[OLPC-SF] Pilot update from the field

[Cherry Withers]

Hi All,

Below is an e-mail that I got from Mitch regarding updates. Fortunately, he
has survived the storm unscathed but the island had sustained damages.

Power was back up yesterday and I was able to speak with Mitch and the
teachers by phone. Here are some takeaways from our online meeting:

1) The laptops that were donated back in April and loaned by OLPC
Contributor's Program are being used constantly by the participants. Our
kiddie tech support team bring their laptops to school and use it to take
notes and share its use with fellow students.

2) Internet connectivity at Lubang Integrated School is still very
unreliable. Participants still go to Lubang Municipal building to get
internet connection. Reconfiguring of the AP is still currently worked on.
The XS that I left in April will still be shared by both Maligaya and LIS
School. There are currently no plans to hook up Maligaya with internet
connection. Internet connection is not as critical as getting the AP and XS
infrastructure stable. Mitch is working on it.

3) Etoys, Etoys, Etoys. The teachers have requested for additional training
in Etoys and pre-made content using Etoys.

4) I have secured a commitment from the teachers to do an on-line group
meeting every first Friday of the month to talk about issues as well as plan
for support on content once the laptops arrive. Anyone who would like to
listen in and help build content please send me your skype handle:
cwithers at ekindling.org  (it will be at 9:30pm PST). 1:1 meetings will also
be arranged on as needed basis.

5) Concern was raised for lack of activities for Math. Come September they
need to be covering Fractions.

6) Teachers like GNOME a lot. I have noticed the teachers' preference for
something more "Windows-like" during the training back in April. They have
constantly asked me to relate a Sugar activity with a Windows program ("You
know in Word you can do this...can you also do it in Write?") So no surprise
that they liked gnome. We've provided the guidance to use gnome after school
for their own lesson plan prep, etc. but it's Sugar in the classroom.

Minutes of the conference written by Mrs. Masangkay (English teacher) will
follow.

Cheers,
Cherry

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Mitchell Seaton <meaton.2v at gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Jul 14, 2010 at 7:01 PM
Subject: Re: Running MamaMedia activities
To: Cherry Withers <cwithers at ekindling.org>


Hey Cherry,

back online today yay... yeah storm wasn't too bad but power was out for a
while and bit of minor damage around island. i actually enjoyed it althought
abiet a bit bored yesterday but got some reading done.

- Yes meeting with teachers every day 5 - 7pm, one parent comes also -
Melanie.
- They all have gmail addresses/google accounts now for using Google apps
(docs, groups etc)
- Sugar refresher on Tues
- Yesterday was missed day due to storm
- Planning to look at some of newer activities and Mama media testing
- Also planning possible upgrades to os300 (XO-1 F11) - they should have dev
keys as of today. Still undecided whether to leave their XO build on 802 or
upgrade? thoughts?
- We will also spend a session exploring eToys more - can you detail what
you were able to cover with them in April? I can share some examples, and
the different tools in eToys, I've had limited experience however but its
pretty straight forward for me. :)
- Shown Gnome interface and pretty excited about being able to switch too it
- you can run eToys under Gnome also.
- To put server online (www) need domain/DNS and further XS config
- The other option for Moodle (without putting exact XS online) is to create
a VPS instance and install Moodle with DNS like moodle.ekindling.org and
then can use this as training space and migrate developed courses to the XS
moodle later on?
- The XS seems to be configured well by Ham, however we need specific config
of AP's used with the std XS build
- need to talk with Ham re configs asap, as there are some options to
explore
- still taking XS back to Manila with me on Tues?
- and can probably leave ext HD here with resources I brought

Do you want to do online meeting Monday or Friday? I can arrange it so can
be here with them and can do it here at LIS?

What times are good, we are usually meeting after classes finish 5pm (manila
time)?

Cheers,
Mitch


On Wed, Jul 14, 2010 at 12:08 PM, Cherry Withers <cwithers at ekindling.org>wrote:

> Hi Mitch,
>
> Have you set-up a training schedule for your stay in Lubang? Could you
> possibly squeeze in
> "Downloading an activity (preferably MamaMedia)"?  Trying to set-up a
> meeting now with
> all the teachers so we can plan out our on-going training program. Also
> planning out
> an eKindling Academy site for Muscovado and would like to get roll in
> additional online training
> for our teachers in Lubang.
>
> John is working on a sample moodle Math class and hoping that this can be
> uploaded
> to the XS server. Would you be able to help out Lloyd in setting up the
> server to be online? Let
> me know if there's a need for domain set-up etc.
>
> Thanks for your work out there Mitch!!!
>
> Regards and please be safe from the storms,
> Cherry
> cwithers at ekindling.org
> www.ekindling.org
> twitter: @ekindling
>
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