[Grassroots-l] NOW: OLPC Contributors Program Mtg (#olpc-meeting, 2PM Boston Time, Friday)

[Holt]

Even though OLPC's Contributors Program has a bit of a temporary inventory
shortage this month, please all join us voting for the latest OLPC/Sugar
community projects over IRC Live Chat, even as I apologize certain
shipments may be somewhat delayed!  Please join us live now, to make the
best project allocations & mentoring relationships--starting right here:

http://forum.laptop.org/chat

Then type at bottom:
/join #olpc-meeting


AGENDA:

* Fast Review of the 3 latest (greatest!) HW/Project Proposals -- please
  join us advocating for, and/or reviewing shortcomings of these proposals:

  1. Testing & Fixing Bugs in Sugar - Purley Surrey, London, England
  2. XO laptops as assistive technology - Seattle, Washington
  3. Calling San Cristobal Island Community - Galapagos, Ecuador


* Which projects might you enjoy Mentoring below?!
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Projects
http://rt.laptop.org/Search/Results.html?Query=Queue=%27contributors%27

* New projects & libraries -- teaching them Community Outreach:
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/XO_Laptop_Lending_Libraries


1. Testing & Fixing Bugs in Sugar - Purley Surrey, London, England
    http://rt.laptop.org/Ticket/Display.html?id=68448
    [SPECIFIC SITE NEEDS TO BE POSTED OFF 
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Projects ]

    Requests 1 XO over undetermined months

    Project Background/Objectives:
    I've join the sugar labs community and I want to help test current and
    new releases of sugar labs. I asked the question on the sugar irc 
channel
    on freenode about obtaining an XO laptop to help with testing. And was
    suggested I apply with the contributor programme, I also want to write
    new activties for X-O platform to achieve this I need the use of XO 
laptop.


2. XO laptops as assistive technology - Seattle, Washington
    http://rt.laptop.org/Ticket/Display.html?id=68467
    http://adhdxo.wordpress.com
    [SPECIFIC SITE NEEDS TO BE POSTED OFF 
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Projects ]

    Requests 7 XOs over 21 months

    Project Objectives: (IN FULL @ http://adhdxo.wordpress.com)
    Twenty percent of gifted students are estimated to be 
"twice-exceptional."
    http://education.families.com/blog/educating-twice-exceptional-students
    School system tracking, which assigns high-scoring students to attend
    certain classes at a certain school, results in a higher-than-average
    concentration of 2E students in these classes. The 2E diagnosis is
    used in education to describe people who are gifted academically, but
    have learning disabilities. These people tend to fall through the
    cracks in the school system--they are extremely intelligent but tend
    to not show up on tests because of certain deficiencies in brain
    development, learning style, behavior, etc. They are often diagnosed
    with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Asperger's
    syndrome, and other things along the autism spectrum. Significant
    among their challenges are dysgraphia (physical problems that impede
    handwriting), disorganization (including misplacing completed
    assignments before they can turn them in, losing track of due dates,
    misfiling their work), short-term memory issues (this most notably
    shows up in math), and a host of other obstacles...

    The grades of 2E students trend toward a reverse Bell curve:
    they get mostly A and F grades. The failing grades are primarily
    because of things that individual laptops could address:
    * daily planners are missing entries
    * daily planners are not legible, and work isn't done
    * work gets completed but not turned in
    * work is illegible or misread as being incorrect
    * homework assignments and/or materials get left at school
    * attention drifts during class and key concepts are missed

    We propose to measure the effect on grades and outcomes of the
    following:
    * daily planners on computer
    * teachers simply share out the assignment information instead
      of relying on each student to write it down
    * teachers can more easily check the planners for accuracy and
      completeness
    * parents have access to complete, current, legible planner
    * alarms, reminders, etc. are in place so milestones don't
      pass unnoticed
    * the rate of completed work not getting turned in should near zero
    * loose papers will not get misplaced if the work's not on paper
    * even if it's misfiled on a computer, work can be found via search
    * undesirable outcomes caused by legibility of handwriting
      should be improved
    * the OLPC camera can be used to photograph worksheets,
      drawings, and other things that are not in electronic form, thus
      keeping these things from being lost or misplaced
    * quality of notes should improve since the computer can be
      used to record vital lectures so they can be checked against the
      notes, thus helping fill in gaps in notes caused by inattention
      (grades from notes and grades from tests should improve)


3. Calling San Cristobal Island Community - Galapagos, Ecuador
http://rt.laptop.org/Ticket/Display.html?id=68822
    [SPECIFIC SITE NEEDS TO BE POSTED OFF 
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Projects ]

    Requests 100 XOs over 12 months

    Project Objectives:
    1. Developing kindergarten children´s use of computers, using existing
       websites, e.g. BBC, British Council
    2. Developing primary and secondary children´s ability to use internet,
       research topics, prepare blogs, have e-pals and keep in touch 
with world
       outside the Galapagos. Raise knowledge of Galapagos fauna and 
flora in
       outside world by creating videos of animals on island, e.g. seals and
       iguanas. Develop resources about history of island by interviewing
       older people about life in islands in past.
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