intensive instruction (the 'intervention').* > * > * > *US based discussions of RTI focus on how it effects the pipeline to > special education. But in many OLPC contexts I don't think there is a > special education to be referred to. I think if kids can't make it in the > general classroom they drop out. Thus a system that keeps more kids on > track is valuable.* > * > * > *Discussions of how to improve instruction is very on topic for RTI. In > RTI terms you could think about it in two ways. Are the materials part of a > Tier I (all students) instruction or are they for Tier II, for struggling > students. The great thing about technology, be it a laptop or a mp4 player, > is that it could be used in both ways. The whole class could use it, and we > could help teachers match up specific weakness in students with specific > learning objects for a Tier II like intervention.* > * > * > *I'm focusing a lot on the screening and progress monitoring pieces of RTI > because, thanks to huge, long, high stakes tests that teachers don't see > results back from for months, assessment has gotten a bad name. > RTI assessment is quick and results are immediate, specific and actionable. > * > * > * > *Yes, on the cell phones/hand helds for doing the assessments. In the US > palm pilots are used. I do think setting it up on a cell phone would be far > more economical.* > * > * > *Thanks for responding. :)* > * > * > *Caroline* > > On Tue, Apr 20, 2010 at 9:36 AM, K. K. Subramaniam wrote: > > On Tuesday 20 April 2010 06:01:33 am Caroline Meeks wrote: > > Why can't computers for children both give them the means for creation, > > independent learning, collaboration etc etc. and give their teacher > > detailed, nuanced, actionable data on what skills they have mastered and > > what they are still struggling with? > Computer-centric vocabulary is becoming obsolete
Re: [IAEP] Data vs Critical Thinking - Can Sugar give schools both?
to sue the data used to give every student instruction right in their zone of proximal development and to make it easy for teachers to find alternative teaching approaches for students who don't respond to the first way something is taught. I do think there is power in learning from research backed pedagogical methods like RTI, especially when they emphasize something like Data which is a good match for technology. However, this is a good conversation because part of RTI is very based in the US public school culture of spending more resources on special ed students. So we need to dissect it and take the pieces that create better learning for all students. Thanks! Caroline > > > > > On 04/20/2010 09:29 AM, Caroline Meeks wrote: > > Hi Subbu, > > Not off topic in my opinion. > > RTI consists of: > > 1. *Scientific, Research-Based Instruction- Delivered in Tiers, with > students who are struggling getting more intensive instruction.* > *2. Screening of all students.* > *3. Progress monitoring (about every 2 weeks) for the students getting the > more intensive instruction (the 'intervention').* > * > * > *US based discussions of RTI focus on how it effects the pipeline to > special education. But in many OLPC contexts I don't think there is a > special education to be referred to. I think if kids can't make it in the > general classroom they drop out. Thus a system that keeps more kids on > track is valuable.* > * > * > *Discussions of how to improve instruction is very on topic for RTI. In > RTI terms you could think about it in two ways. Are the materials part of a > Tier I (all students) instruction or are they for Tier II, for struggling > students. The great thing about technology, be it a laptop or a mp4 player, > is that it could be used in both ways. The whole class could use it, and we > could help teachers match up specific weakness in students with specific > learning objects for a Tier II like intervention.* > * > * > *I'm focusing a lot on the screening and progress monitoring pieces of RTI > because, thanks to huge, long, high stakes tests that teachers don't see > results back from for months, assessment has gotten a bad name. > RTI assessment is quick and results are immediate, specific and actionable. > * > * > * > *Yes, on the cell phones/hand helds for doing the assessments. In the US > palm pilots are used. I do think setting it up on a cell phone would be far > more economical.* > * > * > *Thanks for responding. :)* > * > * > *Caroline* > > On Tue, Apr 20, 2010 at 9:36 AM, K. K. Subramaniam wrote: > >> On Tuesday 20 April 2010 06:01:33 am Caroline Meeks wrote: >> > Why can't computers for children both give them the means for creation, >> > independent learning, collaboration etc etc. and give their teacher >> > detailed, nuanced, actionable data on what skills they have mastered and >> > what they are still struggling with? >> Computer-centric vocabulary is becoming obsolete today. Talking about >> computers today is a bit-like talking about DC/Induction motors in our >> homes. >> We don't think of mixers, juicers, grinders, washing machines etc as motor >> machines, do we? Kids don't think of mobile phones as computers. They >> think >> of them as phones, cameras, voice recorders, mp3/mp4 players etc. >> >> >Problem solvers, groundbreaking pioneers and visionary leaders need to >> know >> >their phonics and their basic math skills. We have the capability to >> build >> >tools that help teachers know and track which students are struggling >> with >> >what skills, and provide the collaborative framework for them to collect >> >data and share it to determine what works to teach those skills to all >> >students. >> Just a few weeks back, I had a discussion with village school teachers >> about >> using smart machines to enliven language lessons. The discussion veered >> around >> using mini-speakers with mp3 player in classrooms. The players, about 4" >> cube >> take in 2GB USB flash, SD card or micro-SD cards and play for 5 hours on a >> single charge. They cost about $8-$10 here and 2GB card can easily hold >> about >> four-five years of language lessons. Neither teachers nor 6-9 year olds >> think >> of them as computers. >> >> We could also think of using portable mp4 players (for visual lessons) or >> smartphones (for data collection). These machines don't exclude the use of >> laptops for authoring lessons and give more options for children to learn >> languages, math and science. >> >> [Apologies if this is OT on a RTI thread] >> >> Subbu >> > > > > -- > Caroline Meeks > Solution Grove > carol...@solutiongrove.com > > 617-500-3488 - Office > 505-213-3268 - Fax > > > ___ > IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) > i...@lists.sugarlabs.orghttp://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep > > -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] Data vs Critical Thinking - Can Sugar give schools both?
Hi Subbu, Not off topic in my opinion. RTI consists of: 1. *Scientific, Research-Based Instruction- Delivered in Tiers, with students who are struggling getting more intensive instruction.* *2. Screening of all students.* *3. Progress monitoring (about every 2 weeks) for the students getting the more intensive instruction (the 'intervention').* * * *US based discussions of RTI focus on how it effects the pipeline to special education. But in many OLPC contexts I don't think there is a special education to be referred to. I think if kids can't make it in the general classroom they drop out. Thus a system that keeps more kids on track is valuable.* * * *Discussions of how to improve instruction is very on topic for RTI. In RTI terms you could think about it in two ways. Are the materials part of a Tier I (all students) instruction or are they for Tier II, for struggling students. The great thing about technology, be it a laptop or a mp4 player, is that it could be used in both ways. The whole class could use it, and we could help teachers match up specific weakness in students with specific learning objects for a Tier II like intervention.* * * *I'm focusing a lot on the screening and progress monitoring pieces of RTI because, thanks to huge, long, high stakes tests that teachers don't see results back from for months, assessment has gotten a bad name. RTI assessment is quick and results are immediate, specific and actionable. * * * *Yes, on the cell phones/hand helds for doing the assessments. In the US palm pilots are used. I do think setting it up on a cell phone would be far more economical.* * * *Thanks for responding. :)* * * *Caroline* On Tue, Apr 20, 2010 at 9:36 AM, K. K. Subramaniam wrote: > On Tuesday 20 April 2010 06:01:33 am Caroline Meeks wrote: > > Why can't computers for children both give them the means for creation, > > independent learning, collaboration etc etc. and give their teacher > > detailed, nuanced, actionable data on what skills they have mastered and > > what they are still struggling with? > Computer-centric vocabulary is becoming obsolete today. Talking about > computers today is a bit-like talking about DC/Induction motors in our > homes. > We don't think of mixers, juicers, grinders, washing machines etc as motor > machines, do we? Kids don't think of mobile phones as computers. They > think > of them as phones, cameras, voice recorders, mp3/mp4 players etc. > > >Problem solvers, groundbreaking pioneers and visionary leaders need to > know > >their phonics and their basic math skills. We have the capability to > build > >tools that help teachers know and track which students are struggling with > >what skills, and provide the collaborative framework for them to collect > >data and share it to determine what works to teach those skills to all > >students. > Just a few weeks back, I had a discussion with village school teachers > about > using smart machines to enliven language lessons. The discussion veered > around > using mini-speakers with mp3 player in classrooms. The players, about 4" > cube > take in 2GB USB flash, SD card or micro-SD cards and play for 5 hours on a > single charge. They cost about $8-$10 here and 2GB card can easily hold > about > four-five years of language lessons. Neither teachers nor 6-9 year olds > think > of them as computers. > > We could also think of using portable mp4 players (for visual lessons) or > smartphones (for data collection). These machines don't exclude the use of > laptops for authoring lessons and give more options for children to learn > languages, math and science. > > [Apologies if this is OT on a RTI thread] > > Subbu > -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
[IAEP] Data vs Critical Thinking - Can Sugar give schools both?
http://www.eschoolnews.com/2010/04/13/educators-reflect-on-national-ed-tech-plan/ ? Why can't computers for children both give them the means for creation, independent learning, collaboration etc etc. and give their teacher detailed, nuanced, actionable data on what skills they have mastered and what they are still struggling with? I observed a class that uses RTI (Response to Intervention). All students are screened 3X a year with a 5 minute screening test on reading skills. Students who do not do well on the screens are given extra instruction and screened every 2 or 3 weeks, again with a 5 minute test. The teacher in this classroom not only knows who her struggling readers are she has indepth understanding of their skills and weaknesses. This child has problems with the sounds of vowels inside a word. She needs to give teach them strategies for trying other vowels if their first attempt doesn't make sense. These two students have issues with constant sounds at the end of the word, so she has them play a game before class that works on that. Computers are great at collecting and managing data. Sugar is great at "creating inquisitive, creative, resourceful thinkers, informed citizens, effective problem [solvers], groundbreaking pioneers, and visionary leaders." Problem solvers, groundbreaking pioneers and visionary leaders need to know their phonics and their basic math skills. We have the capability to build tools that help teachers know and track which students are struggling with what skills, and provide the collaborative framework for them to collect data and share it to determine what works to teach those skills to all students. If you missed it last time my RTI explanation for engineers video is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dI95fgBnJWI -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] FOSS VT presentation
Nice find. I decided to use a tag cloud. That gets around the nonstandard place names and it gives a relative idea without listing numbers that we know are out of date. http://manyeyes.alphaworks.ibm.com/manyeyes/visualizations/word-cloud-of-olpc-xo-deployments Thanks On Thu, Apr 8, 2010 at 9:21 PM, Xander Pirdy wrote: > Caroline- > I took a look at manyeyes (great site btw), and it looks like they already > have a dataset on olpc deployments: > http://manyeyes.alphaworks.ibm.com/manyeyes/datasets/olpc-deployments-in-the-world/versions/1, > though the data would have to be modified to do on a country by country > basis (it has trouble understanding Birmingham AL for instance because it > should really be labeled as part of the United States Deployment), though it > wouldn't take much editing to get this to work. If anyone has any idea on > reliable sources to verify these numbers I wouldn't mind putting a bit of > extra time into correcting it and finishing the visualization as I think > that it is something important. > -Xander > > > On Thu, Apr 8, 2010 at 7:48 PM, Caroline Meeks > wrote: > >> Thanks everyone for the feedback and typos. >> >> If anyone does get good data on deployments I suggest checking out >> Manyeyes to make the map. >> >> Thanks! >> >> >> On Thu, Apr 8, 2010 at 2:18 PM, Yamandu Ploskonka wrote: >> >>> Bolivia >>> >>>- 100 machines purchased by the SOBOCE foundation, maybe 20 or less >>>are still operational in a school in Viacha (despite our best efforts, >>> they >>>don't seem willing to accept help) >>> - an indeterminate number brought and given away by Marcelo Claure, >>>CEO of Brightstar, mostly to kids in the soccer team he owns and in >>> raffles >>>during games his team plays. >>> - 25 XOs in assorted state of repair, through OLPC Repair Centers, >>>mostly in the hands of local development / research / localization people >>>connected with SCELinux and OLE Bolivia that I managed to get through >>>customs on several trips. Most of those used for lobbying and grassroots >>>work by the valiant Bolivian volunteers come from this lot, and maybe the >>>ones with the biggest impact so far in gaining some government goodwill >>>despite. As they were repaired, several of these also made it to the >>>Manuela Gandarillas Center for the blind. >>>- Apparently maybe 5 to 20 more have arrived through different >>>independent Contributor Program requests I have no more detailed info on. >>>- 12 machines from individual donors, currently in a La Paz city >>>orphanage, through OLE Bolivia. 10 more from the same origin in my >>> closet >>>here in Austin, waiting for the next trip and whether I am foolish >>> enough to >>>brave customs again (last time it was messy, wish me luck) >>> - an indeterminate number given away to assorted poo bahs including >>>the President by Claure, Arboleda and others, some of them dating back >>> to B1 >>>models >>>- Hope in a 2-year delayed 200-XO deploy with help from a Danish NGO. >>> >>> Dominican Republic >>> >>>- apparently 2.000 units were given away to kids by President Lionel >>>at some public function. No further anything is known of this, except >>> that >>>apparently they were part of maybe 3.000 that came as gifts from Carlos >>> Slim >>>of Mexico when Slim was apparently handing out 3.000 lots all over >>> Central >>>America and the Caribbean. Note that Lionel was very connected with NN >>>early on (maybe even an MIT alumn?), and some very, very early prototypes >>>were given to Dominican researchers (we had BIG hopes in the DR being >>> one of >>>the first places to really take off) >>> >>> OT, enjoy this comic >>> http://www.juanelo.cl/tiras/Juanelo1187.png >>> >>> - Juanelo! I am so angry with you! >>> - Why is that, Mr. Minister? >>> >>> - You made me go through such an embarrassing situation! >>> You remember those notebooks I asked you get bids on? >>> - yeah... >>> >>> - when we presented them as gifts to those schoolchildren, they found out >>> they were made out of sticks! I was like Mister Ridiculous! >>> >>> - >>> >>> - so, what? Next time you'd rather I prioritize quality over price? &g
Re: [IAEP] FOSS VT presentation
Thanks everyone for the feedback and typos. If anyone does get good data on deployments I suggest checking out Manyeyes to make the map. Thanks! On Thu, Apr 8, 2010 at 2:18 PM, Yamandu Ploskonka wrote: > Bolivia > >- 100 machines purchased by the SOBOCE foundation, maybe 20 or less are >still operational in a school in Viacha (despite our best efforts, they >don't seem willing to accept help) > - an indeterminate number brought and given away by Marcelo Claure, >CEO of Brightstar, mostly to kids in the soccer team he owns and in raffles >during games his team plays. > - 25 XOs in assorted state of repair, through OLPC Repair Centers, >mostly in the hands of local development / research / localization people >connected with SCELinux and OLE Bolivia that I managed to get through >customs on several trips. Most of those used for lobbying and grassroots >work by the valiant Bolivian volunteers come from this lot, and maybe the >ones with the biggest impact so far in gaining some government goodwill >despite. As they were repaired, several of these also made it to the >Manuela Gandarillas Center for the blind. >- Apparently maybe 5 to 20 more have arrived through different >independent Contributor Program requests I have no more detailed info on. >- 12 machines from individual donors, currently in a La Paz city >orphanage, through OLE Bolivia. 10 more from the same origin in my closet >here in Austin, waiting for the next trip and whether I am foolish enough > to >brave customs again (last time it was messy, wish me luck) > - an indeterminate number given away to assorted poo bahs including >the President by Claure, Arboleda and others, some of them dating back to > B1 >models >- Hope in a 2-year delayed 200-XO deploy with help from a Danish NGO. > > Dominican Republic > >- apparently 2.000 units were given away to kids by President Lionel at >some public function. No further anything is known of this, except that >apparently they were part of maybe 3.000 that came as gifts from Carlos > Slim >of Mexico when Slim was apparently handing out 3.000 lots all over Central >America and the Caribbean. Note that Lionel was very connected with NN >early on (maybe even an MIT alumn?), and some very, very early prototypes >were given to Dominican researchers (we had BIG hopes in the DR being one > of >the first places to really take off) > > OT, enjoy this comic > http://www.juanelo.cl/tiras/Juanelo1187.png > > - Juanelo! I am so angry with you! > - Why is that, Mr. Minister? > > - You made me go through such an embarrassing situation! > You remember those notebooks I asked you get bids on? > - yeah... > > - when we presented them as gifts to those schoolchildren, they found out > they were made out of sticks! I was like Mister Ridiculous! > > - > > - so, what? Next time you'd rather I prioritize quality over price? > > > (what really gets me :-( is that Juanelo, from Chile, obviously sees > computers as being presented as a "gift" by the Minister and other > authorities to the children :-( ) > > On 04/08/2010 11:45 AM, Christoph Derndorfer wrote: > > Hi Caroline, > > this is a gorgeous presentation, definitely one of the very best ones > that ever have been done on Sugar! > > While I can't help with the map of OLPC deployments (AFAIK no current > one is available at the time) here's to the best of my knowledge the > list of countries with OLPC projects in one form or another (@everyone, > please let me know if this needs to be updated!): > > Afghanistan > Austria > Bhutan > Brazil > Cambodia > China > Colombia > Ethiopia > Ghana > Haiti > India > Iraq > Kazakhstan > Lebanon > Mali > Mexico > Mongolia > Mozambique > Nepal > Nicaragua > Nigeria > Niue > Pakistan > Palestine > Papua New Guinea > Paraguay > Peru > Russia > Rwanda > Senegal > Solomon Islands > South Africa > Sri Lanka > Thailand > United States > Uruguay > Vietnam > > Cheers, > Christoph > > Am 08.04.2010 04:53, schrieb Caroline Meeks: > > > I am giving a presentation at FOSS VT on Friday, anything anyone wants > me to mention or request to an audience of teachers and school IT people? > > The draft of my presentation is here: http://prezi.com/ffn2vdg0ylcr/ > > I'd love a map that helps me talk about the OLPC deployments if anyone > has done one. > > Has anyone done any updates or additional activities slides? > > Thanks! > Caroline > > -- > Caroline Meeks > Solution g
[IAEP] FOSS VT presentation
I am giving a presentation at FOSS VT on Friday, anything anyone wants me to mention or request to an audience of teachers and school IT people? The draft of my presentation is here: http://prezi.com/ffn2vdg0ylcr/ I'd love a map that helps me talk about the OLPC deployments if anyone has done one. Has anyone done any updates or additional activities slides? Thanks! Caroline -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
[IAEP] Bert is working on Journal Support for Scratch!
Hip Hip Hooray!!! On Mon, Mar 15, 2010 at 2:52 PM, Bert Freudenberg wrote: > Indeed I'm working on adding Journal support to Scratch, almost done in > fact. But I can't say when John is going to make a release with that. I'm > not working on sound or other issues, but Derek did something in that > direction IIRC. > > Btw you can read about ongoing development at > https://launchpad.net/~scratch > > - Bert - > > On 15.03.2010, at 19:32, Claudia Urrea wrote: > > > > Hi Bernie, > > > > Thanks for your email. I am waiting on the visa... but I shouldn't > > have any problems (I am still waiting for Cecilia to send a letter to > > me). > > > > I don't have the agenda yet, I am planning to work with the team of > Formadores. > > > > Yes. Bert is working on the new version of Scratch (hired by OLPC). I > > think it is going to be ready very soon! > > > > See you soon! > > > > Claudia > > > > On Sat, Mar 13, 2010 at 9:17 PM, Bernie Innocenti > wrote: > >> Continuing our earlier irc conversation on iaep@: > >> > >> I need an updated version of Scratch for the XO... > >> the current version has issues with sound > >> thanks for the report! You are in Paraguay? > >> > >> Indeed! I'll be working on field until August to bridge Sugar Labs with > >> one of the best deployments out there. It's happening bidirectionally: > >> > >> 1) learn about real-world issues with our software and relay such > >> information directly to the Sugar developers and community. > >> > >> 2) at the same time, deliver the latest and greatest of our software in > >> the hands of local children. > >> > >> More than just a bridge, I'm hoping to build a self-reinforcing feedback > >> loop, the kind of thing which powers successful free software projects. > >> > >> > >> bernie: I don't have a public version of Scratch yet, but I > >> am hoping soon... Bern is working on it! > >> > >> You mean Bert? Or me? Or someone I don't know? > >> > >> Some kids here taught themselves Scratch and are doing great things with > >> it: > >> > >> > http://codewiz.org/wiki/blog/2010/03#fri-mar-12--interview-with-los-scratcheros > >> > >> > >> It's incredible if you consider to children in Caacupè did not have easy > >> access to computers and fancy electronic gadgets. Most children and > >> teachers have been using computers for the first time less than one year > >> ago. > >> > >> So I think we're just starting to... scratching the surface. > >> (ok, please forgive me for this silly pun). > >> > >> > >> Bernie: I am coming to Paraguay next week let me > >> know if you are there > >> > >> This is great news. Today Cecilia told me you'll be here on the 22nd. > >> What's your schedule like for the week? Anything you would like to work > >> on together? > >> > >> -- > >> // Bernie Innocenti - http://codewiz.org/ > >> \X/ Sugar Labs - http://sugarlabs.org/ > >> > >> > > > - Bert - > > > ___ > IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) > IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep > -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
[IAEP] Need ideas for 1 hour Sugar introductory lessons
We are planning for April vacation week and working with the public library a few blocks from the GPA school. We will be doing 1 to 5 1-hour sessions with a few students during April vacation week. We will then extend that program to after school. My thought is to do focus on a different activity each session. Its a recreational setting. We can ask for different age ranges for different sessions when we advertise. I definitely want to do one with Physics. Do people have suggestions for what are some of the best 1 hour introductions for kids? Thanks, Caroline -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
[IAEP] Response to Intervention: What is an intervention?
I gave a brief overview of RTI here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dI95fgBnJWI Having a process engineering background I found the concept of measuring, changing things, and tracking the response to those changes very sensible and straight forward. However, as I read I never got a clear picture of what an intervention really was. Today I found this website which is selling a computer program that could be used as an intervention. Note that generally, in Boston at least, interventions are not computer programs, they are on paper and have instructions for the teacher and materials for the student. But since we are a computer learning platform i'm interested in what a computer based intervention would look like. There are demos of quite a bit of their software. This is an interesting one to start with: http://www.scilearn.com/products/brainapps/hoop-nut/ Its focuses very specifically on discriminating phonemes. This is a good video on the basics of the neuroscience. It oversimplifies a bit but its still pretty good introduction: http://www.scilearn.com/our-approach/the-fast-forword-program/brain-science-video/ I think this story told by a student is also a good overview of what they are trying to do: http://www.scilearn.com/results/success-stories/real-life-stories/willie-brown.php?video=Willie%20Brown#video I am not endorsing this software, I just found their website and think its a very concrete way of seeing what software that supports this type of learning would look like. I'm just learning myself. Cheers, Caroline -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] Response to Intervention - Is this being used outside the US?
On Fri, Mar 12, 2010 at 8:47 AM, Maria Droujkova wrote: > > > > On Fri, Mar 12, 2010 at 8:30 AM, Caroline Meeks < > carol...@solutiongrove.com> wrote: > >> >> >> On Fri, Mar 12, 2010 at 8:08 AM, Maria Droujkova wrote: >> >>> >>> On Fri, Mar 12, 2010 at 1:48 AM, wrote: >>> >>>> >>>> The strongest argument against is that any easily administered testing >>>> is biased towards lower level skills (as defined in Bloom's taxonomy). That >>>> would be OK, depending on how the data is used. Any attempt to modify >>>> teaching in response, biases the teaching towards the lower level skills. >>>> >>>> In the Australian case, schools will be forced to confine their teaching >>>> to lower order skills to maintain their ranking, preserve enrolments and >>>> avoid criticism and funding cuts. In the case of RTI, it risks defining >>>> student progress by a narrow subset of education skills and overly >>>> concentrating teaching on this narrow subset. >>>> >>>> Tony >>>> >>> >>> Tony, >>> >>> This is my perennial response to the existing programs of this sort. When >>> I plan interventions, I start with meaning and significance of math in the >>> life of the person, their family and their social networks. Then some major >>> concepts areas that can support and advance these meanings become apparent. >>> From there, skills and tasks within concept areas can be mapped and >>> developed. >>> >>> What is highly problematic is that all the existing mainstream heavy >>> testing machinery is at the level of skills. And what I am doing on the >>> individual basis is not currently scalable. I can't even explain many parts >>> of this highly intuitive, expertise-based process. >>> >>> To address this problem, I just started to work on a crowdsourced rubric >>> that will probe personal meaning and significance of math, and later used >>> during interventions to help people track growth of math's significance in >>> their lives. I am now polling local parents who work with me, with some very >>> fruitful initial brainstorming happening among them. I am also meeting with >>> several people who have large QA sites or projects that can be used to >>> aggregate "sparse" info for crowdsourced projects. This may not happen fast, >>> because of my other tasks such as the math game design project, but we will >>> see what happens. I want this tool to measure the impact of my projects, >>> which we currently observe in a purely qualitative, case-study manner. >>> >> >> Maria, >> >> I am going to shift the conversation back to reading because there just >> isn't enough data on math yet to talk about it. But I'm making the >> assumption that the neurology has an analog in math. >> >> Although I of course agree with the need for meaning and significance >> there is also a risk in your approach. >> >> As a dyslectic let me tell you how painful this type of approach can be. >> When you can't read or spell or remember things the way other people can and >> you really are motivated, want to, understand why you should etc. Then >> people keep over and over again talking and working with you on motivation, >> understanding of meaning and significance etc. let me tell you first hand >> this is very hard on the child's self image. You are sending the message >> that if only you wanted to you could do this just like everyone else. >> >> The science says that isn't true for all children. The fMRIs show that >> dyslectic children are not using their brain in the same way and that these >> difference continue into adulthood and continue to have effects even after >> the child has learned to read using different pathways. >> >> So one approach has the risk of ignoring higher level thinking and >> reasoning. >> >> The other approach has the risk of ignoring actual malfunctions in low >> level brain based thinking. And if caught at an early age, and the correct >> interventions are done, these issues can be mitigated significantly. >> >> To me its clear that we need to stop arguing about which approach is >> better and put on our engineer hats and figure out how to efficiently do >> both. >> > > Caroline, > > This is an excellent point and a great personal story to go with it. I am > going to refer to that image when tal
Re: [IAEP] Response to Intervention - Is this being used outside the US?
On Fri, Mar 12, 2010 at 8:08 AM, Maria Droujkova wrote: > > On Fri, Mar 12, 2010 at 1:48 AM, wrote: > >> >> The strongest argument against is that any easily administered testing is >> biased towards lower level skills (as defined in Bloom's taxonomy). That >> would be OK, depending on how the data is used. Any attempt to modify >> teaching in response, biases the teaching towards the lower level skills. >> >> In the Australian case, schools will be forced to confine their teaching >> to lower order skills to maintain their ranking, preserve enrolments and >> avoid criticism and funding cuts. In the case of RTI, it risks defining >> student progress by a narrow subset of education skills and overly >> concentrating teaching on this narrow subset. >> >> Tony >> > > Tony, > > This is my perennial response to the existing programs of this sort. When I > plan interventions, I start with meaning and significance of math in the > life of the person, their family and their social networks. Then some major > concepts areas that can support and advance these meanings become apparent. > From there, skills and tasks within concept areas can be mapped and > developed. > > What is highly problematic is that all the existing mainstream heavy > testing machinery is at the level of skills. And what I am doing on the > individual basis is not currently scalable. I can't even explain many parts > of this highly intuitive, expertise-based process. > > To address this problem, I just started to work on a crowdsourced rubric > that will probe personal meaning and significance of math, and later used > during interventions to help people track growth of math's significance in > their lives. I am now polling local parents who work with me, with some very > fruitful initial brainstorming happening among them. I am also meeting with > several people who have large QA sites or projects that can be used to > aggregate "sparse" info for crowdsourced projects. This may not happen fast, > because of my other tasks such as the math game design project, but we will > see what happens. I want this tool to measure the impact of my projects, > which we currently observe in a purely qualitative, case-study manner. > Maria, I am going to shift the conversation back to reading because there just isn't enough data on math yet to talk about it. But I'm making the assumption that the neurology has an analog in math. Although I of course agree with the need for meaning and significance there is also a risk in your approach. As a dyslectic let me tell you how painful this type of approach can be. When you can't read or spell or remember things the way other people can and you really are motivated, want to, understand why you should etc. Then people keep over and over again talking and working with you on motivation, understanding of meaning and significance etc. let me tell you first hand this is very hard on the child's self image. You are sending the message that if only you wanted to you could do this just like everyone else. The science says that isn't true for all children. The fMRIs show that dyslectic children are not using their brain in the same way and that these difference continue into adulthood and continue to have effects even after the child has learned to read using different pathways. So one approach has the risk of ignoring higher level thinking and reasoning. The other approach has the risk of ignoring actual malfunctions in low level brain based thinking. And if caught at an early age, and the correct interventions are done, these issues can be mitigated significantly. To me its clear that we need to stop arguing about which approach is better and put on our engineer hats and figure out how to efficiently do both. > > > Cheers, > Maria Droujkova > http://www.naturalmath.com > > Make math your own, to make your own math. > -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] Response to Intervention - Is this being used outside the US?
Hi Tony, Thanks for the feedback. On Fri, Mar 12, 2010 at 1:48 AM, wrote: > Caroline > > Thanks for bring this to my attention, you have done a good video > presentation of it. Testing (and tailoring instruction as a response) is > coming back into fashion in Australia. Australia seems to lag the US in > this. > > The US has had the No Child Left Behind for a while now, which has an > emphasis on testing. The Australian government has just introduced the > Myschool site http://www.myschool.edu.au/ which lists schools by their two > yearly test results. The results are moderated by the school's socioeconomic > status. The justification is that it rewards effective teaching and gives > parents the opportunity to vote with their feet. > The difference between NCLB testing and RTI is that RTI is supposed to be a "low stakes" test. It is designed to screen all kids 3X a year and students at risk as often as every 2 weeks. It is difficult to use yearly tests, especially with large lag times in getting the data, to make instructional decisions. RTI test results are not part of the "school report card" type public communications as I've seen things like the Myschool site called. > > The strongest argument against is that any easily administered testing is > biased towards lower level skills (as defined in Bloom's taxonomy). That > would be OK, depending on how the data is used. Any attempt to modify > teaching in response, biases the teaching towards the lower level skills. > > In the Australian case, schools will be forced to confine their teaching to > lower order skills to maintain their ranking, preserve enrolments and avoid > criticism and funding cuts. In the case of RTI, it risks defining student > progress by a narrow subset of education skills and overly concentrating > teaching on this narrow subset. > > Yes, I absolutely agree. The prof in the class says that RTI is only really well defined for K-3 literacy and behavior. There is some data on early math. However, in education people take a hot concept/name and start to use it for all sorts of things. I'm reading about reading and Dyslexia this week. "Overcoming Dyslexia" Literacy and numeracy are crucial low level skills. And its crucial to later success that they get set into the neurons and become fast, low level, subconscious and automatic. Dyslexia can be seen on a functional MRI. If you read with one part of your brain you will read faster and more accurately then if you do one of two other known reading pathways. Hopefully I will have a better understanding of the state of the art in a couple weeks as I complete these readings and classes. I may do another Youtube on this. Reading this book I think I'm probably somewhat Dyslexic myself. :) I do think you have hit a really important point. We can't take a simple dicotomous view of "higher level/lower level" thinking. Especially if it lets us slip into higher = good, lower = bad. Its time to look at the research and think about who needs to learn what and why but not define students as equal to their weaknesses. > Tony > > > > > This is a simple, yet powerful idea of tracking student progress in real > > time and trying different interventions to see what works. > > > > I give a brief three minute description here: > > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dI95fgBnJWI > > > > There is a great deal on the web about RTI but everything I have seen in > > class or on the web is US. I'm wondering if maybe a similar concept is > > being used under a different name else where? > > > > Thanks, > > Caroline > > > > -- > > Caroline Meeks > > Solution Grove > > carol...@solutiongrove.com > > > > 617-500-3488 - Office > > 505-213-3268 - Fax > > This is a simple, yet powerful idea of tracking student progress in real > time and trying different interventions to see what > works.I give a brief three minute description here:� href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dI95fgBnJWI";> > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dI95fgBnJWI > > > > There is a great deal on the web about RTI but > everything I have seen in class or on the web is US. �I'm wondering if maybe > a similar concept is being used under a different name else where? > > > > Thanks,Caroline-- > Caroline MeeksSolution > Grovecarol...@solutiongrove.com617-500-3488 > - Office505-213-3268 - Fax > > > > ___ > > IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) > > IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org > > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep > > -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
[IAEP] Response to Intervention - Is this being used outside the US?
This is a simple, yet powerful idea of tracking student progress in real time and trying different interventions to see what works. I give a brief three minute description here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dI95fgBnJWI There is a great deal on the web about RTI but everything I have seen in class or on the web is US. I'm wondering if maybe a similar concept is being used under a different name else where? Thanks, Caroline -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
[IAEP] Anki - open source memorization tool.
An open source memorization tool. Looks simple and cool and already runs on Linux, might be a good addition to Sugar. http://ichi2.net/anki/index.html -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] Math on Web
Yes it does. On Fri, Mar 5, 2010 at 1:38 PM, Gerald Ardito wrote: > Maria, > > This looks very promising. > Caroline, what do you think? > > Gerald > > > On Fri, Mar 5, 2010 at 7:59 AM, Maria Droujkova wrote: > >> Gerald, >> >> I talked to Nibipedia people about this. Here is the reply: >> >> --- >> On Sugar. Our hope all along was that we would build a giant semi >> automated aggregation tool that would make a giant video/text database that >> would work in Sugar. We're much closer than we've ever been to opening up >> for crowdsourcing. If you know some folks at Sugarlabs, we definitely would >> like to talk to them. In particular, we'd love to show them our upcoming >> iPhone App. >> >> Troy >> CEO Nibipedia >> 612 747 2730 >> --- >> >> I am CCing Troy and Terry, as well. >> >> Cheers, >> Maria Droujkova >> http://www.naturalmath.com >> >> Make math your own, to make your own math. >> >> >> >> >> On Fri, Feb 26, 2010 at 7:47 AM, Maria Droujkova wrote: >> >>> Gerald, >>> >>> Check out Nibipedia for that sort of software. The creators may be open >>> for collaboration. >>> >>> >>> Cheers, >>> Maria Droujkova >>> http://www.naturalmath.com >>> >>> Make math your own, to make your own math. >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> On Wed, Feb 24, 2010 at 7:53 PM, Gerald Ardito >>> wrote: >>> >>>> Caroline, >>>> >>>> Something else that may be worth considering is the development of an >>>> activity like Info Slicer, where teachers can provide annotations for the >>>> videos, and/or prompts for notes or reflections. >>>> >>>> Gerald >>>> >>>> >>>> On Wed, Feb 24, 2010 at 3:41 PM, Caroline Meeks < >>>> solutiongr...@gmail.com> wrote: >>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> On Wed, Feb 24, 2010 at 12:22 AM, Edward Cherlin >>>>> wrote: >>>>> >>>>>> Anybody know about this? I wonder whether he would be willing to let >>>>>> us adapt his materials to laptops. >>>>>> >>>>> >>>>> Good idea! What ideas do you have about how we would adopt it? >>>>> >>>>> We could start by asking him if he would make them CC license. I'm >>>>> traveling to the Bay Area next month. If we can get some good ideas I'm >>>>> happy to maybe team up with Cherry take him out to coffee and ask. >>>>> >>>>> Caroline >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >> > -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
[IAEP] Fwd: [Nsdl-all] NSDL program solicitation available
National Science Digital Library: might be a possible source of funding. -- Forwarded message -- From: Eileen McIlvain Date: Thu, Feb 25, 2010 at 6:03 PM Subject: [Nsdl-all] NSDL program solicitation available To: nsdl-all Greetings - We're pleased to let you know that the NSDL 2010 program solicitation is now available: NSF 10-545 <http://ow.ly/1bnSG> best, Eileen -- Eileen McIlvain Pathways Liaison & RC Communications NSDL Resource Center National Science Digital Library (NSDL) University Corporation for Atmospheric Research 3300 Mitchell Lane, FL4, Room 3226 Boulder, CO 80301 303-497-8354 http://nsdl.org NSDL: the National Science Foundation's online library of resources for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education. ___ Nsdl-all mailing list nsdl-...@nsdl.org http://comm.nsdl.org/mailman/listinfo/nsdl-all -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] Math on Web
Here is a page on 4 YouTube Math Tutors http://www.squidoo.com/Youtube-Math-Tutors I think Gerald is right, we need a general way to help Sugar Teachers use YouTube resources. Can people help me brainstorm? Challenges to using YouTube Resources: 1. YouTube is blocked by the district 2. No internet access 3. Bandwidth if everyone is watching a video at once 4. Workflow/Classflow challenges how do we get the kids watching the video we want them to watch and doing the work before and after to make it a learning experience. 5. Legal issues, what is and isn't fair use of the a YouTube resource? On Wed, Feb 24, 2010 at 7:53 PM, Gerald Ardito wrote: > Caroline, > > Something else that may be worth considering is the development of an > activity like Info Slicer, where teachers can provide annotations for the > videos, and/or prompts for notes or reflections. > > Gerald > > > On Wed, Feb 24, 2010 at 3:41 PM, Caroline Meeks > wrote: > >> >> >> On Wed, Feb 24, 2010 at 12:22 AM, Edward Cherlin wrote: >> >>> Anybody know about this? I wonder whether he would be willing to let >>> us adapt his materials to laptops. >>> >> >> Good idea! What ideas do you have about how we would adopt it? >> >> We could start by asking him if he would make them CC license. I'm >> traveling to the Bay Area next month. If we can get some good ideas I'm >> happy to maybe team up with Cherry take him out to coffee and ask. >> >> Caroline >> >> >> >>> http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/north_america/jan-june10/khan_02-22.html >>> Feb. 22, 2010 >>> Math Wiz Adds Web Tools to Take Education to New Limits >>> >>> -- >>> Edward Mokurai (默雷/धर्ममेघशब्दगर्ज/دھرممیگھشبدگر ج) Cherlin >>> Silent Thunder is my name, and Children are my nation. >>> The Cosmos is my dwelling place, the Truth my destination. >>> http://www.earthtreasury.org/ >>> ___ >>> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) >>> IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org >>> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep >> >> >> >> >> -- >> Caroline Meeks >> Solution Grove >> carol...@solutiongrove.com >> >> 617-500-3488 - Office >> 505-213-3268 - Fax >> >> ___ >> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) >> IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org >> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep >> > > -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] Math on Web
On Wed, Feb 24, 2010 at 12:22 AM, Edward Cherlin wrote: > Anybody know about this? I wonder whether he would be willing to let > us adapt his materials to laptops. > Good idea! What ideas do you have about how we would adopt it? We could start by asking him if he would make them CC license. I'm traveling to the Bay Area next month. If we can get some good ideas I'm happy to maybe team up with Cherry take him out to coffee and ask. Caroline > http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/north_america/jan-june10/khan_02-22.html > Feb. 22, 2010 > Math Wiz Adds Web Tools to Take Education to New Limits > > -- > Edward Mokurai (默雷/धर्ममेघशब्दगर्ज/دھرممیگھشبدگر ج) Cherlin > Silent Thunder is my name, and Children are my nation. > The Cosmos is my dwelling place, the Truth my destination. > http://www.earthtreasury.org/ > ___ > IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) > IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] JTLA Special Edition: ''Educational Outcomes and Research from 1:1 Computing Setting''
Thanks Tony I had missed that when I skimmed it. There is lots of evidence, including common sense, for the importance of increased learning time. Sugar on a Stick people, this is important to us too, we need sticks that work outside the school. :) Caroline On Sat, Feb 20, 2010 at 9:58 PM, wrote: > > thanks to an article on eschoolnews.com > > ( > http://www.eschoolnews.com/2010/02/16/11-programs-only-as-good-as-their-teachers/) > I stumbled across a special edition of the Journal of Technology, Learning > and Assessment (JTLA) which focuses on "Educational Outcomes and Research > from 1:1 Computing Settings". > > Thanks, the following is relevant to the Sugar/OLPC take home policy: > > Evaluating the Implementation Fidelity of Technology Immersion Shapley, > Sheehan, Maloney, & Caranikas-Walker page 40/69 > > say " Findings revealed that Home > Learning—which measured the extent of a student’s laptop use outside > of school for homework in each of the four core-subject areas and for > learning games—was the strongest implementation predictor of reading > achievement. " > > > ___ > IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) > IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep > -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] Parichay Parivesh Leeds Metropolitan University, UK
Hi Parichay Have you looked into using the Karma framework. They are developing it in Nepal for a fairly similar use case. On Mon, Feb 22, 2010 at 10:42 AM, James Simmons wrote: > Parichay, > > Flash is not the best option to develop games for the XO. The XO does > include something call Gnash, which supports some of what Flash can do > but not everything. > > Another thing to consider is that an Activity on the XO (or running > under Sugar) is more than the kind of self contained programs you > could make with Flash. A good game under Sugar can be played by more > than one person at the same time. These Shared Activities are a big > part of what Sugar is all about. > > I am writing a book on developing Sugar Activities which should be of > use to you. A recent draft is at: > > > http://objavi.flossmanuals.net/books/ActivitiesGuideSugar-en-2010.02.15-18.18.25.pdf > > I have asked for the book to be published and linked to the "Read" > page at flossmanuals.net. When that happens (later today, I hope) > this will be newer than the PDF. The PDF should be adequate to get > you started. > > James Simmons > > > > Date: Sun, 21 Feb 2010 16:15:19 - > > From: Parichay Parivesh > > Subject: [IAEP] Parichay Parivesh Leeds Metropolitan University, UK > > To: > > Message-ID: <4b815c1f.0508d00a.478a.9...@mx.google.com> > > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" > > > > Hello to everyone, > > > > I am writing to you in reference to some guidance I require towards my > > dissertation. > > > > I am currently a student of MSc in Games Designing at Leeds Metropolitan > > University Leeds. > > > > I am writing my dissertation on, "Development of educative game on XO > > laptop" and intend to develop educative games for children in the age > group > > of 5-6 years for Indian schools. > > > > Having known your experience and expertise in this field, your advice > would > > be extremely valuable for me. If you could find some time kindly suggest > me > > some important points I should bear in my mind while developing this > > educative game. Also, if possible please send me your general view > regarding > > this topic. I am enclosing a plan of my dissertation for further details. > > The proposal attached to it idea what i have to do. > > > > I want to brief about the game which I am developing. It is about to > teach > > the children about different mode of transportation and its application. > Can > > you guide me one thing, XO laptop support flash or not because I am > > developing the game in flash.. > > > > > > > > > > > > Regards > > > > Parichay Parivesh > > > > +447503433720 > ___ > IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) > IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep > -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] Kurzweil in Wine?
Thank you for all the responses. I'd like to create/update a wiki page with this info. Any suggestions on where to find an existing one or where in the maze of wikis and wiki pages all different, I should create a new one? Thanks, Caroline On Thu, Feb 18, 2010 at 11:18 AM, James Simmons wrote: > Caroline, > > The book I'm writing at Floss Manuals has a chapter on adding Text to > Speech to Activities. It isn't difficult at all. > > We had a college student who was interested in doing something to make > TTS a built in feature of Sugar. The idea we came up with was you > could copy text from any Activity that supported copying text to the > clipboard and the new code would display the text in the clipboard in > a window and speak it with highlighting. Nothing came of this. > > James Simmons > > > > Date: Wed, 17 Feb 2010 18:03:17 -0500 > > From: Caroline Meeks > > Subject: [IAEP] Kurzweil in Wine? > > To: iaep > > Message-ID: > > > > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > > > > I've noticed that many of the Special Education teachers are > > very innovative and interested in Sugar. > > > > I've seen a great deal of interest in Text to Speech. > > > > Students with severe enough disabilities to qualify get Kurzweil, but it > > costs $1000 for a one seat licence! > > > > http://www.kurzweiledu.com/default.aspx > > > > More kids could benefit from text to speech then get it and with Sugar > they > > could afford to give it to everyone. The potential issue is we probably > > can't match all of Kruzweil's features and it could be a problem if the > > students with severe disabilities aren't getting as good a product. > > > > I'm curious if anyone has played with Wine on Sugar and how well it would > > work to let some kids still have access to Kurzweil even when using > Sugar? > > > > Also does anyone know what they are using in Uruguay with > > vision impaired students? > > > > Thanks, > > Caroline > > > > -- > > Caroline Meeks > > Solution Grove > > carol...@solutiongrove.com > > > > 617-500-3488 - Office > > 505-213-3268 - Fax > -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
[IAEP] Kurzweil in Wine?
I've noticed that many of the Special Education teachers are very innovative and interested in Sugar. I've seen a great deal of interest in Text to Speech. Students with severe enough disabilities to qualify get Kurzweil, but it costs $1000 for a one seat licence! http://www.kurzweiledu.com/default.aspx More kids could benefit from text to speech then get it and with Sugar they could afford to give it to everyone. The potential issue is we probably can't match all of Kruzweil's features and it could be a problem if the students with severe disabilities aren't getting as good a product. I'm curious if anyone has played with Wine on Sugar and how well it would work to let some kids still have access to Kurzweil even when using Sugar? Also does anyone know what they are using in Uruguay with vision impaired students? Thanks, Caroline -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
[IAEP] Fwd: [Tie2010] Just for laughs...
-- Forwarded message -- From: Caroline Meeks Date: Tue, Jan 26, 2010 at 9:04 PM Subject: Fwd: [Tie2010] Just for laughs... To: iaep just thought I'd pass on some humor sent to me by one of the teachers in my program -- * * *The next Survivor* Have you heard about the next planned “Survivor” show? Three businessmen and three businesswomen will be dropped in an elementary school classroom for 6 weeks. Each business person will be provided with a copy of their school district's curriculum, and a class of 28 students. Each class will have five learning-disabled children, three with A.D.D., one gifted child, and two who speak limited English. Three will be labelled as severe behaviour problems. Each business person must complete lesson plans at least 3 days in advance, with annotations for curriculum objectives, and modify, organize, or create materials accordingly. They will be required to teach students, handle misconduct, implement technology, document attendance, write referrals, correct homework, make bulletin boards, compute grades, complete report cards, document benchmarks, communicate with parents, and arrange parent conferences. They must also supervise recess and monitor the hallways. In addition, they will complete drills for fire, tornadoes, or shooting attacks. They must attend workshops, (100 hours), faculty meetings, union meetings, and curriculum development meetings. They must also tutor those students who are behind, and strive to get their 2 non-English speaking children proficient. If they are sick or having a bad day they must not let it show. Each day they must incorporate reading, writing, math, science, and social studies into the program. They must maintain discipline and provide an educationally stimulating environment at all times. The business people will only have access to the golf course on the weekends, but on their new salary they will not be able to afford it anyway. There will be no access to vendors who want to take them out to lunch, and lunch will be limited to 30 minutes, 10 of which must be spent walking your students to lunch, getting them through the cafeteria lines and seating them at the correct table. On days when they do not have recess duty, the business people will be permitted to use the staff restroom - as long as another survival candidate is supervising their class. They will be provided with two 40-minute planning periods per week while their students are at specials. If the copier is operable, they may make copies of necessary materials at this time. The business people must continually advance their education on their own time, and pay for this advanced training themselves. This can be accomplished by moonlighting at a second job or marrying someone with money. The winner will be allowed to return to his or her job. PASS THIS TO YOUR FRIENDS WHO THINK TEACHING IS EASY, AND TO THE ONES THAT KNOW IT IS HARD. THEY WILL BOTH BENEFIT!! -- Forwarded message -- From: Jennifer Cottle Date: Tue, Jan 26, 2010 at 2:51 PM Subject: [Tie2010] Just for laughs... To: TIE 2010 list Most of you have probably seen this, but it's a little humour for our 1st week. -- Jennifer Cottle Ed.M. Candidate 2010 Technology, Innovation and Education Harvard Graduate School of Education ___ Tie2010 mailing list tie2...@list.gse.harvard.edu http://list.gse.harvard.edu/mailman/listinfo/tie2010 -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax Teacher's Survivor.doc Description: MS-Word document ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
[IAEP] Educational Technology Day Ithica NY March 25 - Do we want a booth?
http://www.ithaca.edu/edtechday/ Looks like a good chance we could get a free small booth. However, looking at my class schedule I don't think I can go. Is there anyone else interested? Maybe the Rochester people? -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] GCompris was Re: Sugar Digest 2010-01-07
On Tue, Jan 12, 2010 at 3:15 PM, Tomeu Vizoso wrote: > On Tue, Jan 12, 2010 at 19:24, Caroline Meeks > wrote: > >> > >> === In the community === > >> > >> 2. Bruno Coudoin announced the release of GCompris Version 9.0. > >> Aleksey is already working on making sure that it is properly packaged > >> for Sugar and available on http://activities.sugarlabs.org. > >> > >> > > Congrats to the GComris team! I have found GCompris activities a > valuable > > addition to Sugar and look forward to the upgrade. > > GCompris also has a groups model that allows some teacher > > administration: > http://gcompris.net/wiki/index.php/Manual#Administering_GCompris > > Did the upgrade touch this part of the project? Does anyone know if > anyone > > is thinking about how to make this functionality available to teachers > using > > Sugar? > > Didn't got many answers when I asked about similar functionality on > the Teachermate. My guess is that Sugar is supposed to be deployable > in some situations where the data sharing solutions in the Teachermate > and GCompris don't work. > Having the teacher functionality potentially available where there is an XS doesn't have to mean the activities won't work when there isn't one. I was just checking to see the status. My memory about Teachermate was there were people interested in working on Teachermate teacher system but they wanted assurances that the Teachermate activities were going to be released under a GPL or CC license and an idea of how much content there was. There were no answers on that. Thanks, Caroline > > Regards, > > Tomeu > > > Thanks, > > Caroline > > > >> > >> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) > >> IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org > >> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep > > > > > > > > -- > > Caroline Meeks > > Solution Grove > > carol...@solutiongrove.com > > > > 617-500-3488 - Office > > 505-213-3268 - Fax > > > > _______ > > IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) > > IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org > > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep > > > > > > -- > «Sugar Labs is anyone who participates in improving and using Sugar. > What Sugar Labs does is determined by the participants.» - David > Farning > -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
[IAEP] GCompris was Re: Sugar Digest 2010-01-07
> > > === In the community === > > 2. Bruno Coudoin announced the release of GCompris Version 9.0. > Aleksey is already working on making sure that it is properly packaged > for Sugar and available on http://activities.sugarlabs.org. > > > Congrats to the GComris team! I have found GCompris activities a valuable addition to Sugar and look forward to the upgrade. GCompris also has a groups model that allows some teacher administration: http://gcompris.net/wiki/index.php/Manual#Administering_GCompris Did the upgrade touch this part of the project? Does anyone know if anyone is thinking about how to make this functionality available to teachers using Sugar? Thanks, Caroline > IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) > IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep > -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] Need Live CD to take to Argentina
On Tue, Jan 5, 2010 at 10:26 AM, Jim Simmons wrote: > Caroline, > > Sorry to confuse you with Caryl. Don't know why I did that. > No problem, > > I'll try making up a Fedora 12 CD and booting from it. As I > understand it, your idea is simply to see if I can boot the Fedora > Live CD, not that this would be an alternative way to boot SoaS > Blueberry. > > I was able to boot SoaS Strawberry using a boot helper CD before, so I > was surprised that the boot helper CD for Blueberry didn't work. > Yes, my goal is to better understand where the bug is, in Blueberry, the boot-helper or in F12. Thanks > > James Simmons > > > On Mon, Jan 4, 2010 at 8:34 PM, Caroline Meeks > wrote: > > I think you meant this question for me, Caroline not Caryl, > > You should be able to boot to Fedora from a CD made from the ISO here, > > installation is optional I think. > > http://fedoraproject.org/get-fedora > > You mentioned that you had two older machines that were not booting > > Blueberry from the boothelper. I am curious whether they will boot a > normal > > Fedora 12 CD. > > Thanks, > > Caroline > > > > > > On Mon, Jan 4, 2010 at 10:25 AM, Jim Simmons wrote: > >> > >> Caryl, > >> > >> Not sure what you mean by a straight Fedora 12 CD. The only Fedora 12 > >> CD I'm familiar with runs F12 as a live CD system and gives you the > >> option to install it to your hard disk by double-clicking an icon on > >> the GNOME desktop. I don't see how that's going to help me boot from > >> a USB or for that matter boot from the CD but use the USB the way the > >> SoaS boot CD does. > >> > >> If you can clear this up I'd appreciate it. > >> > >> James Simmons > >> > >> On Sun, Jan 3, 2010 at 7:37 PM, Caroline Meeks > > >> wrote: > >> > Jim, > >> > With the older machines that failed to boot, can you try a straight > F12 > >> > CD > >> > and see if that works? > >> > Thanks, > >> > Caroline > >> > > >> > On Tue, Dec 29, 2009 at 12:27 PM, Jim Simmons > >> > wrote: > >> >> > >> >> Caryl, > >> >> > >> >> If you do choose to use a Boot Helper CD make sure you test booting > up > >> >> from it before you go. When I tried Blueberry myself I found that I > >> >> could boot off the USB itself just fine on a newer PC that supports > >> >> booting directly from USB. However, I tried using two other older > >> >> machines that needed a boot helper CD and neither of them was able to > >> >> boot with the CD. The pretty boot art with the circle of dots seems > >> >> to work OK until it is time to draw the final two dots and then it > >> >> hangs. Note that I have used these machines with Strawberry and > >> >> earlier SoaS and their corresponding boot CDs, so the evidence seems > >> >> to point to the helper CD itself. > >> >> > >> >> I did report this on BugTraq: > >> >> > >> >> http://bugs.sugarlabs.org/ticket/1626 > >> >> > >> >> James Simmons > >> >> > >> >> > >> >> > Date: Mon, 28 Dec 2009 15:47:25 -0800 > >> >> > From: Caryl Bigenho > >> >> > Subject: [IAEP] Need Live CD to take to Argentina > >> >> > To: IAEP SugarLabs , Developers List > >> >> > > >> >> > Message-ID: > >> >> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > >> >> > > >> >> > > >> >> > H All i... > >> >> > > >> >> > > >> >> > Did this ever get implemented? If so where do I find it? Are there > >> >> > any > >> >> > special instructions I need to make and use the live CD? Can a usb > >> >> > stick be > >> >> > used for file storage? > >> >> > > >> >> > > >> >> > http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/0.84/Sugar_LiveCD > >> >> > > >> >> > > >> >> > I would like to be able to take several copies with me to give to a > >> >> > tech > >> >> > person at an elementary school in Buenos Aires when I go there in > >> >> > mid-January. > >> >> > > >> >> > > >> >> > Thanks, > >> >> > > >> >> > > >> >> > Caryl > >> >> ___ > >> >> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) > >> >> IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org > >> >> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep > >> > > >> > > >> > > >> > -- > >> > Caroline Meeks > >> > Solution Grove > >> > carol...@solutiongrove.com > >> > > >> > 617-500-3488 - Office > >> > 505-213-3268 - Fax > >> > > > > > > > > > -- > > Caroline Meeks > > Solution Grove > > carol...@solutiongrove.com > > > > 617-500-3488 - Office > > 505-213-3268 - Fax > > > -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] Need Live CD to take to Argentina
I think you meant this question for me, Caroline not Caryl, You should be able to boot to Fedora from a CD made from the ISO here, installation is optional I think. http://fedoraproject.org/get-fedora You mentioned that you had two older machines that were not booting Blueberry from the boothelper. I am curious whether they will boot a normal Fedora 12 CD. Thanks, Caroline On Mon, Jan 4, 2010 at 10:25 AM, Jim Simmons wrote: > Caryl, > > Not sure what you mean by a straight Fedora 12 CD. The only Fedora 12 > CD I'm familiar with runs F12 as a live CD system and gives you the > option to install it to your hard disk by double-clicking an icon on > the GNOME desktop. I don't see how that's going to help me boot from > a USB or for that matter boot from the CD but use the USB the way the > SoaS boot CD does. > > If you can clear this up I'd appreciate it. > > James Simmons > > On Sun, Jan 3, 2010 at 7:37 PM, Caroline Meeks > wrote: > > Jim, > > With the older machines that failed to boot, can you try a straight F12 > CD > > and see if that works? > > Thanks, > > Caroline > > > > On Tue, Dec 29, 2009 at 12:27 PM, Jim Simmons > wrote: > >> > >> Caryl, > >> > >> If you do choose to use a Boot Helper CD make sure you test booting up > >> from it before you go. When I tried Blueberry myself I found that I > >> could boot off the USB itself just fine on a newer PC that supports > >> booting directly from USB. However, I tried using two other older > >> machines that needed a boot helper CD and neither of them was able to > >> boot with the CD. The pretty boot art with the circle of dots seems > >> to work OK until it is time to draw the final two dots and then it > >> hangs. Note that I have used these machines with Strawberry and > >> earlier SoaS and their corresponding boot CDs, so the evidence seems > >> to point to the helper CD itself. > >> > >> I did report this on BugTraq: > >> > >> http://bugs.sugarlabs.org/ticket/1626 > >> > >> James Simmons > >> > >> > >> > Date: Mon, 28 Dec 2009 15:47:25 -0800 > >> > From: Caryl Bigenho > >> > Subject: [IAEP] Need Live CD to take to Argentina > >> > To: IAEP SugarLabs , Developers List > >> > > >> > Message-ID: > >> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > >> > > >> > > >> > H All i... > >> > > >> > > >> > Did this ever get implemented? If so where do I find it? Are there any > >> > special instructions I need to make and use the live CD? Can a usb > stick be > >> > used for file storage? > >> > > >> > > >> > http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/0.84/Sugar_LiveCD > >> > > >> > > >> > I would like to be able to take several copies with me to give to a > tech > >> > person at an elementary school in Buenos Aires when I go there in > >> > mid-January. > >> > > >> > > >> > Thanks, > >> > > >> > > >> > Caryl > >> ___ > >> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) > >> IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org > >> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep > > > > > > > > -- > > Caroline Meeks > > Solution Grove > > carol...@solutiongrove.com > > > > 617-500-3488 - Office > > 505-213-3268 - Fax > > > -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] Need Live CD to take to Argentina
Jim, With the older machines that failed to boot, can you try a straight F12 CD and see if that works? Thanks, Caroline On Tue, Dec 29, 2009 at 12:27 PM, Jim Simmons wrote: > Caryl, > > If you do choose to use a Boot Helper CD make sure you test booting up > from it before you go. When I tried Blueberry myself I found that I > could boot off the USB itself just fine on a newer PC that supports > booting directly from USB. However, I tried using two other older > machines that needed a boot helper CD and neither of them was able to > boot with the CD. The pretty boot art with the circle of dots seems > to work OK until it is time to draw the final two dots and then it > hangs. Note that I have used these machines with Strawberry and > earlier SoaS and their corresponding boot CDs, so the evidence seems > to point to the helper CD itself. > > I did report this on BugTraq: > > http://bugs.sugarlabs.org/ticket/1626 > > James Simmons > > > > Date: Mon, 28 Dec 2009 15:47:25 -0800 > > From: Caryl Bigenho > > Subject: [IAEP] Need Live CD to take to Argentina > > To: IAEP SugarLabs , Developers List > > > > Message-ID: > > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > > > > > > H All i... > > > > > > Did this ever get implemented? If so where do I find it? Are there any > special instructions I need to make and use the live CD? Can a usb stick be > used for file storage? > > > > > > http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/0.84/Sugar_LiveCD > > > > > > I would like to be able to take several copies with me to give to a tech > person at an elementary school in Buenos Aires when I go there in > mid-January. > > > > > > Thanks, > > > > > > Caryl > ___ > IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) > IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep > -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
[IAEP] Quick Question about Sdenka Zobeida Salas Pilco
I am referencing Using the XO in the Classroom in a paper using APA style. In the bibliography I should use last name, Initials. I notice the wiki says Sdenka Salas but the pdf says Zobeida Salas Pilco . Which would be more correct? 1. Pilco, S. Z. S. 2. Salas, S. Z. Thanks Caroline -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] [SoaS] R: E-Books for Sugar on a Stick (Blueberry)
Hi Jim, How low is the floor on this? Could a first or second grader do it? Can they print it out and create a book? I think book creation should be a big part of our eBook message, and nice write ups on a number of different ways for students to do this with Sugar might be a great supplement to our Blueberry press releases. Thanks! Caroline On Thu, Nov 19, 2009 at 11:14 AM, Jim Simmons wrote: > Caroline, > > I'm unable to watch the YouTube video but if I was a teacher that > wanted to have children create their own books I might recommend using > View Slides to collect and organize image files created in other > tools. For instance, children could get images from the Internet > using Browse, create images using Record or one of the Paint programs, > then use View Slides to import them into a slide show and arrange them > into sequence by renaming them. > > Once you have images in sequence like that you could use View Slides > to read them like a book, copy them to a thumb drive and read them on > a non-Sugar computer using a program like Comix, or unzip them and use > a command in Image Magick to create a PDF out of them. Once you have > a PDF like that you could convert it to DJVU with another free > utility. > > View Slides is consistently more popular than any of my other > Activities and since there is very little legal content in .cbz format > (and illegal content in .cbz format isn't that easy to find either) > I've always wondered what people were doing with it. This might be > part of an answer. > > James Simmons > > > Date: Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:47:25 -0500 > > From: Caroline Meeks > > Subject: Re: [IAEP] [SoaS] R: E-Books for Sugar on a Stick > >(Blueberry) > > > > Going along the same lines but in a different direction then > TomeuThis > > teacher asked for a simple book creation tool for kids. > > > > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TRcKP1MJQs > > > > Might not be hard to create a Turtle Art Template that prints in a way > that > > lets you fold the printed page to create a book. > -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
[IAEP] Fwd: [Tie2010] FW: Continuity of Learning - iTunes K12 content
Is there a way for Sugar users to access these resources? -- Forwarded message -- From: Irene Pak Date: Fri, Nov 20, 2009 at 9:07 AM Subject: [Tie2010] FW: Continuity of Learning To: TIE 2010 list FYI! Irene Irene Pak Program Coordinator Learning and Teaching Program Technology, Innovation, and Education Program Harvard Graduate School of Education irene_...@gse.harvard.edu Ph: 617.495.3543 / Fax: 617.495.9268 Longfellow 326 www.gse.harvard.edu/lt www.gse.harvard.edu/tie *From:* pavi...@gmail.com [mailto:pavi...@gmail.com] *On Behalf Of *Paviter Singh *Sent:* Friday, November 20, 2009 8:55 AM *To:* Irene Pak *Subject:* Continuity of Learning Hi Irene, Could you send this to the technology people in TIE. They may be interested in this. Tonight, in cooperation with the US Dept of Education, Apple launched a new iTunes U site called Continuity of Learning. This site links to educator-selcted content from across all public iTunes U sites. These collections can be used by K12 students and teachers to help ensure continuity of learning in the case of a pandemic or natural disaster. (It is also really great content for sunny, healthy days inside and outside the classroom.) You can visit this new iTunes U site here: http://deimos.apple.com/WebObjects/Core.woa/Browse/col.gov Thanks! Pav Risk more than others think is safe. Care more than others think is wise. Dream more than others think is practical. Expect more than others think is possible. (my philosophy, taken from a quote by Claude Bissell) ___ Tie2010 mailing list tie2...@list.gse.harvard.edu http://list.gse.harvard.edu/mailman/listinfo/tie2010 -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] [SoaS] R: E-Books for Sugar on a Stick (Blueberry)
-books from epubBooks > >>> > (www.epubbooks.com)! > >>> > >> > >>> > >> Right now, I've just included Alice in Wonderland > >>> > (which > >>> > >> comes with nice > >>> > >> images in this edition), but I encourage everybody > >>> > to go > >>> > >> through the > >>> > >> catalog on that website and to point out > >>> > favorites. > >>> > >> > >>> > >> Thanks to Sayamindu for pointing to that site! :) > >>> > >> > >>> > >> --Sebastian > >>> > >> ___ > >>> > >> SoaS mailing list > >>> > >> s...@lists.sugarlabs.org > >>> > >> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/soas > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> ___ > >>> 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 > >> > > ___ > > IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) > > IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org > > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep > > > > > > -- > «Sugar Labs is anyone who participates in improving and using Sugar. > What Sugar Labs does is determined by the participants.» - David > Farning > ___ > SoaS mailing list > s...@lists.sugarlabs.org > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/soas > -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] R: [SoaS] E-Books for Sugar on a Stick (Blueberry)
I also think we should have a wide definition of "Book". Include things like the CAST books that are designed for students with varying abilities and learning styles and the idea of making your own book in eToys as described in Using the XO in the Classroom by Salas Pico. http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Sdenka_Salas_-_The_XO_Laptop_in_the_Classroom#.C2.A9_THE_XO_LAPTOP_IN_THE_CLASSROOM Can we include a sample with the folk tale he uses? On Tue, Nov 17, 2009 at 11:24 AM, Yama Ploskonka wrote: > sorry to keep the off-topic on topic, :-), but in my experience the > possibility to access stuff in English is one of the biggest calls for Sugar > use, especially maybe in non-English places. > > > On Tue, Nov 17, 2009 at 9:53 AM, Carlo Falciola wrote: > >> Sebastian, >> really have absolutely no issue regarding the provider. >> Once I realized that in that site there weren't non EN titles you I just >> made a quick Google-search for multilingual ebooks sites. >> >> My point is limitated to suggesting to evaluate the opportunity to put a >> little sample in more that one language. >> >> ciao carlo >> >> --- Mar 17/11/09, Sebastian Dziallas ha scritto: >> >> > Da: Sebastian Dziallas >> > Oggetto: Re: R: [SoaS] E-Books for Sugar on a Stick (Blueberry) >> > A: "Carlo Falciola" >> > Cc: "iaep" >> > Data: Martedì 17 novembre 2009, 16:22 >> > Yes, actually, I was maybe a bit too >> > quick with this. :) >> > >> > This e-mail was supposed to be about discussing good sample >> > titles, not >> > about announcing anything with regard to the book provider >> > we were >> > using. Anyway, thanks for the link! I'll look into it... >> > >> > Cheers, >> > --Sebastian >> > >> > Carlo Falciola wrote: >> > > I dont know (yet, Ill check soon) about quality of >> > ePub version, but (http://manybooks.net/) seems to have >> > books from several different languages... >> > > Maybe one out of a selection of >> > languages would make sense... >> > > >> > > ciao carlo >> > > >> > > >> > > --- Mar 17/11/09, Sebastian Dziallas >> > ha scritto: >> > > >> > >> Da: Sebastian Dziallas >> > >> Oggetto: [SoaS] E-Books for Sugar on a Stick >> > (Blueberry) >> > >> A: "SoaS", >> > "iaep" >> > >> Data: Martedì 17 novembre 2009, 15:36 >> > >> Hi all, >> > >> >> > >> as you may know, we're going to ship some selected >> > e-books >> > >> in the >> > >> Journal of the Blueberry release. For providing >> > >> high-quality e-books >> > >> instead of simple texts (as well as fo technical >> > >> simplicity), we're >> > >> going to use e-books from epubBooks >> > (www.epubbooks.com)! >> > >> >> > >> Right now, I've just included Alice in Wonderland >> > (which >> > >> comes with nice >> > >> images in this edition), but I encourage everybody >> > to go >> > >> through the >> > >> catalog on that website and to point out >> > favorites. >> > >> >> > >> Thanks to Sayamindu for pointing to that site! :) >> > >> >> > >> --Sebastian >> > >> ___ >> > >> SoaS mailing list >> > >> s...@lists.sugarlabs.org >> > >> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/soas >> >> >> >> >> ___ >> 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 > -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
[IAEP] Book reading demo suggestions
Hi, I just downloaded Read eTexts 17 and it doesn't seem to include search anymore. This could well be a good thing, but now I'm faced with figuring out where to go and what book format I should use. :) What are a couple good books and formats I could use for demos? I'd like children's books with pictures if possible. Thanks! Caroline -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] What is the purpose of Sugar and the XO?
I'm also in the process of putting together material for teacher professional development. I am currently working on a presentation about it: http://prezi.com/v9vakzbv_c9y/ Note this is a work in progress, comments welcome! On Sat, Nov 14, 2009 at 11:52 AM, David Van Assche wrote: > There a are a set of courses that should help kid and adults with sugar > here: > > www.linux-for-education.org > d > Just scroll down and u'll see tge sugar based courses. There is a huge > number of really good illusrtrated courses in Spanish but that woudld mean > me translating them which I just dont have time for. I'm putting them up in > Spanish as and wehn though... > > kind regards, > David Van Assche > > P.S, There is a sugar taxonommy whichyou can feel free to add to. > > > > > On Sat, Nov 14, 2009 at 12:53 AM, Gerald Ardito > wrote: > >> Caryl, >> >> I agree with you on this. >> I think, with Sugar (both with and without the XOs) we have a powerful set >> of tools for both independent learning and cooperative learning. >> Every day, I found myself challenged to help our 5th grade teachers made >> their curricula come alive in brand new ways with these tools. >> >> Gerald >> >> On Fri, Nov 13, 2009 at 6:29 PM, Caryl Bigenho wrote: >> >>> Hi All, >>> >>> I am seeing more and more folks who want free XOs to teach children "IT >>> skills" and "computer skills". I think we need to somehow re-emphasize the >>> value of the XO as a learning tool for subject matter related to the school >>> curriculum and meta learning. >>> >>> The Sugar software is such an important part of this. All the other >>> features of Sugar and the XO-1, which allow the programs to integrate and >>> and allow project based, collaborative learning, are important as well. >>> >>> There are other low-cost laptops that don't do all the wonderful things >>> the XO does that would work just as well for learning IT or computer skills. >>> If that is all they are interested in, perhaps they should look elsewhere. >>> >>> Caryl (aka Grumpy Grannie) >>> >>> ___ >>> 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 >> > > > > -- > > Jonathan > Swift<http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/j/jonathan_swift.html> - "May > you live every day of your life." > ___ > IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) > IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep > -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] The Guardian: PlayPower: 1980s computing for the 21st century
Anyone know these guys? I wonder how feasible it would be down the road to share content. The games they are porting seem like they would also be good for Sugar. On Thu, Nov 5, 2009 at 4:33 PM, Sean DALY wrote: > > http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/nov/04/playpower-80s-computing-21st-century > > I taught myself BASIC and then 6502 assembly language on a Commodore > VIC-20 with COMPUTE! magazine back in the day. > > But what I really liked was the incredibly friendly little manual, > such as this priceless advice for the BASIC prompt: "hit Enter a > couple of times to clear it out." Any engineer would have insisted > (correctly) that this was unnecessary... but that anonymous manual > writer was a psychologist; s/he knew that a computing novice nervous > about "harming" the machine could quickly gain confidence with that > little tic. > > Sean. > ___ > IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) > IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep > -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] stat collecto activity
Hi David, I think its a good idea. You might want to look into using Moodle to help create it. Moodle is good at collecting info from many students and giving it to the teachers in a form that is easy for them to use. One thing I noticed at GPA was that the 4th graders had a very hard time writing even one sentence about their work. Typing, spelling, writing sentence are all challenging still, and I'm really wondering how much reflection we will be able to get from the younger grades. Although writing is always good, our goal is to have the students think about the work they just did so it would be good to have an alternative input where writing skills would not be an impediment. It would be nice to have it easy to have an alternative of recording speech. I think Moodle may have a module that does that already. I have the Moodle book on using Moodle to teach foreign language on order. We still have to get all our drivers to work and headsets for the students but maybe it will not be too hard. :) On Tue, Nov 3, 2009 at 9:13 PM, David Van Assche wrote: > The new google wave stuff made me think of a maybe interesting > activity that would be very easy to write but might be useful for > teachers to gain feedback from their students, while treating them > more as peers in the constructionist philosophy. The idea is, to have > a a multiple choice like activity that would ask students about their > experience of lessons. > > For example, lets say they have been learning algebra, the teacer > could get them to launch an activity that asks questions like with > multiple answers like: > The most difficult part to learn was a) blah, b) bleh, c) bluh, The > most fun part was a)) glah b) gleh c) gluh > > What do u think would something like that be useful? The problem I see > is that the teacher would actuallly have o create the questions and > answers, so it might seem like too redundant. I guess the best way > would be for the teacher to get the students to create these quizzes > (for lack of a better word) would be very simple to create such an > activity. Would there be ebnough demand and usage of such ab activity? > > regards, > David Van Assche > ___ > IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) > IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep > -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] New activity: Arithmetic.
On Sun, Oct 25, 2009 at 12:46 PM, Chris Ball wrote: > Hi Caroline, > > > Hi Chris, I had a crazy idea for Arithmetic yesterday. Its a > > wonderful game for the GPA. Its exactly the kind of practice the > > students at GPA need. Its collaborative and other people are a > > huge key to engagement. But as you said it needs a little > > something more to make it fun. > > This sounds like a good way to make it more fun, although I suppose > it's making the game longer by making the players wait for someone to > place a piece in the Physics world before getting a new question; > another way would be to replace the numeric scores with icons that > race towards a finish line as their owners score points, perhaps. > My thinking was that you have to use your time (is is 10 seconds per question?) to both answer the question and do your physics move. Maybe physics moves accumulate for a minute or two but you never wait for a physics move. This is a high pressure timed adreline rush game. The goal is to get students to know their facts so well that they can answer math questions while thinking about the physics game not the math. We want to drill the recall so, for example, when they do algebra and such it takes very few neurons firing to do the arithmetic so they can focus their thinking on the algebra. I also think perhaps this game would not get boring, because you are not thinking about the math facts, you are thinking about what you want to create with Physics and thats interesting even the hundreth time. I feel like a lot of the flash animation games are interesting for a while, but once you;ve seen all the cool animations a few times its boring again. I also would love to not see an emphasis on points or winners or losers. Better performance gives you more physics moves so there is incentive, but its not directly competitive. > Unfortunately, I don't have any talent for the UI stuff -- the hope > was that by getting the collaboration part of the activity out there, > someone with UI skills will adopt making a fun UI for it (and better > scoring, and better question generation logic, etc). :) > We need a way to store project ideas and allow developers and teachers to collaborate around them. > > Thanks, > > - Chris. > -- > Chris Ball > One Laptop Per Child > -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] Photos From Audubon MS Project
> > If anyone knows of other secure email sites for children, in addition to > ePals, please let me know. EPals requires a teacher to register and monitor > the accounts. It may be difficult to find an overworked, underpaid LAUSD > teacher who has the time and is willing to do this. > Hi Caryl, Can you talk more about the requirements for this communication piece. Who do the students need to communicate with and what are the security requirements? It maybe that Moodle or another serverside solution might create the functionality you need without necessarily using email. > > If you have other questions... just ask! > > Caryl > > -- > Date: Fri, 23 Oct 2009 06:09:01 -0400 > Subject: Re: [IAEP] Photos From Audubon MS Project > From: gerald.ard...@gmail.com > To: cbige...@hotmail.com > CC: iaep@lists.sugarlabs.org > > > Caryl, > > Thanks for sharing these pictures. > Can you share more details about this project, like: > How many XOs are there? > How many students? > Which grades/age groups? > How were the teachers/students trained? > > We should probably talk. > Gerald > > On Fri, Oct 23, 2009 at 4:57 AM, Caryl Bigenho wrote: > > Hi... > > Here is a link to the photos from the Audubon Middle School Contributors > Project. This is an after school program in south central LA that Jamaal > volunteers with. I mentor their Contributors Program project: > > *http://tiny.cc/kzXwn* <http://tiny.cc/kzXwn> > > Enjoy! > > Caryl > > P.S. I got an email from them today... they now have internet access. > > ___ > 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 > -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] Deducto and Color Deducto activities - creating your own game mechanism
On Sun, Oct 25, 2009 at 3:57 PM, Manusheel Gupta wrote: > Caroline, > > Thank you. Appreciate your feedback. > > On Sat, Oct 24, 2009 at 7:24 PM, Caroline Meeks < > carol...@solutiongrove.com> wrote: > >> Hi, >> >> This is cool thanks! >> > > > Is there a way to lower the floor? >> > > I am sorry, but I didn't get this part. Could you please elaborate. > One of the Sugar sayings is "Low Floor, No Ceiling" that is its really really easy to start, very little learning curve to climb, but you can still do powerful things as you learn more and more. > > > >> Is there a version of this game that a 6 year old could have easy success >> with that would help ramp it up? >> > > Wish if you could share your ideas on how we could work and improve on this > area. Will having a "hint" feature in the game that pops up after a couple > of tries, and after viewing 5-8 true boards and false boards makes things > better? > Hmm, I'm not actually very good at designing games but I suggest taking a look at the Sudoku game and Implode. Maybe start with a very small board and totally obvious rules? How can we teach someone who can't read the instructions on how to play? > > > >> >> Suzanne, the 4th grade teacher at the GPA, has the students play a "Guess >> my rule" game with shapes. For example, "All right angles" "Only Triangles", >> "Two sides the same". >> >> > Very interesting. We will be working on developing lesson plans using > Deducto and Color Deducto this winter. This use-case will be explored in > detail before we implement this in the activities. Wish if you could provide > us with lesson plans that teachers at GPA would like us to implement in > these activities. Thank you very much for sharing these ideas. > Right now they play it with cut out shapes. One student makes a secret rule (e.g. all right angles) and the other student selects shapes and is told if they match the rule. They have to guess the rule. > > > > >> Do we have a place to put game ideas so programmers could pick them up if >> they want a project? >> > > Not at this juncture. We'll start this section within the next 2 days. > Great! Thanks for all the good work!!! > > > Regards, > > Manu > > > > > >> >> On Wed, Oct 21, 2009 at 3:18 PM, Manusheel Gupta wrote: >> >>> Dan, >>> >>> Ashita has been working on a user guide for "create your own game" >>> mechanism for Deducto and Color Deducto activities. The guide is not yet >>> complete and needs a flow chart, but should be good enough to walk you >>> through this feature. Please find it attached along with this e-mail. >>> >>> On a separate note, this feature is open to development, and we will see >>> more enhancements soon. >>> >>> Regards, >>> >>> Manu >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> -- Forwarded message -- >>> From: Ashita Dadlani >>> Date: Thu, Oct 22, 2009 at 12:34 AM >>> Subject: revised color deducto documentation >>> To: Manusheel Gupta , >>> >>> >>> >>> -- >>> Ashita Dadlani >>> Software Engineer, Products and Services >>> Software for Education, Entertainment and Training Activities >>> http://seeta.in >>> >>> >>> ___ >>> Devel mailing list >>> de...@lists.laptop.org >>> http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/devel >>> >>> >> >> >> -- >> Caroline Meeks >> Solution Grove >> carol...@solutiongrove.com >> >> 617-500-3488 - Office >> 505-213-3268 - Fax >> > > -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
[IAEP] Quiz making activity - was Re: thin clients
Dave, Pyclic looks very interesting. Let me know when its ready for testing. As I am working to get Sugar on a Stick working within the realities of the 5th grade GPA classrooms I'm very interested in tools that let the kids create things they can share and use to practice their skills. On Sat, Oct 24, 2009 at 6:57 PM, David Van Assche wrote: > Actually without getting people wirngingling their fists, I'd have to say > that due to Open Suse's policy of basically lending an open hand to anyone > with magical ideas, and then not only allowing you to use their name, but > also their inframagic, from Opensuse Buidle Service to Suse Studio, to > creating yout own web domain hosted under novel, yet without the requirement > to carry novell only soft on it, (linux-for-education.org is a good > example) it has allowed them to kind of leap frog over some of the > competition, though no one likes to admit this. For example in the case of > LTSP an easy visual setp facility was built in, along with trying it out > even before installing, Sugar on kiwi-ltsp was working just fine the last > time I took a look, though that has admittadly beena while. I made back then > to include as many well working fully functional sugar apps on both the > sugar only cd and the whole edu dvd. The whole EDU dvd is truly a work of > art, and is where a lot of the other distros could be at it if werent for > politics. But hey I'm currently mixxed ina small telepathy based > collaborative quiz (git.sugarlabs.org/projects/pyclic) and some larger > telepathy based/LTSP/Sugar/Wirelss/XMPP based suff... but I'll try and get > this email to push me update sugaresuse.. > > anyw more questions... just ask.. > > D > > On Sat, Oct 24, 2009 at 11:32 PM, David Farning wrote: > >> On Sat, Oct 24, 2009 at 12:04 PM, Deborah Boatwright >> wrote: >> > Hello, >> > >> > I am intrigued by many aspects of Sugar on a Stick. My school uses >> Novell with Windows XP on the desk top. >> > >> > Then I have a thin client network using LTSP-KIWI Opensuse that does not >> work well. It is two servers and 72 thin clients. >> > >> > I have a mobile laptop lab of 24 PC that are R30 thinkpads. >> > >> > My question is I found this site and wondered if I can use Sugar as an >> application on my thin clients. >> > >> > http://en.opensuse.org/Sugar >> >> Short answer is yes you can. >> >> Longer answer it might take some work. From what I have seen, >> OpenSuse is the current leader in education solutions base on thin >> clients. >> >> I am ccing David Van Assche, the opensuse package maintainer. He will >> be most knowledgeable about (or can refer you to knowledgeable people) >> deploying Sugar on OpenSuse in a thin client environment. >> >> david >> >> > The district has said it is switching to linux 100% and will use a >> windows application server to deliver apps that are necessary otherwise. >> > >> > Sincere Regards, >> > Deb >> > ___ >> > 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." > ___ > IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) > IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep > -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] New activity: Arithmetic.
Hi Chris, I had a crazy idea for Arithmetic yesterday. Its a wonderful game for the GPA. Its exactly the kind of practice the students at GPA need. Its collaborative and other people are a huge key to engagement. But as you said it needs a little something more to make it fun. This may not be technically easy but here is my idea. Combine it with Physics. Everytime you get an answer right you earn a move in Physics. You get to put down a block or make a new shape or grab. Super cool would be collaborative where everyone is working in the same world either trying to build something together or just knocking each other stuff around. Scoring: with this we no longer need explicit scoring. I think scoring can be discouraging if you are always the worst one in your class or you just have brain that is slow to retrieve math facts. However, I think your moves should expire, so if you are fast you have an advantage, you have more time to think about and make your physics moves. I think the goal is to encourage the students to speed up their retrieval, but still have it be fun no matter where you are right now. Doing well and playing fast gives you advantages that are fun, but doesn't set up a strict, I win, you lose dynamic. Is a shared physics world among all the contestants possible? It might be as good or better for some personality types if everyone had their own world. Especially if you could see a picture of the other people's worlds. A feature request is to save at least a picture of the world you create to the Journal so we can use it in a Portfolio. "I created this roller coaster by knowing my multiplication facts on hard" On Mon, Aug 10, 2009 at 8:57 PM, Chris Ball wrote: > Hi, > > Over the last few Sunday afternoons, Ben Schwartz, Michael Stone and I > have been hacking on a new activity. It's a collaborative arithmetic > quiz, and extensively uses Ben's "groupthink" collaboration module. > Here's a link to a bundle: > > http://activities.sugarlabs.org/downloads/latest/4204/addon-4204-latest.xo > http://activities.sugarlabs.org/addon/4204 > > The game tries to show all the participants the same questions at the > same time, gives an ongoing scoreboard of how many questions each > participant has answered correctly, and measures the amount of time it > takes everyone to answer each question. It also lets the group choose > which of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division their game > should use, and how hard the questions should be. > > We think it's pretty fun already, but it still needs plenty of work, > and we'd love to have help with it. Some obvious next steps are: > > * Artwork! We haven't spent any time making it pretty. If someone > wants to go ahead and rip everything apart and put it back together > in a way that actually looks attractive, that would be awesome. > * Looks like I messed up the logo in Inkscape, and it doesn't have > the correct stroke_color references. > * It crashes when resumed, as opposed to launched with "Start". > Haven't looked into that yet. > * Gettextification and translations. > * An algorithm for scoring that depends on how quickly an answer is > given. (One idea could be that you get 9 points if you answer with > 9 seconds left, down to 1 point for answering with 1 second left.) > * A natural end to each "round", perhaps involving giving out "medals" > (just as Typing Turtle does) for achievement to the participants. > * There may still be cases where it shows entirely different questions > to the participants, instead of everyone seeing the same ones, and > we'd like to know about that so we can fix it. > > If anyone's in a position to get feedback from kids on whether playing > this collaboratively is fun, and what might make it more fun, that'd > be really good to hear. We'd welcome everyone's changes to the > activity; we can always back out a change if it needs to be discussed > more, so don't be shy about pushing changes to a branch or asking for > direct commit access. (If there's some way to allow anyone with an SL > gitorious account to commit directly, that would be an ideal setup.) > > The GIT tree contains groupthink referenced as a submodule, so to > check it out: > > git clone git://git.sugarlabs.org/arithmetic/mainline.gitArithmetic.activity > cd Arithmetic.activity > git submodule init > git submodule update > > Thanks! > > - Chris. > -- > Chris Ball > ___ > IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) > IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep > -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] Calculate and SocialCalc Lesson ideas?
Thanks Edward, this is a good suggestion. I like the use of sports as a topic. I am aiming this training at elementary school teachers in "low performing" schools. Teachers who feel they are struggling to get their students to grade level in math. I'd like to focus on using powerful tools like Calculate and SocialCalc but using them for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Any ideas? Thanks, Caroline On Fri, Oct 23, 2009 at 9:06 PM, Edward Cherlin wrote: > I can provide a spreadsheet that I use for monitoring my blood sugar, > because of my (relatively mild) diabetes. > > I recommend that we think about a sequence of lessons on elementary > probability and statistics based on soccer (except possibly in > countries where baseball or cricket are the prime national sports). It > seems to me that this is the numeric topic most likely to rouse > interest among students while being acceptable to teachers. But I > would ask children what other questions they have that could be > answered with a spreadsheet. > > The first topic, covering several lessons, is to have multiple > children doing multiple column data entry, and formula entry and > validation. > > If we can copy a rectangular range of data from one spreadsheet to > another, we can demonstrate various other workflows and applications, > such as entering data singly, offline, and merging it in a > collaborative session. > > Later on, someone could do up a spreadsheet for the Net Present Value > and Return on Investment of one computer for one child over a > lifetime, with replacements every so many years, and other such > matters. We could talk about how to evaluate progress on each of the > UN Millennium Development Goals. We could talk about the spreadsheets > needed for a microfinance institution and its borrowers. > > On Fri, Oct 23, 2009 at 14:47, Caroline Meeks > wrote: > > Hi, > > I am working on curriculum for a professional development class for Sugar > > for elementary school teachers for a class project. The format would be a > > one-day hands on session followed by online session that are done over > the a > > week or two remotely. > > For one of the online segments I'd like to have the teachers use > Calculate > > and/or SocialCalc. I'm looking for ideas for an interesting activity > that > > would help them get hands on experience with the collaborative potential > of > > these math activities. > > If possible I'd like this activity to support some of the other learning > > goals > > > > Helping the teachers see themselves as part of the global Sugar community > > and as global citizens working to educate the next generation. > > Valuing and bringing into the classroom the different cultures of their > > students. In the US teachers have an increasing diverse classroom. > > Teaching to standards > > Differentiated instruction > > > > Any ideas? > > -- > > Caroline Meeks > > Solution Grove > > carol...@solutiongrove.com > > > > 617-500-3488 - Office > > 505-213-3268 - Fax > > > > ___ > > IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) > > IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org > > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep > > > > > > -- > Edward Mokurai (默雷/धर्ममेघशब्दगर्ज/دھرممیگھشبدگر ج) Cherlin > Silent Thunder is my name, and Children are my nation. > The Cosmos is my dwelling place, the Truth my destination. > http://www.earthtreasury.org/ > -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] Deducto and Color Deducto activities - creating your own game mechanism
Hi, This is cool thanks! Is there a way to lower the floor? Is there a version of this game that a 6 year old could have easy success with that would help ramp it up? Suzanne, the 4th grade teacher at the GPA, has the students play a "Guess my rule" game with shapes. For example, "All right angles" "Only Triangles", "Two sides the same". I think this is a separate game but I thought I'd mention it as its somewhat similar. Do we have a place to put game ideas so programmers could pick them up if they want a project? Thanks, Caroline On Wed, Oct 21, 2009 at 3:18 PM, Manusheel Gupta wrote: > Dan, > > Ashita has been working on a user guide for "create your own game" > mechanism for Deducto and Color Deducto activities. The guide is not yet > complete and needs a flow chart, but should be good enough to walk you > through this feature. Please find it attached along with this e-mail. > > On a separate note, this feature is open to development, and we will see > more enhancements soon. > > Regards, > > Manu > > > > > > > -- Forwarded message -- > From: Ashita Dadlani > Date: Thu, Oct 22, 2009 at 12:34 AM > Subject: revised color deducto documentation > To: Manusheel Gupta , > > > > -- > Ashita Dadlani > Software Engineer, Products and Services > Software for Education, Entertainment and Training Activities > http://seeta.in > > > ___ > Devel mailing list > de...@lists.laptop.org > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/devel > > -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
[IAEP] Calculate and SocialCalc Lesson ideas?
Hi, I am working on curriculum for a professional development class for Sugar for elementary school teachers for a class project. The format would be a one-day hands on session followed by online session that are done over the a week or two remotely. For one of the online segments I'd like to have the teachers use Calculate and/or SocialCalc. I'm looking for ideas for an interesting activity that would help them get hands on experience with the collaborative potential of these math activities. If possible I'd like this activity to support some of the other learning goals - Helping the teachers see themselves as part of the global Sugar community and as global citizens working to educate the next generation. - Valuing and bringing into the classroom the different cultures of their students. In the US teachers have an increasing diverse classroom. - Teaching to standards - Differentiated instruction Any ideas? -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] changes in outlook with Sugar (was Re: Comments on David Kokorowski, David Pritchard and "Mastering" Educational SW)
On Thu, Jul 2, 2009 at 8:37 AM, Tomeu Vizoso wrote: > On Thu, Jul 2, 2009 at 13:49, Alan Kay wrote: > [snip] > > > > But, if I were trying to make things happen with IAEP, I would try to do > > just a few main things, and one of them would be to make a > > program/user-interface which could do a great job of teaching a child to > > read and write their native language without requiring any more from the > > adults around them than a little encouragement. Part of the desired > changes > > in outlook could be made part of the stories and other materials that the > > kid would encounter along the way (and part of the big change in outlook > > that we are a part of is fluent reading of non-story materials in general > > and about outlook changing ideas in particular). > > Do you have already any vision about how to make that happen? I have > seen lately several people interested in working on better tools for > reading, may be a very interesting opportunity. > The Teachermate materials might be a starting point. Tomeu, do you have any clarity about how much content they are offering to us and what the license agreement would be? Today we discussed this product in one of my classes as an excellent example of Universal Design for Learning principals. http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/wiggleworks/index.htm The videos might give some ideas for Sugar Activities that could empower teachers to create similar materials and share them. Caroline > > Regards, > > Tomeu > > > Best wishes, > > > > Alan > > > > From: K. K. Subramaniam > > To: Alan Kay > > Cc: iaep@lists.sugarlabs.org > > Sent: Wednesday, July 1, 2009 12:12:59 PM > > Subject: Re: [IAEP] Comments on David Kokorowski, David Pritchard and > > "Mastering" Educational SW > > > > On Wednesday 01 Jul 2009 9:03:26 am Alan Kay wrote: > >>Your last sentence is somewhat parallel to what many business types like > to > >>say about how hard it is to measure Return On Investment for research > >>funding. But in the business case, this is actually a form of > dissembling, > >>since an enormous percentage of all the GNP (and in fact GWP) comes > >> directly > >>as return from research. > > The top 10% of learners don't need school. The bottom 10% need more than > a > > school. For the middle 80%, learning in school should be demonstrably > better > > than that out of school. A school is relevant only if it can detect and > weed > > out contexts that hinder learning (or have nothing to do with learning) > as > > quickly as possible. Otherwise people will vote with their feet. > > > > In one of our local public school parents meet, a poor farmer challenged, > > "Why > > should I retain my kid in this school? Can you show me one student who > > studied > > here and became somebody in life? In the field, I can teach him to raise > at > > least one crop a year". For him, there was lot more of physics in the > farm > > than in school textbooks. > > > > Subbu > > > > > > _______ > > 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 > -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
[IAEP] UI thoughts from today's session at the GPA
The Journal Icon in an activity should open the dialog box for feedback. The Stop Icon should not. Resume by default should happen if the activity is already open. Start new should be the default if there is no instance of that activity already open. It was very confusing and distracting to have to clear out previous work, from 2 weeks ago, out of turtle art before they started on today's assignment. In Turtle Art the Save a Snapshot icon should be the "Eye" cause it saves an image right? It looks too much like save to Journal right now. -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] [SLOBS] Slobs election results 2009
Congratulations everyone! I am looking forward to your vision, ideas and energy. On Wed, Oct 14, 2009 at 3:10 PM, David Farning wrote: > The results are in for this years election. The winners are in for > this years election. > > Walter Bender > Tomeu Vizoso > Mel Chua > Bernie Innocenti > Chris Ball > Sean Daly > Adam Holt > > David Farning > Slobs Election Referee 2009 > ___ > SLOBs mailing list > sl...@lists.sugarlabs.org > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/slobs > -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] Math 2.0 today: Caroline Meeks presents Sugar on a Stick
Would you like me to take if off the list of sites in my Bio for now? I consider us to be in negotiation and I'd be happy to do that as a gesture of good faith. On Wed, Oct 14, 2009 at 1:04 PM, Sean DALY wrote: > I am very, very concerned about confusion. > > Sean > > > On Wed, Oct 14, 2009 at 7:02 PM, Caroline Meeks > wrote: > > Here is the announcement in context: > > http://mathfuture.wikispaces.com/Sugar+on+a+Stick > > I put the Sugar Labs pages under resources. The list of web sites Maria > > posted was part of my bio and in the context of the original page that > was > > clear. Sorry if I'm being oversensitive to being judged right now! > > Thanks, > > Caroline > > > > On Wed, Oct 14, 2009 at 12:53 PM, Sean DALY wrote: > >> > >> The official webpage for Sugar on a Stick can be found here: > >> > >> http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Sugar_on_a_Stick > >> > >> Sean > >> Sugar Labs Marketing Coordinator > >> > >> > >> > >> On Wed, Oct 14, 2009 at 6:15 PM, Maria Droujkova > >> wrote: > >> > Wednesday, October 14th the Math 2.0 interest group hosts its open > >> > weekly > >> > webinar in the LearnCentral public Elluminate room at 6pm Pacific / > 9pm > >> > Eastern time: > >> > https://sas.elluminate.com/d.jnlp?sid=lcevents&password=Webinar_Guest > >> > > >> > Caroline Meeks founded Solution Grove, which specializes in open > source > >> > solutions for learning communities and has created sites for groups at > >> > MIT, > >> > Harvard, MGH and Boston Museum of Science. Caroline is actively > involved > >> > in > >> > two open-source communities, dotLRN, which she co-founded in 2001, and > >> > Sugar > >> > (sugarlabs.org) which was developed as part of the OLPC project. This > >> > year > >> > she is piloting "Sugar on a Stick" in a Boston public elementary > school. > >> > Caroline is a candidate for an MEd in 2010 from the Harvard Graduate > >> > School > >> > of Education's Technology, Innovation and Education Program, and is a > >> > graduate of MIT. > >> > > >> > Web Sites: > >> > http://www.solutiongrove.com > >> > http://www.sugaronastick.com > >> > http://www.shovelreadyed.com > >> > > >> > ~*~*~*~*~* > >> > Next few Math 2.0 events include: > >> > > >> > October 21st, 2009. Guaranteach: An adaptive video tutor. Host: > Alasdair > >> > Trotter > >> > October 31st, 2009. WikiEducator. Hosts: Nellie Deutsch, Gladys Gahona > >> > November 4th, 2009. Curriki. Host: Joshua Marks > >> > > >> > You can see full recordings of past events and find out how to join > >> > these > >> > projects at the Events page of the group's wiki: > >> > http://mathfuture.wikispaces.com/events > >> > > >> > ~*~*~*~*~* > >> > There is a growing list for ongoing projects of the Math 2.0 interest > >> > group, > >> > with several projects being added each month: > >> > http://mathfuture.wikispaces.com/people+and+networks Some examples: > an > >> > unconference in April being organized by CLIME; helping GeoGebra > >> > conference > >> > in North America; NextVista math video collection. > >> > > >> > > >> > Cheers, > >> > Maria Droujkova > >> > http://www.naturalmath.com > >> > > >> > Make math your own, to make your own math. > >> > > >> > > >> > > >> > ___ > >> > 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 > > > > > > > > -- > > Caroline Meeks > > Solution Grove > > carol...@solutiongrove.com > > > > 617-500-3488 - Office > > 505-213-3268 - Fax > > > -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] Math 2.0 today: Caroline Meeks presents Sugar on a Stick
Here is the announcement in context: http://mathfuture.wikispaces.com/Sugar+on+a+Stick I put the Sugar Labs pages under resources. The list of web sites Maria posted was part of my bio and in the context of the original page that was clear. Sorry if I'm being oversensitive to being judged right now! Thanks, Caroline On Wed, Oct 14, 2009 at 12:53 PM, Sean DALY wrote: > The official webpage for Sugar on a Stick can be found here: > > http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Sugar_on_a_Stick > > Sean > Sugar Labs Marketing Coordinator > > > > On Wed, Oct 14, 2009 at 6:15 PM, Maria Droujkova > wrote: > > Wednesday, October 14th the Math 2.0 interest group hosts its open weekly > > webinar in the LearnCentral public Elluminate room at 6pm Pacific / 9pm > > Eastern time: > > https://sas.elluminate.com/d.jnlp?sid=lcevents&password=Webinar_Guest > > > > Caroline Meeks founded Solution Grove, which specializes in open source > > solutions for learning communities and has created sites for groups at > MIT, > > Harvard, MGH and Boston Museum of Science. Caroline is actively involved > in > > two open-source communities, dotLRN, which she co-founded in 2001, and > Sugar > > (sugarlabs.org) which was developed as part of the OLPC project. This > year > > she is piloting "Sugar on a Stick" in a Boston public elementary school. > > Caroline is a candidate for an MEd in 2010 from the Harvard Graduate > School > > of Education's Technology, Innovation and Education Program, and is a > > graduate of MIT. > > > > Web Sites: > > http://www.solutiongrove.com > > http://www.sugaronastick.com > > http://www.shovelreadyed.com > > > > ~*~*~*~*~* > > Next few Math 2.0 events include: > > > > October 21st, 2009. Guaranteach: An adaptive video tutor. Host: Alasdair > > Trotter > > October 31st, 2009. WikiEducator. Hosts: Nellie Deutsch, Gladys Gahona > > November 4th, 2009. Curriki. Host: Joshua Marks > > > > You can see full recordings of past events and find out how to join these > > projects at the Events page of the group's wiki: > > http://mathfuture.wikispaces.com/events > > > > ~*~*~*~*~* > > There is a growing list for ongoing projects of the Math 2.0 interest > group, > > with several projects being added each month: > > http://mathfuture.wikispaces.com/people+and+networks Some examples: an > > unconference in April being organized by CLIME; helping GeoGebra > conference > > in North America; NextVista math video collection. > > > > > > Cheers, > > Maria Droujkova > > http://www.naturalmath.com > > > > Make math your own, to make your own math. > > > > > > > > ___ > > 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 > -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] Pedagogical Vision for the Journal was GPA Report - Feedback on using the Journal
Yama, I agree with you 100% about the need to prepare kids for the standardized tests. A world where the powers that be judge people on Portfolios rather then high stakes standardized tests is a Utopia that is yet to exist. We must prepare todays youth for today's world. Teachers must assess students learning as part of their daily processes, I do not use the term assessment to mean just the government tests. Portfolios as an effective way for teachers and other adults to help a child learn. They are a reality that exists now and has research behind it and it is a method of interest of many current teachers. Doing it with paper is unweildy but its being done. We can make it easier, more portable, more efficient and effective. Yes, we must prepare students for standardized tests, but research shows, including the paper I pointed you to last week, that even if the standardized tests emphasis retrieval, just drilling students on facts all day is not very good preparation. Good education is far more then that. Portfolios are an "And", they are yet another tool the teacher and the student can use to support learning. And Sugar includes games that drill on facts too. Ok I'm off to the wood for the weekend! So no more philosophy for me! have fun. Caroline On Fri, Oct 9, 2009 at 11:26 AM, Yamandu Ploskonka wrote: > I like the change of subject line, elegant, thanks > > >> We are getting very enthusiastic responses to Sugar as an ePortfolio >> creation tool. No one likes standardized tests. Portfolios represent a far >> better alternative for assessing student progress. If we can create a good >> system for creating and managing them we will have contributed a great deal. >> We are working with one of the experts in the field, Evangeline Harris >> Stefanakis an author and professor at BU. >> >> > Well, congratulations. > > As much as I dislike playing devil's advocate, the problem I see with the > above quote (cf. C.Meeks) is that it attempts to show as simple what is a > very messy issue. > > I deeply agree with a central core,"If we can create ... great deal". > Besides this being a big, big, big "if", I do believe that the impact of our > whole project and desire and dream is well summarized in that single > sentence. > > Now, why that is not easy has to do with an even bigger bag of cat. > So big that it actually should be at least looked at before pretending we > can dismiss it. > > For one thing, the whole subject of assessment is on the table. Does > assessment make *any* sense? > > And then, at some moment, we need to come back and touch reality. Whether > "no one likes standardized tests" is true or not (no such sweeping > generalization survives Logic 101), it really doesn't matter and is very > much an academic question better discussed among those of us who have it > made to a warm house, enough food and broadband, even though I am finding > that I am unemployable as a teacher within the public school system here as > my pieces of heavy paper do not have the kind of seals they want to see - > funny turn of destiny, where the reality of the real world bites even me, > such a nice guy. > > Fact is, all nice and dandy in the idea, and mostly useless, I'm afraid. > Has BU abandoned the SAT or such requirements? Does regular testing in > Prof. Harris' and her colleague classes take into account different learning > styles, attention cycles? Let's assume they do. In how many other places > is that the law of the land? > > I'm sorry. I don't like the weather, I don't like to be taxed, I don't like > to hear discouraging news on the radio. > They're there - not much we can do about it. Denial don't help. > > I see as priority to fix what exists so that it is better, understanding > that our point of view may be skewed as we live a privileged existence, yet > most of the world's kids still will get a break only if they can manage to > do good while under the gun of the standardized test. > > Missing that is missing reality. > > Not that we should abandon the dream or the Portfolio. > > Yes that we should spend as much time and effort, at least, to help kids > deal with the reality they have been handed. Otherwise we are really, > really doing them a disservice. > > end of yamarant > > > -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
[IAEP] Pedagogical Vision for the Journal was GPA Report - Feedback on using the Journal
> > > > • The word "Description" is not very friendly. I like "What did you >> > do?" Walter wants to expand it even further, I'm not sure about >> > that, its pretty challenging for the students to type so I'm not >> > sure we want more boxes. >> >> No comment, I don't like this whole dialogue to be honest (it breaks >> my working flow and distracts me from whatever I'm trying to achieve), >> but I'm not a pedagogic type so don't feel I have a say in this >> design. I get the impression most (adults and kids) will just skip >> past this dialogue anyway give half a chance. There's been some noises >> to remove this dialogue completely, or at least let folks easily >> disable it from within Sugar. >> > > It breaks my workflow too, although a Discard button would make it better. > And I like the concept of forcing people to name their work; as a > developer, I'm just usually testing something instead of "creating work". > We are getting very enthusiastic responses to Sugar as an ePortfolio creation tool. No one likes standardized tests. Portfolios represent a far better alternative for assessing student progress. If we can create a good system for creating and managing them we will have contributed a great deal. We are working with one of the experts in the field, Evangeline Harris Stefanakis an author and professor at BU. Believe me, these kids did not want to write anything in that dialog box either! But by doing so they 1. Reflected and thus helped process and keep their learning, 2. Practiced much needed writing skills. 3. Created an item they can put into a longer term reflective portfolio. 4. Helped others see their level of understanding of the material they were working on. Students spend only 30% of their time in school. Even within a school they see many different adults, teachers, assistant teachers, specialists. After school care and parents and others at home are also very important for student learning. Our vision is that the Journal helps all the adults the student interacts with see what they are working on and where they are in their learning and lets them interact with each other around the students' work. My current vision is that teachers would tag items with "parent" and the parents would learn how to search the Journal for these tags and to tag items with "teacher" or something similar if they want to send a comment back to the teacher. I'm still pretty hazy on exactly how this should work but that is my general thought. > > Best, > Wade > -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] GPA Report - Feedback on using the Journal - Stopping and Start New issues
hi Gary, Start New is not working in the field. I can be standing behind a child coaching them on every move of the mouse and I still can't get them to use it. The impulse to click on what the icon for what they want to do is too strong. It takes too long to get to the drop down. The drop down is not clear and if you think about its a quite complex mental model to understand what is going on and what Start New is. I literally can not get it to happen in the field. Also in this use case we did not use Stop because we did not want to Stop! The kids desperately wanted to continue playing with Turtle Art, they just had to save and write about their assigned work. Clicking Stop when you want to keep using an application is very counter intuitive. And these kids didn't just want to keep using Turtle Art they really really wanted to. The kid next to them was already doing cool things. It literally would have been a battle for me to tell them they had to Stop. Also it takes quite a while to start up an activity on an old computer. Who wants to wait? Certainly not a 10 year old! On Fri, Oct 9, 2009 at 9:38 AM, Gary C Martin wrote: > Hi Caroline, > > On 9 Oct 2009, at 02:42, Caroline Meeks wrote: > > Today we worked with two groups on multiplication. They made squares with >> each side being a different multiplication problem that had the same answer. >> >> http://screencast.com/t/sUbiof2H >> >> We also had them reflect in their Journals about what they did. >> >> All of this went well. >> >> What was horrible was trying to get the right point in the project saved >> to the Journal and then navigating to the correct place to write. >> > > Sorry if this sounds a little terse, but it seems you decided to completely > avoid using the "Stop" button at the end of each of your tasks: > > 1) Start a new Activity > 2) Do stuff > 3) Stop Activity > 4) Name it > 5) Goto 1 > > The "Keep" button, as currently implemented, will come back to haunt you > when you return to work on those activities later (I've tried to explain > this in all its gory detail in previous emails). None of the issues you > mention above have yet hit the gory Keep versioning issues, so you'll have > that joy to come when kids want to resume a couple of old kept activities > for reference when working on a new one. > > I'll be happy the day that the "Keep" button is removed, it's clearly > causing you and others horrible confusion. I smiled the day I realised the > new toolbar designs at least demoted that darn button to a second class UI > component (i.e hidden in a secondary toolbar) :-) It would be better if it > just died even if we have no better replacement. For the engineers reading, > the "Keep" function actively prevents users from 'manual merging' of their > work, so as an intended method for exposing a versioning system, it is > actually having the reverse effect. > > The solution I suggest is when you click the Keep button (Journal Icon) >> from an activity that the Journal reflection dialog box appears. >> >> Here are the problems we had. >> >>• Hard to get to the Journal, no easy F# short cut. >> > > There's been lot's of discussion (feature proposals, email threads, trac > ticket comments) trying to find a free F# key that is not gong to conflict. > F5 seemed a good candidate but is a poor choice for XO hardware. Likely we > need a control panel that allows distros/deployments to make their own > choice and for the user then to have the ability to change if needed > (perhaps the current frame CP module would be a place for changing Sugar > shortcuts). > > • Hard to find the little arrow that gets you to where you can >> write. Especially since if the Frame is active, which it has to be to get to >> the Journal, the little bitty arrow you need to click is covered. >> > > There's a recent deployment (Mexico I think) ticket reporting this, I'm > sure a design solution can be found. Note that you could direct kids to use > the palette menu on the icon and select "View Details" as an alternative. > > • When students did their assigned task they were eager to go back >> to exploring with Sugar and wrote over their work without it being saved, or >> using the same name as the assigned activity. This was probably the worst >> outcome because then it was like they hadn't done the assignment, they had >> nothing to show for their work and we'll want to use it later for a >> portfolio. >> > > Get them to "Stop" when complete, and then "Start new". > > • clickin
[IAEP] GPA Report - Feedback on using the Journal
Today we worked with two groups on multiplication. They made squares with each side being a different multiplication problem that had the same answer. http://screencast.com/t/sUbiof2H <http://screencast.com/t/sUbiof2H>We also had them reflect in their Journals about what they did. All of this went well. What was horrible was trying to get the right point in the project saved to the Journal and then navigating to the correct place to write. The solution I suggest is when you click the Keep button (Journal Icon) from an activity that the Journal reflection dialog box appears. Here are the problems we had. - Hard to get to the Journal, no easy F# short cut. - Hard to find the little arrow that gets you to where you can write. Especially since if the Frame is active, which it has to be to get to the Journal, the little bitty arrow you need to click is covered. - When students did their assigned task they were eager to go back to exploring with Sugar and wrote over their work without it being saved, or using the same name as the assigned activity. This was probably the worst outcome because then it was like they hadn't done the assignment, they had nothing to show for their work and we'll want to use it later for a portfolio. - clicking the Activity Tab to write down the name is a PITA (this one is fixed in .88 I think). - After they reflected they wanted to immediately go back to exploring in TA and we had to stop them, make them change the name again. They were very perplexed by this because they didn't know what to name their new file because they hadn't done anything yet. - The word "Description" is not very friendly. I like "What did you do?" Walter wants to expand it even further, I'm not sure about that, its pretty challenging for the students to type so I'm not sure we want more boxes. - Confusion between the Keep button and the samples and the snapshot icons. - No feedback when you click Keep so there is a tendency to click it repeatedly. I usually try to stick with reporting my observations and not giving specific usability advice but this time I really have an opinion. I think it would be much much more useful to have the Keep button popup the Journal Dialog box. That would let me reflect and also rename if I want to. What are the downsides of this? Thanks, Caroline -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] Accessing the hard drive of the host machine from a Virtual Box Sugar ?
Hi Gary, Thanks, I made progress. Now I am getting I am getting "mount: unknown filesystem type 'vboxsf'" any thoughts? http://screencast.com/t/oT7bZaKPpm0 On Sun, Oct 4, 2009 at 6:58 PM, Gary C Martin wrote: > Hi Caroline, > > On 4 Oct 2009, at 23:42, Caroline Meeks wrote: > > Does anyone know how to bring files from the host's hard drive (I am on a >> Mac) into a Sugar running in Virtual Box? >> > > Sure. FWIW it's all in the VirtualBox help pdf (just go to the Help menu, > and the Contents...) The quick route is: > > 1) Make sure you're not running or saved the sugar VM (can't change > settings unless it's off) > 2) Select your Sugar VM and open Settings > 3) Select Shared Folders > 4) Hit the + folder icon, choose a folder path (the pop-up has a standard > Mac dialogue if you click Other...) > 5) Give it a name, say shared_with_sugar (I don't usually tick the > read-only as it is useful both ways) > 6) You're done with settings, so launch your VM > 8) In a VM Terminal window type > >mkdir ~/shared_directory >sudo mount -o uid=500 -t vboxsf shared_with_sugar ~/shared_directory > > 9) You'll now see any shared files in here > > Next time you reboot the VM you'll need to just run the above mount command > again. You can obviously point this set-up anywhere, so you could share > ~/Desktop from your Mac to the VM somewhere, just depends how you work. > Personally I just have a Sugar folder with all my Sugar related work. > > Regards, > --Gary > -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] [support-gang] Short Survey for Educators
Hi Caryl, This looks great. What I'd love to know is what percentage of their students do they think have computers and what percentage they believe have internet at home. Also do they ever assign computer work for homework? On Sun, Oct 4, 2009 at 11:45 PM, Caryl Bigenho wrote: > Hi... > > I had a little time this evening to work on a possible educator's survey. I > tried to keep it short and simple so folks would actually answer the > questions. If some of you could take a look at this, make comments, and add > anything you think should be in there I would appreciate it. Please use a > different font so I can easily spot your notes. Eventually, we can put this > up as a resource on the wikis. I plan to use it for the first time next > month at the CUELA/LAUSD Tech Fair. If anyone else wants to use it sooner > that is fine too. We should have a wiki page to tabulate results too, I > guess. > > Thanks, > Caryl > > > Short Educational Computer Use Survey > > 1) Your position: > > Administrator _ IT Coordinator __ Teacher ___ Librarian _ > > Counselor Aide ___ Other (specify)__ > > 2) School Level > > Elementary (specify grades) ___ Middle School (specify grades) ___ > > High School (specify grades) Other (specify) _ > > 3) Does your school have computers for student use? Yes go to # 4 > > No skip to #8 > > 4) Where are the computers for student use located? (check all that apply) > > School Library _ Computer Lab Computer Carts > > Computers in classrooms __ > > 5) What kind of computers do you have for student use? (Check all that > apply) > > PCs Older Mac G4s or Power Macs ___ > > Newer Intel Based Macs ___ Laptops (specify kind) __ > > 6) Where did your school get the computers? (check all that apply) > > Bought new __ Donated new _ Donated used _ > > 7) What software is used most by your students? ___ > > _ > > _. > > > 8) Does your school have plans to buy new computers in the near future? > > Yes__ No > > > > > 9) If you could have free access to any kind of software for your students, > what kinds of learning activities would you want to have available for them? > > > __ > > __ > > __ > > __ > > __ > > __ > > __ > > __ > > __ > > > Optional (only if you wish) > Your name: > Email: > School Name: > > ___ > support-gang mailing list > support-g...@lists.laptop.org > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/support-gang > > -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] Browse download workarounds?
Ah that works! Thanks :) On Sun, Oct 4, 2009 at 8:37 PM, Gerald Ardito wrote: > Caroline, > > I have been playing with this a little bit. > First, I have found that the download works fine on some sites (like > SugarLabs) but poorly on Flickr, especially. > On sites, I choose "copy" rather than "download," which works fine. > > Hope this helps. > > Gerald > > On Sun, Oct 4, 2009 at 7:40 PM, Caroline Meeks > wrote: > >> I am having a great deal of difficulty getting things to download in >> Browse 108 in Strawberry. I can't get attachments from gmail, photos from >> Flickr, or CAST books. >> I hear things are better in Blueberry and thats cool. Is there any >> thoughts on workarounds until GPA gets on Blueberry? >> >> Today's issue is I'm working on creating a Cartoon Builder of The Very >> Hungry Caterpillar and there is a wonderful picture of 2 pairs in Flickr >> that I want to use but I can't figure out how to download the images. >> >> http://screencast.com/t/PUoBSbJn09M0 >> >> Thanks >> >> -- >> Caroline Meeks >> Solution Grove >> carol...@solutiongrove.com >> >> 617-500-3488 - Office >> 505-213-3268 - Fax >> >> ___ >> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) >> IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org >> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep >> > > -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
[IAEP] Browse download workarounds?
I am having a great deal of difficulty getting things to download in Browse 108 in Strawberry. I can't get attachments from gmail, photos from Flickr, or CAST books. I hear things are better in Blueberry and thats cool. Is there any thoughts on workarounds until GPA gets on Blueberry? Today's issue is I'm working on creating a Cartoon Builder of The Very Hungry Caterpillar and there is a wonderful picture of 2 pairs in Flickr that I want to use but I can't figure out how to download the images. http://screencast.com/t/PUoBSbJn09M0 Thanks -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
[IAEP] Paint and Transparent Backgrounds
As I work with Sugar I find that one of the things I want to do frequently is create a drawing and use it elsewhere, Turtle Art, Cartoon Builder, Memorize. Could we set Paint to have a transparent background on images as a default rather then white? That would make it easier to layer different drawings and have them interact. Is that difficult programatically? Can people think of places where having a transparent background will be a problem? -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
[IAEP] Accessing the hard drive of the host machine from a Virtual Box Sugar ?
Does anyone know how to bring files from the host's hard drive (I am on a Mac) into a Sugar running in Virtual Box? Thanks, Caroline -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] Any ideas how to make an image with a transparent background inSugar?
Thanks Alan and Bert! I have made progress. My next problem is that my caterpillar is too big! Even when I resize cartoon builder still wants to make it full sized. http://screencast.com/t/MH1XZmd27s On Fri, Oct 2, 2009 at 3:26 AM, Bert Freudenberg wrote: > About how to get the drawing out of Etoys: > > Drag-and-drop it into the Sugar Frame's clipboard, or just press Ctrl-C > when its halo is showing. > > Then either insert into the activity you want directly by drag-and-drop or > Ctrl-V (if the activity supports that), or store the clipping in the Journal > via its Frame clipboard icon menu. > > - Bert - > On 02.10.2009, at 04:30, Alan Kay wrote: > > Hi Caroline > > I think what you want to do is to take that picture of the caterpillar and > erase all but the caterpillar? > > To do that you want to "repaint" the picture (it is already an image). > > First get the "halos" (which every object in Etoys will show) by right > clicking on the picture. > > There is balloon help on most things in Etoys, and each > halo handle will say what it does. > >For example, to duplicate your picture, drag on the > green button in the upper right corner. A duplicate copy will drag off. > >To put something in the trash, click on the "move to > trash" handle in the upper left corner. > > --> To repaint, click on the "repaint" handle on the right side, mid > height. > > There is help about most things in Etoys under the "?" on > the Sugar menu bar. > > For doing your task, I like to choose "no color" in the paint palette (it's > the bar over the color rainbow). Then I will choose various sizes of the > circular brushes to do the work of removing the background. The "Undo" in > the paint box will undo one whole stroke. > > When done, click on "Keep" in the paint box. If you want to start over, > click on "Toss". > > You now have a picture of the caterpillar with transparent fill around it. > > > The PNG format (a standard open source format) will allow the picture to be > filed with the transparent fill preserved. > > I'm presuming that the reverse of the process you used to get the image > into Etoys will get it back to where you want to use it. > > For a nice way to animate a wriggling caterpillar, you can also look at the > example in Sdenka Salas' recent book of the XO in Peru. > > Don't hesitate to ask more questions. > > Best wishes, > > Alan > > -- > *From:* Caroline Meeks > *To:* Alan Kay > *Cc:* iaep > *Sent:* Thursday, October 1, 2009 6:41:26 PM > *Subject:* Re: [IAEP] Any ideas how to make an image with a transparent > background inSugar? > > Thanks Alan, > Where should I look to figure out Etoys paint. I'm stuck and there is no > kid here to teach me! > > http://screencast.com/t/4lvde8qWV2pD > > On Thu, Oct 1, 2009 at 9:32 PM, Alan Kay wrote: > >> Paint it in Etoys, save as a .PNG picture >> >> Cheers, >> >> Alan >> >> -- >> *From:* Caroline Meeks >> *To:* iaep >> *Sent:* Thursday, October 1, 2009 6:28:22 PM >> *Subject:* [IAEP] Any ideas how to make an image with a transparent >> background inSugar? >> >> http://screencast.com/t/K0lH5L7tsBU >> I am trying to make a new character for cartoon builder. The video >> explains my goals. >> Basically I want to take a picture and cut out just the caterpillar and >> have it be cropped/transparent background. >> >> thanks, >> Caroline >> >> -- >> Caroline Meeks >> Solution Grove >> carol...@solutiongrove.com >> >> 617-500-3488 - Office >> 505-213-3268 - Fax >> >> > > > -- > Caroline Meeks > Solution Grove > carol...@solutiongrove.com > > 617-500-3488 - Office > 505-213-3268 - Fax > > ___ > IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) > IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep > > > > -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] [SoaS] A proposal from Trisquel (Was Re: [DP] Announcing the creation of a SoaS Decision Panel)
Thanks Ruben Great news! I think besides freedom the other word that comes to mind is Power. To see a room with 25 old computers and monitors on all day and I think all night...that is a waste of Power. Replace those with a server and give the individual computers to kids who don't have one. To give a child the ability to continue work on their creations, be they art, music, programing, writing etc., from any computer at mom's house, dad's house, grandma's, day care, the library, that is giving them Power. I'd be interested in knowing the legal ownership of elementary school work products. But even if they have a legal right to them they have no Power to exercise it. When kids move often even the test scores and report cards that adults consider important are not transfered to the new school. Who will advocate for giving a child their computer files off of the server? Where are you from Ruben? Do you have large numbers of transient families in your area? Its a huge problem in urban areas of the US. I read that in a city in NJ a teacher on average only about half the kids in an elementary school class are in the same school at the end of the year. Thanks, :) Caroline 2009/10/2 Rubén Rodríguez Pérez > > > > Will you be working on an LTSP Sugar? LTSP has amazing benefits on > > cost of ownership when you view it on a per computer basis. > > Sugar is already working in our Trisquel edu based LTSP server. :) > > > > I'm hoping we eventually get an LTSP/USB solution that still lets the > > student take their environment with them out of the school, to after > > school and home. Because we need to look at not just the cost of > > computers but the benefits of giving students ownership of their work > > and the freedom to work on their projects beyond the hour a week their > > school might give them in the computer lab. > > > We still need to polish some things, and the usb support was not tested > in deep, but LTSP clients can already mount usb drives in the server, so > it should be transparent for the user. I'll do some tests the next week. > > > I think its feasible to create but I'm not sure if anyone is working > > on that solution yet. I know it may not be in your priority list but > > I thought I'd put the idea out there because you could view it as a > > freedom issue. The way thin clients are implemented in schools the > > student's work is controlled by the school. When they are not in the > > building and especially if they don't have good internet access they > > can't access their work or the code. If they move and leave the > > school they usually lose access to their work forever. > > I fully agree. And thin clients sure are in our priorities. > > There are also some issues with copyright that are not addressed enough, > regarding the ownership of the works of the students. I don't know about > the schools, but in a lot of universities the distribution rights of the > student works are shared -or owned by the university-, which is a bad > idea and can cause a lot of problems specially if the work is a program. > > I think the students should always keep the control of their work. > -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] [SoaS] A proposal from Trisquel (Was Re: [DP] Announcing the creation of a SoaS Decision Panel)
Trisquel was born as a university project, and it has a strong focus in > education. We think schools are the main battlefront for free software. > This is why we made the Trisquel Edu edition, including several sets of > educational software running on GNOME, and tools for class management > like iTALC or LTSP. Sugar is a wonderful addition to our educational > suite, and it can make use of the tools we already have in the system. > > Hi Ruben, Exciting news about Trisquel! Will you be working on an LTSP Sugar? LTSP has amazing benefits on cost of ownership when you view it on a per computer basis. I'm hoping we eventually get an LTSP/USB solution that still lets the student take their environment with them out of the school, to after school and home. Because we need to look at not just the cost of computers but the benefits of giving students ownership of their work and the freedom to work on their projects beyond the hour a week their school might give them in the computer lab. I think its feasible to create but I'm not sure if anyone is working on that solution yet. I know it may not be in your priority list but I thought I'd put the idea out there because you could view it as a freedom issue. The way thin clients are implemented in schools the student's work is controlled by the school. When they are not in the building and especially if they don't have good internet access they can't access their work or the code. If they move and leave the school they usually lose access to their work forever. Thanks! Caroline -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] Any ideas how to make an image with a transparent background inSugar?
Thanks Alan, Where should I look to figure out Etoys paint. I'm stuck and there is no kid here to teach me! http://screencast.com/t/4lvde8qWV2pD On Thu, Oct 1, 2009 at 9:32 PM, Alan Kay wrote: > Paint it in Etoys, save as a .PNG picture > > Cheers, > > Alan > > ------ > *From:* Caroline Meeks > *To:* iaep > *Sent:* Thursday, October 1, 2009 6:28:22 PM > *Subject:* [IAEP] Any ideas how to make an image with a transparent > background inSugar? > > http://screencast.com/t/K0lH5L7tsBU > I am trying to make a new character for cartoon builder. The video explains > my goals. > Basically I want to take a picture and cut out just the caterpillar and > have it be cropped/transparent background. > > thanks, > Caroline > > -- > Caroline Meeks > Solution Grove > carol...@solutiongrove.com > > 617-500-3488 - Office > 505-213-3268 - Fax > > -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
[IAEP] Any ideas how to make an image with a transparent background inSugar?
http://screencast.com/t/K0lH5L7tsBU I am trying to make a new character for cartoon builder. The video explains my goals. Basically I want to take a picture and cut out just the caterpillar and have it be cropped/transparent background. thanks, Caroline -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] inquiry on constructionism advantages
Hi Yama, Try this reference it has actual data that supports constructivism Wenglinsky, H. (2005) Chp. 4 in Using Technology Wisely: the keys to success in schools, Columbia University Teachers College Press, NY, 60-77, *CP * * * * * On Mon, Sep 28, 2009 at 12:51 PM, Yamandu Ploskonka wrote: > I have received an inquiry on implementing constructionism from a high > official in the Bolivian government. > > Since my opinion may be biased :-), I request you help us with clear, > simple and please objective answers (no vapor-stuff), if at all possible > > 1) How do constructionist pupils do on standardized tests, such as > University entrance exams. (please inform about other demographic > situations besides children of highly trained scholars - most Bolivian > kids do not fit THAT bracket, alas) > > 2) How do they do with usual classroom tests, especially in the > University. > Core question is, are alumni of constructionism better, or at least > competitive there? What evidence do we have to prove this? > > 3) Is there any evidence (objective, unbiased) as to the impact of > constructionism in education? The big maybe here is further impact on > development, yes ? (I may be mistaken here, please correct) > > 4) any other solid, statistically valid data supporting constructionism > > Please avoid treatises - I will be presenting this this week, and if > anyone would volunteer, it may be possible to put you directly in touch > with this official and/or his staff. It is, or should be widely known > that I see the current conctructionist stance within OLPC and Sugar as a > misguided, feel-good attempt that is bound to do more harm to most kids > than good compared to what could be achieved with a solid > curricular-content approach, but I honestly would be happier I were > mistaken, if determined by solid evidence. > I love constructionism, it just doesn't seem to me to be what kids > need, and all in all, I wish it worked, but I cannot prove it does for > most kids. I am certain, but cannot prove either, that it does work > within classrooms with highly trained teachers, or for gifted kids, or > when there is a lot of educated support from home, in any case not a > basis to adopt it for a country like Bolivia. > > Yama > ___ > IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) > IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep > -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] [Sugar-devel] A Virtual Box solution that works with Sticks
gt; > > Ping if you'd like to work this through, should be easy enough for me > > to set up a test cycle here if you think this is valuable. > > > > Regards, > > --Gary > > > > ___ > > Sugar-devel mailing list > > sugar-de...@lists.sugarlabs.org > > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/sugar-devel > > > > > > > > -- > > Dave Bauer > > d...@solutiongrove.com > > http://www.solutiongrove.com > > > > > > ___ > IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) > IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep > -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] SOAS Write problem
Gerald, You should be able to take your master stick, delete Write, goto the Activities.sl.o, download the correct version and all should be well, at least for write. I haven't actually heard from Ham yet, there is a major flood in his area so there maybe a delay. On Sun, Sep 27, 2009 at 9:07 PM, Gerald Ardito wrote: > Caroline, > > No problem. > Just let me know when we have a working image. I am really close to > deploying SOAS on our Dells! > > Gerald > > > On Sun, Sep 27, 2009 at 8:39 PM, Caroline Meeks < > carol...@solutiongrove.com> wrote: > >> Thank you all for your help! >> I'll alert Ham who is our build master and if his computer is above water >> after all the flooding in the Manila area I'm sure he'll fix it soon. >> >> I'm sure this bug is in our GPA build too so thank you Gerald for >> testing!!! >> >> >> >> On Sat, Sep 26, 2009 at 10:15 PM, Gary C Martin wrote: >> >>> Hi Gerald, >>> >>> Many thanks for the feedback. >>> >>> On 27 Sep 2009, at 02:52, Gerald Ardito wrote: >>> >>> Gary, >>>> >>>> This image came from Caroline Meeks at Solution Grove. It came as part >>>> of a version of SOAS that she put together for me. >>>> >>>> Gerald >>>> >>> >>> OK, looks like a SoaS build mistake. >>> >>> Caroline, just a quick ping. Checking activities.sugarlabs.org, it tells >>> me Write-63 was the last version compatible with Sugar 0.84.x. I believe >>> Aleksey started working on the new 0.85.x toolbar code as of version 64, >>> breaking compatibility with earlier versions of Sugar: >>> >>>http://activities.sugarlabs.org/en-US/sugar/addons/versions/4201 >>> >>> Regards, >>> --Gary >>> >>> >> >> >> -- >> Caroline Meeks >> Solution Grove >> carol...@solutiongrove.com >> >> 617-500-3488 - Office >> 505-213-3268 - Fax >> > > -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] SOAS Write problem
Thank you all for your help! I'll alert Ham who is our build master and if his computer is above water after all the flooding in the Manila area I'm sure he'll fix it soon. I'm sure this bug is in our GPA build too so thank you Gerald for testing!!! On Sat, Sep 26, 2009 at 10:15 PM, Gary C Martin wrote: > Hi Gerald, > > Many thanks for the feedback. > > On 27 Sep 2009, at 02:52, Gerald Ardito wrote: > > Gary, >> >> This image came from Caroline Meeks at Solution Grove. It came as part of >> a version of SOAS that she put together for me. >> >> Gerald >> > > OK, looks like a SoaS build mistake. > > Caroline, just a quick ping. Checking activities.sugarlabs.org, it tells > me Write-63 was the last version compatible with Sugar 0.84.x. I believe > Aleksey started working on the new 0.85.x toolbar code as of version 64, > breaking compatibility with earlier versions of Sugar: > > http://activities.sugarlabs.org/en-US/sugar/addons/versions/4201 > > Regards, > --Gary > > -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] Fwd: CAST Books
On Wed, Sep 23, 2009 at 4:17 AM, Tomeu Vizoso wrote: > On Tue, Sep 22, 2009 at 21:25, Jim Simmons wrote: > > Caroline, > > > > I haven't tried the CAST website in Sugar but I have tried downloading > > Zip files from other websites in Sugar. If I download a Zip file from > > Gutenberg or from my personal website in shell.sugarlabs.org it > > downloads just fine. However, when I try to download a Zip file > > containing an RTF from the Baen Free Library I get the same thing that > > you see. No confirmation that a download is about to begin and in the > > Journal an entry showing a progress bar that just gives up. No > > problem with this website or CAST in Windows. It may be a MIME issue > > on the server that confuses the Browse Activity. In my own case I > > could download an unzipped RTF from Baen so I just documented that on > > my web page and left it at that. If you can document how to recreate > > the issue in Browse you might want to open a ticket on it. > > I think there should be tracebacks in the logs that indicate what is > happening, would be great if you could provide those in a ticket. > > Thanks, > > Tomeu > Hi Tomeu, I posted a ticket and a video. I don't see anything particlar in the logs. I bet when you see the video you'll know the issue, it looks just like the gmail download issue but I can't figure out how to use follow link workaround I use with gmail. Thanks, Carolie > > > James Simmons > > > > > >> Date: Tue, 22 Sep 2009 11:48:17 -0400 > >> From: Caroline Meeks > >> Subject: Re: [IAEP] Fwd: CAST Books > >> To: Kevin Cole > >> Cc: iaep > >>> > >>> Odd. I didn't have any problem on my Ubuntu system. What were you > trying > >>> to use to read "Legend of Snake and Eagle"? For the most part it > appeared > >>> to be HTML with a wee bit o' flash. Although the flash added to the > >>> experience a bit, it didn't seem critical to reading the book. (The > flash > >>> portion consisted of three critters on the bottom of each page, which, > when > >>> clicked on would each animate and then read aloud a tip about that > >>> particular section of the story. The tip was also available in print > form.) > >>> Without them, the story still contained vocabulary links in the text, > etc. > >>> > >> > >> In Sugar I have not gotten this far. I can't seem to get the zip folder > to > >> finish downloading. > > ___ > > IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) > > IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org > > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep > > > > > > -- > «Sugar Labs is anyone who participates in improving and using Sugar. > What Sugar Labs does is determined by the participants.» - David > Farning > -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] [Sugar-devel] A Virtual Box solution that works with Sticks
On Wed, Sep 23, 2009 at 3:16 PM, Mathieu Bridon (bochecha) < boche...@fedoraproject.org> wrote: > > Can anyone think of way to use Virtual Box that would allow students to > use > > the info on their sticks so they can at another point in time use a > > classroom computer and not always need to use the same MacBook? > > I don't quite understand your question. If the students boot the > system on their sticks and write their data on them, then the data are > on the sticks, not on the MacBook. > > What's the problem here ? > I edited, please let me know if its more clear. Thanks The current status of the GPA is: The 4th grade classroom has a bank of 6 machines that can boot Sugar on a Stick. The 4th grade specialist has one used laptop that can boot Sugar on a Stick. Access to the PCs in the computer lab is problematic and likely not to happen very much. There are two laptop carts of 25 bought last year Macbooks but we can not boot Sugar on a Stick on these machines even using a Boot-helper CD. See https://answers.launchpad.net/soas/+question/81566for gory details. The teachers are enthusiastic! The goal is to be able to use the classroom bank of computers for "Center Work" that is time in the day when students break into groups and work on different things in different parts of the room. Sugar would become one center. We also want to be able to do whole class instruction by signing out a laptop cart of Macbooks. We have sufficient privileges to install Virtual Box on the laptop cart Macbooks. Since we can't seem to boot the MacBooks directly, but we could use Virtual Box, can anyone think of way to use Virtual Box that would allow students to use the info on their sticks so they can at another point in time use a classroom computer and not always need to use the same MacBook? Thanks, Caroline > > > -- > > Mathieu Bridon (bochecha) > ___ > Sugar-devel mailing list > sugar-de...@lists.sugarlabs.org > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/sugar-devel > -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
[IAEP] A Virtual Box solution that works with Sticks
The current status of the GPA is: The 4th grade classroom has a bank of 6 machines that can boot Sugar on a Stick. The 4th grade specialist has one used laptop that can boot Sugar on a Stick. Access to the PCs in the computer lab is problematic and likely not to happen very much. There are two laptop carts of 25 bought last year Macbooks but booting Sugar on a Stick is problematic. See https://answers.launchpad.net/soas/+question/81566 for gory details. The teachers are enthusiastic! The goal is to be able to use the classroom bank of computers for "Center Work" that is time in the day when students break into groups and work on different things in different parts of the room. Sugar would become one center. We also want to be able to do whole class instruction by signing out a laptop cart of Macbooks. We have sufficient privileges to install Virtual Box on the laptop cart Macbooks. Can anyone think of way to use Virtual Box that would allow students to use the info on their sticks so they can at another point in time use a classroom computer and not always need to use the same MacBook? Thanks, Caroline -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
[IAEP] Fwd: [Question #83134]: Labyrinth - can't get out of Image Mode
I found learning to use Labyrinth a bit challenging. It would be great if someone had time to do a quick video explaining how to switch modes, draw boxes, rearrage. I think a video would make it pretty easy. Might be best to put each skill in its own video and have them each be under a minute. -- Forwarded message -- From: Caroline Date: Tue, Sep 22, 2009 at 12:58 PM Subject: Re: [Question #83134]: Labyrinth - can't get out of Image Mode To: cme...@sugarlabs.org Your question #83134 on Sugar on a Stick changed: https://answers.launchpad.net/soas/+question/83134 Status: Open => Solved You confirmed that the question is solved: I figured it out. When you want to add an image. First go into Image Mode. Then draw a new box Then you are promted to find your image. Then you have to click another mode to get out of image mode and back into text mode for example -- You received this question notification because you are a direct subscriber of the question. -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
