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