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2010 July 13 Wednesday <br>
<br>
Mike Dawson<br>
OLPC Afghanistan<br>
<br>
Dear Mike: <br>
<br>
I am forwarding a string of emails about the subject of testing before
deployment of OLPC laptops, which I know you are very interested in. <br>
<br>
Firstly, has OLPC Afghanistan or the MoE made any further progress in
this regard, which you can share with the OLPC group here? And Second,
please note the references to Christoff's suggestions, in Australia and
Texas, of possible sources of base-line testing for OLPC deployments. <br>
<br>
Best regards, <br>
<br>
Carol Ruth Silver <br>
======================<br>
<br>
On 07/14/10 10:49, Cherry Withers wrote:
<blockquote
cite="mid:AANLkTimSPPz3XSt4hc1af86JfcSKvN9uEBlDvxQg7Vpj@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">We are grappling with the same question in the
Philippines. <br>
<br>
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. <br>
<br>
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". <br>
<br>
I am thankful however that we have a highly supportive pilot community
who are more than willing to be our lab for this study. <br>
<br>
Anyways, is there a push for this within the OLPC community? Anyone
looking at grant making organizations to start this type of research? <br>
<br>
---Cherry<br>
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Jul 14, 2010 at 9:45 AM, <span
dir="ltr"><<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:akleider@sonic.net">akleider@sonic.net</a>></span>
wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote"
style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><br>
I attempted a follow up with disappointing results.<br>
<br>
At the Australian site I found mention of 'pilot projects' but no
results.<br>
<br>
The Texas site seems to be having a problem with its server.<br>
<br>
The chilling reality is that the honest answer to the question on the<br>
table seems to be "absolutely none!"<br>
<br>
Please, can someone prove me wrong?<br>
<br>
cheers<br>
ak<br>
<div>
<div class="h5"><br>
> Hi Grant,<br>
><br>
> I just spent my morning looking at that very same question in<br>
> preparation for some afternoon meetings I have with people here in<br>
> Montevideo who run the OLPC project in Uruguay.<br>
><br>
> In general there's two dimensions in terms of the impact of a
project<br>
> such as OLPC: educational and social.<br>
><br>
> In terms of education some of the more popular metrics and aspects
to<br>
> look at apart from attendance rates are<br>
><br>
> * comparisons of school performance/achievements compared to
control<br>
> groups (though not everyone believes that;-)<br>
> * grade repetition rates<br>
> * student engagement in school<br>
> * time spent on school / education related tasks at home / outside
class<br>
> * knowledge about computers<br>
> * feelings towards technology in general<br>
> * collaboration between students<br>
> * self-confidence of students<br>
> * feelings about school by students<br>
><br>
> I'm sure I'm forgetting plenty more but if you look at some of the<br>
> research done by folks like TCER (Texas Center for Educational
Research)<br>
> or ACER (Australian Council for Educational Research) you'll
quickly be<br>
> able to come up with them.<br>
><br>
> With regard to social impact people are mostly looking at things
such as<br>
> rates of access to the Internet, perceptions of technology,
changing<br>
> roles of children in families and communities, etc.<br>
><br>
> Hope that helps:-)<br>
><br>
> Cheers,<br>
> Christoph<br>
><br>
> Am 14.07.2010 03:56, schrieb Grant Bowman:<br>
>> I gave a "lightning talk" today on the OLPC project at <a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://www.nblug.org" target="_blank">www.nblug.org</a><br>
>> <<a moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://www.nblug.org"
target="_blank">http://www.nblug.org</a>> and was asked about
current metrics. Besides<br>
>> increased student attendance, what are good ways to respond?<br>
>><br>
>> Thanks,<br>
>><br>
>> Grant<br>
>><br>
>><br>
>><br>
>> _______________________________________________<br>
>> OLPC-SF mailing list<br>
>> <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:OLPC-SF@lists.laptop.org">OLPC-SF@lists.laptop.org</a><br>
>> <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/olpc-sf" target="_blank">http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/olpc-sf</a><br>
><br>
> --<br>
> Christoph Derndorfer<br>
> co-editor, <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.olpcnews.com" target="_blank">www.olpcnews.com</a><br>
> e-mail: <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:christoph@olpcnews.com">christoph@olpcnews.com</a><br>
> _______________________________________________<br>
> OLPC-SF mailing list<br>
> <a moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:OLPC-SF@lists.laptop.org">OLPC-SF@lists.laptop.org</a><br>
> <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/olpc-sf" target="_blank">http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/olpc-sf</a><br>
><br>
><br>
<br>
<br>
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</div>
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<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Law Offices of Carol Ruth Silver
68 Ramona Av San Francisco CA
415 861 5802 Fx 415 522 1933
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:carol@silverlaw.biz">carol@silverlaw.biz</a>
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<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.afghan-satellite-teachers.net">www.afghan-satellite-teachers.net</a>
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