[Olpc-open] Reply to Donna Aguste
Bryan Berry
bryan.berry at gmail.com
Mon Dec 3 04:17:52 EST 2007
Donna, your work in Tanzania sounds quite interesting and similar to
what we are doing here in Nepal.
We are working w/ the government of Nepal to implement Nepal's pilot of
OLPC. As part of that, we are creating a digital curriculum for English
and math, grades two and six that aligns with the govt curriculum. Our
long term goal is to create an entirely open source digital curriculum
for Nepal using Squeak (www.squeak.org).
I will be in the US in two weeks, maybe we can talk about how we can
collaborate.
You should also check out www.waveplace.com Tim Falconer there is using
Squeak in the Virgin Islands to teach graphic design skills to 4th
graders.
I also recommend you check out the Open Learning Exchange in Boston,
www.ole.org . They help connect NGO's that are developing open content
for education. Our relationship w/ them has been very complementary to
our relationship w/ OLPC.
We will post all of our activities on the web. they should be fairly
straightforward to translate and localize.
Bryan W. Berry
External Relations Manager
Open Learning Exchange Nepal
www.olenepal.org
On Mon, 2007-12-03 at 03:53 -0500, olpc-open-request at lists.laptop.org
wrote:
> Send Olpc-open mailing list submissions to
> olpc-open at lists.laptop.org
>
> To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
> http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/olpc-open
> or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
> olpc-open-request at lists.laptop.org
>
> You can reach the person managing the list at
> olpc-open-owner at lists.laptop.org
>
> When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
> than "Re: Contents of Olpc-open digest..."
>
>
> Today's Topics:
>
> 1. Re: The computer is the best educational tool ever invented,
> IMHO! :-) (Ed Montgomery)
> 2. Re: Olpc-open Digest, Vol 18, Issue 3 (Donna Auguste)
> 3. Re: Olpc-open Digest, Vol 18, Issue 3 (Carolyn Turbyfill)
> 4. Re: Olpc-open Digest, Vol 18, Issue 3 (Donna Auguste)
> 5. Re: Olpc-open Digest, Vol 18, Issue 3 (Edward Cherlin)
> 6. Re: Olpc-open Digest, Vol 18, Issue 3 (Carolyn Turbyfill)
> 7. Re: Olpc-open Digest, Vol 18, Issue 3 (Charbax)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Sun, 2 Dec 2007 06:58:30 -0800 (PST)
> From: Ed Montgomery <edm at rocketmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Olpc-open] The computer is the best educational tool
> ever invented, IMHO! :-)
> To: olpc-open at lists.laptop.org
> Message-ID: <84427.88517.qm at web36913.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
>
>
> Computers are just another educational tool, such as
> books, movies, pen and paper, chalk and blackboard,
> etc. I have found computers to be quite possibly the
> best educational tool ever invented. (And I've been
> teaching for decades, in various schools, in various
> countries.) And they are EXCELLENT tools for
> learning, practicing reading/writing, etc. It is a
> CREATIVE tool. And your dismissal of the digital
> divide speaks volumes of typical look down your nose
> at others attitude. You did not answer my questions:
> Do you, your colleagues, your children, etc., have
> access to and use computers? Did you not understand
> the questions?
>
> Such a lack of compassion for children who have
> virtually no access to education, now being given the
> opportunity to have a 'school in a box', also speaks
> volumes of your ignorance of children, education, etc.
> and your arrogance as a Ph.D making pronouncements
> based on typical ivory tower, lack of real world
> experience, publish or perish (garbage) thinking, etc.
>
> And yes, I am, after many years, extremely gentle,
> forgiving, and tolerant of ALL children. I am not any
> of these things with pompous, arrogant, deny children
> an extremely valuable educational tool, adult
> individuals who waste bandwidth, rather than assisting
> what is quite possibly one of the most far seeing
> educational projects being done in the world today.
>
> And by all means, if you wish to continue to debate
> your point of view, then by all means contact me via
> my email above, but stop wasting the time of people
> here who are here to actually do something to improve
> the educational opportunities of people who currently
> have next to none.
>
> And I also agree with the poster about school
> management (perhaps in league with child
> psychologists), who quite literally make the most
> bumbling, incompetent decisions in computer education
> that I have ever seen, (undoubtably based on FUD,
> flashy advertising and marketing, etc.) and
> consistently ignore the input of experienced,
> enthusiastic computer teachers! ;-)
>
> Finally, it would seem that governments around the
> world, millions of computer users, parents, teachers,
> children, doctors, lawyers, police, firefighters,
> teachers and other child psychologists, who would
> appear to be eager to get computers into the hands of
> their children, are not impressed with yours (or
> others) 'theories' of the benefits or lack thereof of
> computers.
>
>
>
> ____________________________________________________________________________________
> Be a better sports nut! Let your teams follow you
> with Yahoo Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/sports;_ylt=At9_qDKvtAbMuh1G1SQtBI7ntAcJ
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Sun, 2 Dec 2007 11:50:27 -0500
> From: "Donna Auguste" <donna at leavealittleroom.org>
> Subject: Re: [Olpc-open] Olpc-open Digest, Vol 18, Issue 3
> To: <olpc-open at lists.laptop.org>
> Message-ID:
> <A0107E4294E59146BA4B12BC40FD7D540395B2BE at mse6be2.MSE6.EXCHANGE.MS>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> We'll be using the XO in villages (Ethiopia and Tanzania) with middle
> school children. We have selected the XO after evaluating several ebook
> readers, since our original initiative was to provide ebooks. (We have
> shipped tens of thousands of recycled U.S. schoolbooks to Africa over
> the past five years, and decided last year that it's time to go digital
> and align the content with each country's Ministry of Education approved
> curriculum.) The individual children in these particular village
> schools do not have schoolbooks. Schoolbooks cost more than the
> schools, government, and families can afford. The teachers have
> schoolbooks (sometimes), and classrooms sometimes have a few shared
> books, but there are far from enough schoolbooks for all of the children
> in the classroom and there are no books to take home. There are no
> books in the homes of most of these children -- the suggestion that
> parents should read age-appropriate books to their children, etc etc is
> not relevant in many village situations I have experienced first-hand.
> There is a wonderful oral tradition of storytelling, and the children
> learn multiple languages at a very young age, and when the families have
> not been ravaged by HIV/AIDS there are multiple generations in each
> family. We are going to augment the children's education with one
> laptop for every student in these two middle schools, core and auxiliary
> educational content pre-loaded on the memory cards, and language study.
> Perhaps interesting educational dynamics will emerge as these laptops
> travel home each evening and weekend for use within the family
> environment.
>
> Yes, we could choose instead to buy a classroom count of core curriculum
> schoolbooks and encourage the school to allow the children to take the
> books home. We think that the wide array of auxiliary content we can
> include with each XO, and the skills the children will develop as they
> learn to use this computer, are a better investment than a single stack
> of core-curriculum schoolbooks. I'll let you know how it goes...
>
> -- Donna Auguste, donna at leavealittleroom.org
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Sun, 2 Dec 2007 13:23:15 -0800
> From: Carolyn Turbyfill <cturbyfill at mac.com>
> Subject: Re: [Olpc-open] Olpc-open Digest, Vol 18, Issue 3
> To: Donna Auguste <donna at leavealittleroom.org>
> Cc: olpc-open at lists.laptop.org
> Message-ID: <77CC8B64-7921-4469-8FDB-3CDC79B467EA at mac.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed
>
> you also have to assume the parents can read, that they can see to
> read,
> that they have time and energy during the day to read, and that they
> have
> light at night to read.
>
> On Dec 2, 2007, at 8:50 AM, Donna Auguste wrote:
>
> > We'll be using the XO in villages (Ethiopia and Tanzania) with middle
> > school children. We have selected the XO after evaluating several
> > ebook
> > readers, since our original initiative was to provide ebooks. (We
> > have
> > shipped tens of thousands of recycled U.S. schoolbooks to Africa over
> > the past five years, and decided last year that it's time to go
> > digital
> > and align the content with each country's Ministry of Education
> > approved
> > curriculum.) The individual children in these particular village
> > schools do not have schoolbooks. Schoolbooks cost more than the
> > schools, government, and families can afford. The teachers have
> > schoolbooks (sometimes), and classrooms sometimes have a few shared
> > books, but there are far from enough schoolbooks for all of the
> > children
> > in the classroom and there are no books to take home. There are no
> > books in the homes of most of these children -- the suggestion that
> > parents should read age-appropriate books to their children, etc
> > etc is
> > not relevant in many village situations I have experienced first-hand.
> > There is a wonderful oral tradition of storytelling, and the children
> > learn multiple languages at a very young age, and when the families
> > have
> > not been ravaged by HIV/AIDS there are multiple generations in each
> > family. We are going to augment the children's education with one
> > laptop for every student in these two middle schools, core and
> > auxiliary
> > educational content pre-loaded on the memory cards, and language
> > study.
> > Perhaps interesting educational dynamics will emerge as these laptops
> > travel home each evening and weekend for use within the family
> > environment.
> >
> > Yes, we could choose instead to buy a classroom count of core
> > curriculum
> > schoolbooks and encourage the school to allow the children to take the
> > books home. We think that the wide array of auxiliary content we can
> > include with each XO, and the skills the children will develop as they
> > learn to use this computer, are a better investment than a single
> > stack
> > of core-curriculum schoolbooks. I'll let you know how it goes...
> >
> > -- Donna Auguste, donna at leavealittleroom.org
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Olpc-open mailing list
> > Olpc-open at lists.laptop.org
> > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/olpc-open
>
>
>
> Carolyn Turbyfill
> cturbyfill at mac.com
> 11449 Rothbury Square
> Fairfax, Va 22030
> Cell: 503-381-2808
> Home: 703-865-6410
> Cell: 703-598-7141
> Work: 703-225-2513
> Work Fax: 703-225-2501
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 4
> Date: Sun, 2 Dec 2007 17:27:39 -0500
> From: "Donna Auguste" <donna at leavealittleroom.org>
> Subject: Re: [Olpc-open] Olpc-open Digest, Vol 18, Issue 3
> To: <olpc-open at lists.laptop.org>
> Message-ID:
> <A0107E4294E59146BA4B12BC40FD7D540395B2C0 at mse6be2.MSE6.EXCHANGE.MS>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> Yes, you're absolutely correct Carolyn. In the remote and rural areas
> of Tanzania, children attending school in 2007 are frequently the first
> generation of their families to go to school. In these situations,
> their parents do not know how to read. There are no books at home.
> There are no newspapers at home. There may be a lantern and a
> battery-powered radio in their home, but there is no electricity. The
> need for literacy is fundamental.
>
> -- Donna
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Carolyn Turbyfill [mailto:cturbyfill at mac.com]
> Sent: Sunday, December 02, 2007 2:23 PM
> To: Donna Auguste
> Cc: olpc-open at lists.laptop.org
> Subject: Re: [Olpc-open] Olpc-open Digest, Vol 18, Issue 3
>
> you also have to assume the parents can read, that they can see to
> read,
> that they have time and energy during the day to read, and that they
> have
> light at night to read.
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 5
> Date: Sun, 2 Dec 2007 17:34:02 -0800
> From: "Edward Cherlin" <echerlin at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Olpc-open] Olpc-open Digest, Vol 18, Issue 3
> To: "Carolyn Turbyfill" <cturbyfill at mac.com>, OLPC-Open
> <Olpc-open at laptop.org>
> Message-ID:
> <e574f6eb0712021734l1e10d145n273125c621d1df54 at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
>
> On Dec 2, 2007 1:23 PM, Carolyn Turbyfill <cturbyfill at mac.com> wrote:
> > you also have to assume the parents can read, that they can see to
> > read,
> > that they have time and energy during the day to read, and that they
> > have
> > light at night to read.
>
> I make none of those assumptions. As I wrote on OLPC News, I assume
> that the computer will read to children and parents alike when
> multilingual text-to-speech software is included. Karaoke-style
> coloring of the text is also important to show what letter or syllable
> is being pronounced. We know that children will learn to read if they
> hear and see stories at the same time. Some unknown fraction of the
> parents will also learn to read under those conditions, just is
> illiterate Indians learn to read while singing along with captioned
> Bollywood movies.
>
> > On Dec 2, 2007, at 8:50 AM, Donna Auguste wrote:
> >
> > > We'll be using the XO in villages (Ethiopia and Tanzania) with middle
> > > school children. We have selected the XO after evaluating several
> > > ebook
> > > readers, since our original initiative was to provide ebooks. (We
> > > have
> > > shipped tens of thousands of recycled U.S. schoolbooks to Africa over
> > > the past five years, and decided last year that it's time to go
> > > digital
> > > and align the content with each country's Ministry of Education
> > > approved
> > > curriculum.) The individual children in these particular village
> > > schools do not have schoolbooks. Schoolbooks cost more than the
> > > schools, government, and families can afford. The teachers have
> > > schoolbooks (sometimes), and classrooms sometimes have a few shared
> > > books, but there are far from enough schoolbooks for all of the
> > > children
> > > in the classroom and there are no books to take home. There are no
> > > books in the homes of most of these children -- the suggestion that
> > > parents should read age-appropriate books to their children, etc
> > > etc is
> > > not relevant in many village situations I have experienced first-hand.
> > > There is a wonderful oral tradition of storytelling, and the children
> > > learn multiple languages at a very young age, and when the families
> > > have
> > > not been ravaged by HIV/AIDS there are multiple generations in each
> > > family. We are going to augment the children's education with one
> > > laptop for every student in these two middle schools, core and
> > > auxiliary
> > > educational content pre-loaded on the memory cards, and language
> > > study.
> > > Perhaps interesting educational dynamics will emerge as these laptops
> > > travel home each evening and weekend for use within the family
> > > environment.
> > >
> > > Yes, we could choose instead to buy a classroom count of core
> > > curriculum
> > > schoolbooks and encourage the school to allow the children to take the
> > > books home. We think that the wide array of auxiliary content we can
> > > include with each XO, and the skills the children will develop as they
> > > learn to use this computer, are a better investment than a single
> > > stack
> > > of core-curriculum schoolbooks. I'll let you know how it goes...
> > >
> > > -- Donna Auguste, donna at leavealittleroom.org
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > Olpc-open mailing list
> > > Olpc-open at lists.laptop.org
> > > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/olpc-open
> >
> >
> >
> > Carolyn Turbyfill
> > cturbyfill at mac.com
> > 11449 Rothbury Square
> > Fairfax, Va 22030
> > Cell: 503-381-2808
> > Home: 703-865-6410
> > Cell: 703-598-7141
> > Work: 703-225-2513
> > Work Fax: 703-225-2501
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Olpc-open mailing list
> > Olpc-open at lists.laptop.org
> > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/olpc-open
> >
>
>
>
> --
> Edward Cherlin
> Earth Treasury: End Poverty at a Profit
> http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Earth_Treasury
> "The best way to predict the future is to invent it."--Alan Kay
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 6
> Date: Sun, 2 Dec 2007 20:12:27 -0800
> From: Carolyn Turbyfill <cturbyfill at mac.com>
> Subject: Re: [Olpc-open] Olpc-open Digest, Vol 18, Issue 3
> To: Edward Cherlin <echerlin at gmail.com>
> Cc: OLPC-Open <Olpc-open at laptop.org>
> Message-ID: <E07BAB7C-F4F3-412B-80D4-3B7FA95ACD10 at mac.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed
>
> Hi Mr. Cherlin -
>
> Actually - I was attempting to add to your point - not to disagree
> with it.
> Computers can be used to teach everyone in a family to read. They
> are also
> great at the repetive tasks - and combining visual and auditory
> input to help
> students remember information.
>
> On Dec 2, 2007, at 5:34 PM, Edward Cherlin wrote:
>
> > On Dec 2, 2007 1:23 PM, Carolyn Turbyfill <cturbyfill at mac.com> wrote:
> >> you also have to assume the parents can read, that they can see to
> >> read,
> >> that they have time and energy during the day to read, and that they
> >> have
> >> light at night to read.
> >
> > I make none of those assumptions. As I wrote on OLPC News, I assume
> > that the computer will read to children and parents alike when
> > multilingual text-to-speech software is included. Karaoke-style
> > coloring of the text is also important to show what letter or syllable
> > is being pronounced. We know that children will learn to read if they
> > hear and see stories at the same time. Some unknown fraction of the
> > parents will also learn to read under those conditions, just is
> > illiterate Indians learn to read while singing along with captioned
> > Bollywood movies.
> >
> >> On Dec 2, 2007, at 8:50 AM, Donna Auguste wrote:
> >>
> >>> We'll be using the XO in villages (Ethiopia and Tanzania) with
> >>> middle
> >>> school children. We have selected the XO after evaluating several
> >>> ebook
> >>> readers, since our original initiative was to provide ebooks. (We
> >>> have
> >>> shipped tens of thousands of recycled U.S. schoolbooks to Africa
> >>> over
> >>> the past five years, and decided last year that it's time to go
> >>> digital
> >>> and align the content with each country's Ministry of Education
> >>> approved
> >>> curriculum.) The individual children in these particular village
> >>> schools do not have schoolbooks. Schoolbooks cost more than the
> >>> schools, government, and families can afford. The teachers have
> >>> schoolbooks (sometimes), and classrooms sometimes have a few shared
> >>> books, but there are far from enough schoolbooks for all of the
> >>> children
> >>> in the classroom and there are no books to take home. There are no
> >>> books in the homes of most of these children -- the suggestion that
> >>> parents should read age-appropriate books to their children, etc
> >>> etc is
> >>> not relevant in many village situations I have experienced first-
> >>> hand.
> >>> There is a wonderful oral tradition of storytelling, and the
> >>> children
> >>> learn multiple languages at a very young age, and when the families
> >>> have
> >>> not been ravaged by HIV/AIDS there are multiple generations in each
> >>> family. We are going to augment the children's education with one
> >>> laptop for every student in these two middle schools, core and
> >>> auxiliary
> >>> educational content pre-loaded on the memory cards, and language
> >>> study.
> >>> Perhaps interesting educational dynamics will emerge as these
> >>> laptops
> >>> travel home each evening and weekend for use within the family
> >>> environment.
> >>>
> >>> Yes, we could choose instead to buy a classroom count of core
> >>> curriculum
> >>> schoolbooks and encourage the school to allow the children to
> >>> take the
> >>> books home. We think that the wide array of auxiliary content we
> >>> can
> >>> include with each XO, and the skills the children will develop as
> >>> they
> >>> learn to use this computer, are a better investment than a single
> >>> stack
> >>> of core-curriculum schoolbooks. I'll let you know how it goes...
> >>>
> >>> -- Donna Auguste, donna at leavealittleroom.org
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> _______________________________________________
> >>> Olpc-open mailing list
> >>> Olpc-open at lists.laptop.org
> >>> http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/olpc-open
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Carolyn Turbyfill
> >> cturbyfill at mac.com
> >> 11449 Rothbury Square
> >> Fairfax, Va 22030
> >> Cell: 503-381-2808
> >> Home: 703-865-6410
> >> Cell: 703-598-7141
> >> Work: 703-225-2513
> >> Work Fax: 703-225-2501
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> Olpc-open mailing list
> >> Olpc-open at lists.laptop.org
> >> http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/olpc-open
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Edward Cherlin
> > Earth Treasury: End Poverty at a Profit
> > http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Earth_Treasury
> > "The best way to predict the future is to invent it."--Alan Kay
>
>
>
> Carolyn Turbyfill
> cturbyfill at mac.com
> 11449 Rothbury Square
> Fairfax, Va 22030
> Cell: 503-381-2808
> Home: 703-865-6410
> Cell: 703-598-7141
> Work: 703-225-2513
> Work Fax: 703-225-2501
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 7
> Date: Mon, 3 Dec 2007 09:51:58 +0100
> From: Charbax <charbax at charbax.com>
> Subject: Re: [Olpc-open] Olpc-open Digest, Vol 18, Issue 3
> To: OLPC-Open <Olpc-open at laptop.org>
> Message-ID:
> <32bca7340712030051i63dd8c76y4b29daeae0297eec at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> Yeah, or how about synchronizing of an audiobook with an ebook, where the
> synchronisation was done with speech recognition on a server which outputs a
> synchronisation file with the audiobook file so that it can provide this
> karaoke style boldening of the text or the line of text that is being read
> on the audiobook.. Even though 9-10 hour audiobooks are over 100mb at a
> decent quality encoding, there is enough space on the XO for one or two of
> them at a time, and they could be downloaded to the school server overnight
> or cheaply through a satellite download connection.. Then also have a 400mb
> or so video version of the story with subtitles..
>
> On Dec 3, 2007 2:34 AM, Edward Cherlin <echerlin at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > I assume
> > that the computer will read to children and parents alike when
> > multilingual text-to-speech software is included. Karaoke-style
> > coloring of the text is also important to show what letter or syllable
> > is being pronounced. We know that children will learn to read if they
> > hear and see stories at the same time. Some unknown fraction of the
> > parents will also learn to read under those conditions, just is
> > illiterate Indians learn to read while singing along with captioned
> > Bollywood movies.
> >
>
>
More information about the Olpc-open
mailing list