[Olpc-open] RES: Defining success

[Sameer Verma]

On Tue, Jan 24, 2012 at 8:24 PM, Marta Voelcker
<marta at pensamentodigital.org.br> wrote:
> Hello,
>
>
>
> This is quite an interesting point. I write from Brazil, and I am also
> working on  my dissertation, not exactly about OLPC but about how the use of
> ICT on  education contributes for the change for new paradigms on education,
> the barriers for effective and scale innovation ( which relates to change on
> evaluation). Understanding that OLPCs mission is aligned with the change on
> education, I decided to write to share my point of view:
>
> - I see your question as a major global issue at the moment. We all want a
> better school, a student centered classroom, learning by doing,  project
> based learning, creativity, collaboration, critical thinking, problem
> solving, skills… but it so difficult change, and even more difficult to
> sustain and to scale the change, especially in locations were educators have
> limited education to teach. So, how technology can help us here?
>
>
>
> The problem is that we ( adults in charge of , or researching education at
> this moment) don´t know how to measure or to identify in a systemic way the
> success on the new education that we want, at least not with the resources
> available for education systems nowadays. There is research about it, but we
> are all babies  on this process.
>
>

This is as much a challenge in under-developed parts of the world as
it is in San Francisco. In my own experiences with schools here
(well-funded public schools), there is little wiggle room for teachers
to bring anything other than the prescribed textbooks and tests. Field
trips are about the only things they can do to show children things
outside the classroom.

In fact, in schools where the government has stopped caring or
assessing, the teachers actually have more leeway to bring in
alternative methods of learning.

After six months of trying, I have yet to figure out how my six year
old daughter and her classmates can get something like Lego or XO or
Sugar into their classroom. This is one of the best funded public
schools in San Francisco. Their library has shiny new Windows 7
computers that sit idle :-(

Sameer
-- 
Sameer Verma, Ph.D.
Professor, Information Systems
San Francisco State University
http://verma.sfsu.edu/
http://commons.sfsu.edu/
http://olpcsf.org/


>
> For instance, take collaboration   as a desired skill and an evidence of
> success on the new education paradigm,  how do we  evaluate collaboration?
>   The  educational systems are not ready for that. That’s why we are stuck
> on cases reported as anecdotes, because there is no school system valuing
> “success on the development of collaboration” on a systemic way (exception
> for some researches going on).
>
>
>
> An interesting research that can help us understand how challenging is this,
> and how this issue is part of a greater challenge,  is the work from Yochai
> Benkler from Harvard, on his recent book The Penguin and The Leviathan - How
> cooperation triumphs over self-interest - he states that most human beans
> are naturally good cooperators, but our reward and punishment systems
> (including evaluation on education) don´t match with the development of
> cooperation.
>
>
>
> So far, cases of success are object of research, to evaluate them on a
> systemic way we still have many steps to go: first, the educational system
> must be willing to recognize and value the new achievements or evidences of
> child development ( or skills development), second, this educational system
> must develop a way to value the new achievements, and this is not going to
> happen through ordinary tests. In my point of view this will happen through
> a system that keeps versions of kids products and tracks kids actions. It is
> through the  evaluation of  kids progress through what they produce and how
> they interact with peers and teachers,  that the technology will help us to
> evaluate, in a systemic way, the new evidences of success on the new
> education that we are all looking for.
>
>
>
> Marta
>
>
>
> De: olpc-open-bounces at lists.laptop.org
> [mailto:olpc-open-bounces at lists.laptop.org] Em nome de Brian D. Moss
> Enviada em: quarta-feira, 25 de janeiro de 2012 00:07
> Para: olpc-open at lists.laptop.org
> Assunto: Re: [Olpc-open] Defining success
>
>
>
>
>
> I would like to echo Farhan's request for information on how OLPC defines
> success (aside from anecdotal stories).  I'm currently writing my master's
> thesis on the OLPC program and why -- despite the most honorable of
> intentions -- it has largely failed to live up to the hype.
>
>
>
> Brian D. Moss, MLS
>
> Center for Global and International Studies
>
> University of Kansas
>
> bdmoss at ku.edu
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: "Ahmed, Farhan" <farhan.ahmed at chicagobooth.edu>
> To: "olpc-open at lists.laptop.org" <olpc-open at lists.laptop.org>
> Sent: Sunday, January 22, 2012 2:15 PM
> Subject: [Olpc-open] Defining success
>
>
>
> Hello,
>
>
>
> First of all, let me say that I love OLPC's mission of providing access to
> education for millions of underprivileged children across the globe. By
> empowering them to think critically and rationally, I believe it will usher
> an era of unprecedented progress for the participating regions.
>
>
>
> That being said, I wanted some thoughts on how OLPC defines and measures its
> impact. While I've watched videos of teachers and students expressing how
> the laptops have changes their lives, these stories are anecdotal at best.
> Is there a methodology through which OLPC tracks the concrete educational
> development a child goes through after he or she gets access to a laptop? It
> seems that tracking a child's progress over the years will allow OLPC to
> make substantial scientific claims about its impact. I haven't found any
> such data on the website. I do understand the limited effectiveness of
> quantifying "educational development", but I'm sure there's a
> well-researched methodology widely used.
>
>
>
> Furthermore, with regard to the Sugar interface, is it enabled to collect
> metrics on usage patterns (anonymized, of course)? Information on how often
> certain activities are enabled and used, the times of day a laptop sees most
> usage, the average data usage (mesh or the internet) and other such metrics
> would allow more targeted development and prioritization. Once again, I
> could not find any such data on the website.
>
>
>
> My motivation here is to understand how OLPC prioritizes it work and backs
> its claims on the impact. I am doing this as part of a research project I
> have undertaken at my university (The University of Chicago Booth School of
> Business). I'd be happy to answer any questions.
>
>
>
> Thank you,
>
> Farhan
>
>
>
> --
>
> Farhan Ahmed
>
> farhan.ahmed at chicagobooth.edu
>
>
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