[Sur] [Caos] Oscar Becerra contesta (25 veces) al art�culo de Christoph Derndorfer

[forster en ozonline.com.au]

Thanks Jameson and Yamandu for your replies.

I have also been reading with interest the discussions on olpc-sur using Google Translate as best as I can understand. Sometimes the translations are good, other times not so good. Please excuse my reply on this list in English.

Jameson:
> your re-analysis merely shows that computers had no effect in Romania,
> not that they were helpful.

Yes, I think that no conclusions can be drawn from the Romanian study, positive or negative.

Yamandu:
> Speaking of which, have you ever seen any report that would be 
> *positive* to 1-on-1 that uses anything that would seem like proper 
> statistics?
> Certainly not the official ones from Ceibal, and OLPC itself publishes 
> no research.  If you have something to help us learn *facts*, that is 
> much appreciated by a few :-) of us...

Learning is difficult to measure. Simple thinks like recall can be tested easily with standardised testing but the kind of learning that matters in the long run, the ability to solve real world problems, is very difficult to measure.

I have not seen much which is conclusive on 1:1 computing using “proper statistics� but have seen a number of studies which are interesting and invite further study, for example, http://www.pisaresconf09.org/user_uploads/files/context/room2/Kluttig_Peirano_Vergara.pdf

“There is a low, significant and positive effect of the use of computers at
home regarding school achievement.�

Though far from conclusive, this study suggests areas for further research.
Meanwhile, teachers need to be guided by what they observe, what looks like it is working. My personal experience is that if children are excited by the kinds of challenges that Turtle Art, Scratch and Etoys offer, time spent at home on computers is very valuable.

Thanks
Tony