[OLPC-SF] Current OLPC Metrics

Christoph Derndorfer e0425826 at student.tuwien.ac.at
Fri Jul 16 09:34:11 EDT 2010


Speaking of helpful links:

This blog-post on "The impact of laptops on education" by OLPC’s Antonio
M. Battro is definitely a very interesting read:
http://blog.laptop.org/2010/07/15/impact-of-laptops-in-education/

Cheers,
Christoph

Am 15.07.2010 00:37, schrieb Cherry Withers:
> Thank you Christoph! The link is helpful. Will read up.
> 
> ---Cherry
> 
> 
> On Wed, Jul 14, 2010 at 7:40 PM, Christoph Derndorfer
> <e0425826 at student.tuwien.ac.at <mailto:e0425826 at student.tuwien.ac.at>>
> wrote:
> 
>     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>
>     > <mailto: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>
>     >     >> <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>
>     <mailto: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>
>     <http://www.olpcnews.com>
>     >     > e-mail: christoph at olpcnews.com
>     <mailto:christoph at olpcnews.com> <mailto: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>
>     <mailto: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>
>     <mailto: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>
> 
> 

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


More information about the OLPC-SF mailing list