[Educators] World Bank study on computer use, February 2009

Sat Mar 14 18:29:23 EDT 2009

Actually, Palm Springs has been doing a One-to-One computer project in some of their classrooms using Macs.  I went to their presentation at CUE.  They have some great ideas for using the machines with the students that are related to the standards-based curriculum.  Some of these could be adapted/adopted to Sugar. 

Their Asst. technology person was there and said she know that attendance had improved. She has promised to send me data on what is happening with their test scores.  Maybe I should send her a reminder.

Caryl

> Date: Sat, 14 Mar 2009 15:17:46 -0700
> From: echerlin at gmail.com
> To: educators at lists.laptop.org
> CC: support-gang at lists.laptop.org
> Subject: Re: [Educators] World Bank study on computer use, February 2009
> 
> On Sat, Mar 14, 2009 at 11:11 AM, Caryl Bigenho <cbigenho at hotmail.com> wrote:
> > Hi Yama,
> >
> > I went back and looked at the BID report again this morning.  It seems to be
> > a pastiche of stuff gathered from many sources:
> >
> > They have some stats on internet use by students in several countries
> > identified only by a title with no source listed:
> > Generación Interactiva: 25.476 estudiantes de Argentina,
> > Brasil, Chile Colombia, México, Perú y Venezuela
> >
> > Some comments on the impact of technology in the classroom from a 2006
> > publication (poorly sourced)
> >
> > Some statements related to standardized test results, evidently in Colombia,
> > but no hard data (this is where the "confidence=competency" comment comes
> > in).
> >
> > Excerpts from someone's Powerpoint presentation in English with no comments
> > relating it to results, it just seems to be about the structure of a
> > hypothetical project.
> >
> > "Evaluations" of pre-pilots in Haiti and Paraguay based on "perceptions"
> >
> > Graphs of attention span data from Haiti...no before and after, no
> > information on how it was measured.
> >
> > In short...this report is pretty useless.  I apologize for not seeing that
> > yesterday.
> >
> > Now the big question: Why isn't someone doing a real study of how our
> > deployments are working?  Certainly there are many grad students out there
> > looking for a topic for their dissertation who would love to make this their
> > project.
> 
> +1
> 
> > What is preventing this from happening?
> 
> Columbia University Teachers College is studying the New York
> deployments. There was a report last year of a Swiss study on the
> costs of deployments.
> 
> I have been arguing for a program of research for two years. It is in
> the Earth Treasury mission. I consider the lack of such studies to be
> another instance of Nicholas's mismanagement of the entire program.
> 
> > Caryl
> >
> >> Date: Sat, 14 Mar 2009 11:10:11 -0500
> >> From: yama at netoso.com
> >> To: educators at lists.laptop.org
> >> Subject: Re: [Educators] World Bank study on computer use, February 2009
> >>
> >> Hi Caryl!
> >>
> >> This WB study
> >> http://tinyurl.com/d3gtto
> >> is a source used in the BID presentation that came to Sur's attention
> >> yesterday
> >> http://people.sugarlabs.org/rafael/TICSenEducacion.pdf
> >>
> >> I got it by contacting the author of the BID presentation, Eugenio
> >> Severin.
> >> Mirian Gregori of Sur is asking for the one about Uruguay and especially
> >> Brazil, or maybe there is another I do not know of? I have no idea
> >> about one focusing on Uruguay specially.
> >> Could you help us find that one?
> >>
> >> I wonder how the BID study you mention would measure "confidence", and
> >> how come that is a valid criterium for anything. It would not surprise
> >> me that they found a correlation between "self-confidence" and test
> >> results, and I would dare to guess that correlation would also hold
> >> positive for family income and two-parent home, which simply would prove
> >> that kids that have are better off will be better off...
> >>
> >> But I am guessing too much :-)
> >>
> >> Thanks!
> >>
> >> Yama
> >>
> >> Caryl Bigenho wrote:
> >> > Hi Yama,
> >> >
> >> > This study seems to be a different one from the one circulating on the
> >> > olpc-sur list from the BID. Similar results, but interesting stats on
> >> > computer use by the students in several Latin American countries. It
> >> > was released in March and concentrated on Uruguay for much of its data.
> >> > The WB study seems to concentrate on Colombia.
> >> >
> >> > The BID study says students who feel more confident of their computer
> >> > skills also do better in their subjects (tests?). Is this a "chicken
> >> > and egg" situation? Probably!
> >> >
> >> > Caryl
> >> >
> >> > ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >> > Date: Fri, 13 Mar 2009 18:41:06 -0500
> >> > From: yama at netoso.com
> >> > To: educators at lists.laptop.org
> >> > Subject: [Educators] World Bank study on computer use, February 2009
> >> >
> >> > Earlier this year it was announced there was a momentous World Bank
> >> > study to be published. We were warned it might be quite negative to the
> >> > OLPC project.
> >> >
> >> > If this is that study, I find it very tame, nothing new really, and
> >> > nothing we cannot improve - if we want and dare to see reality.
> >> > /
> >> > /*http://tinyurl.com/d3gtto*
> >> >
> >> > http://econ.worldbank.org/external/default/main?pagePK=64165259&piPK=64165421&theSitePK=469372&menuPK=64166093&entityID=000158349_20090211111507
> >> >
> >> > <http://econ.worldbank.org/external/default/main?pagePK=64165259&piPK=64165421&theSitePK=469372&menuPK=64166093&entityID=000158349_20090211111507>
> >> >
> >> > yes, computers in education are mostly useless, doh, unless they are
> >> > integrated to the existing process. Why don't people focus on that, I
> >> > don't know. (BTW, to integrate them to the teaching process, supporting
> >> > the teachers' work, is the approach we expect to use within OLE Bolivia)
> >> > (another BTW, talking with an international expert of UNICEF in Bolivia
> >> > I was told she had never seen something like that kind of integration,
> >> > ever, anywhere - go figure, seems /*so*/ obvious!)
> >> >
> >> > Just to spell out what I am talking about right here,
> >> > constructivism/ionism is /*not*/ connected to the educational process.
> >> >
> >> > My emphasis,
> >> > from the abstract,
> >> > / "Overall, the program seems to have had little
> >> > effect on students’ test scores and other outcomes. These
> >> > results are consistent across grade levels, subjects, and
> >> > gender. *The main reason for these results seems to be the
> >> > failure to incorporate the computers into the educational
> >> > process.*"/
> >> >
> >> > from the text,
> >> > "/ *The main reason for these results may be the implementation
> >> > of the program*. Surveys of both teachers and students suggest that the
> >> > program increases
> >> > computer use among students and teachers by a surprising small amount,
> >> > and most of the
> >> > use of computers by students is for the purposes of learning to use a
> >> > computer rather than
> >> > studying language. Additionally, the extra computer use reported by
> >> > teachers is
> >> > concentrated in the lower grades with older students’ teachers reporting
> >> > almost no
> >> > computer use in both groups."
> >> >
> >> > /
> >> >
> >> > <http://econ.worldbank.org/external/default/main?pagePK=64165259&piPK=64165421&theSitePK=469372&menuPK=64166093&entityID=000158349_20090211111507>
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >> >
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> 
> 
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