[OLPC-SF] Current OLPC Metrics

Wed Jul 14 22:40:32 EDT 2010

Am 14.07.2010 14:49, schrieb Cherry Withers:
> We are grappling with the same question in the Philippines.
> 
> Our first pilot is good for a three year longitudinal study. One issue
> is there's only one standardized test that the children take and that is
> at 6th grade (this serves as a basis for their entry in high schools. No
> middle schooling). There's one "optional" assessment that they take at
> 3rd grade, which thankfully this region opted for. However data mining
> will be a challenge. Still waiting for the results of that test. We are
> deploying with 4th graders and will be following them throughout 6th grade.
> 
> We are currently seeking a research partner and identified one
> university that is interested. We are now trying to establish a baseline
> study before we deploy in September.  Some of the things mentioned by
> Christoph can be incorporated and will definitely look at TCER (once
> it's up) and ACER. We are looking beyond social impact because decision
> makers are very much more interested in 1:1 computing increases
> (surprise surprise) test scores to justify a larger and widespread
> deployment given the current costs of these things. In short more "bang
> for the buck".
> 
> I am thankful however that we have a highly supportive pilot community
> who are more than willing to be our lab for this study.
>   
> Anyways, is there a push for this within the OLPC community? Anyone
> looking at grant making organizations to start this type of research?

Cherry,

I think this discussion (and previous ones on other mailing lists,
including the somewhat forgotten research list at
http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/research) and the efforts on display at
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_research definitely show that there is an
interest in this topic, both inside and outside the OLPC community.

Countries such as Uruguay, provinces such as Alabama and organizations
such as OLE Nepal (and its associated partners) as well as individuals
such as Walter Bender, Caroline Meeks and others have been working on a
variety of efforts in this area for quite some time.

However as far as grants are concerned I'm currently not aware of any
large scale efforts. Walter Bender previously mentioned applying for NSF
(National Science Foundation) grants in the United States but I don't
know the details of these proposals or whether any of them went through.

Cheers,
Christoph

> ---Cherry
> 
> On Wed, Jul 14, 2010 at 9:45 AM, <akleider at sonic.net
> <mailto:akleider at sonic.net>> wrote:
> 
> 
>     I attempted a follow up with disappointing results.
> 
>     At the Australian site I found mention of 'pilot projects' but no
>     results.
> 
>     The Texas site seems to be having a problem with its server.
> 
>     The chilling reality is that the honest answer to the question on the
>     table seems to be "absolutely none!"
> 
>     Please, can someone prove me wrong?
> 
>     cheers
>     ak
> 
>     > Hi Grant,
>     >
>     > I just spent my morning looking at that very same question in
>     > preparation for some afternoon meetings I have with people here in
>     > Montevideo who run the OLPC project in Uruguay.
>     >
>     > In general there's two dimensions in terms of the impact of a project
>     > such as OLPC: educational and social.
>     >
>     > In terms of education some of the more popular metrics and aspects to
>     > look at apart from attendance rates are
>     >
>     > * comparisons of school performance/achievements compared to control
>     > groups (though not everyone believes that;-)
>     > * grade repetition rates
>     > * student engagement in school
>     > * time spent on school / education related tasks at home / outside
>     class
>     > * knowledge about computers
>     > * feelings towards technology in general
>     > * collaboration between students
>     > * self-confidence of students
>     > * feelings about school by students
>     >
>     > I'm sure I'm forgetting plenty more but if you look at some of the
>     > research done by folks like TCER (Texas Center for Educational
>     Research)
>     > or ACER (Australian Council for Educational Research) you'll
>     quickly be
>     > able to come up with them.
>     >
>     > With regard to social impact people are mostly looking at things
>     such as
>     > rates of access to the Internet, perceptions of technology, changing
>     > roles of children in families and communities, etc.
>     >
>     > Hope that helps:-)
>     >
>     > Cheers,
>     > Christoph
>     >
>     > Am 14.07.2010 03:56, schrieb Grant Bowman:
>     >> I gave a "lightning talk" today on the OLPC project at
>     www.nblug.org <http://www.nblug.org>
>     >> <http://www.nblug.org> and was asked about current metrics. Besides
>     >> increased student attendance, what are good ways to respond?
>     >>
>     >> Thanks,
>     >>
>     >> Grant
>     >>
>     >>
>     >>
>     >> _______________________________________________
>     >> OLPC-SF mailing list
>     >> OLPC-SF at lists.laptop.org <mailto:OLPC-SF at lists.laptop.org>
>     >> http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/olpc-sf
>     >
>     > --
>     > Christoph Derndorfer
>     > co-editor, www.olpcnews.com <http://www.olpcnews.com>
>     > e-mail: christoph at olpcnews.com <mailto:christoph at olpcnews.com>
>     > _______________________________________________
>     > OLPC-SF mailing list
>     > OLPC-SF at lists.laptop.org <mailto:OLPC-SF at lists.laptop.org>
>     > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/olpc-sf
>     >
>     >
> 
> 
>     _______________________________________________
>     OLPC-SF mailing list
>     OLPC-SF at lists.laptop.org <mailto:OLPC-SF at lists.laptop.org>
>     http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/olpc-sf
> 
> 

-- 
Christoph Derndorfer
co-editor, www.olpcnews.com
e-mail: christoph at olpcnews.com