[OLPC_Boston] Notes from XO/Sugar impact study convo

[Greg Smith]

Hi Guys,

FYI here are some links to other studies that have been done. You may 
find them useful in designing yours.

- Thesis by former MIT student, current OLPC employee covering a 1 to 1 
deployment (pre-XO) in Costa Rica:
http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/41706?show=full

- Study of a pilot in NYC by people at Columbia University:
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Academic_papers#Evaluation_of_the_Teaching_Matters_One_Laptop_Per_Child_.28XO.29_Pilot_at_Kappa_I_V

- Study by University of Minnesota of XO deployment in Nepal:
http://blog.olenepal.org/index.php/archives/321

Thanks,

Greg S

> Date: Wed, 10 Dec 2008 03:09:27 -0500
> From: Mel Chua <mel at melchua.com>
> Subject: Re: [OLPC_Boston] Notes from XO/Sugar impact study convo
> To: edhs at bu.edu, olpc_boston at lists.laptop.org
> Cc: John Tierney <jtis4stx at hotmail.com>
> Message-ID: <493F7937.7 at melchua.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
> 
> John Tierney (calling in remotely), Evangeline Harris Stefanakis, and 
> myself had a great conversation on Monday, and I'm posting the notes 
> from our conversation with permission. (There are some details that 
> can't be public yet, but should be pretty soonish.)
> 
> Enjoy, comment, and feedback is welcome as always. ;) Note that I 
> haven't done my action items in the notes yet, I hope to get to them 
> tomorrow night (I'm pretty hosed right now) but pinging me on things 
> that might concern you is totally welcomed.
> 
> -Mel
> 
> ----
> 
> Problem: We don't know how well we're doing helping kids learn; we need 
> to measure the impact of our work.
> Proposal: Evangeline and her students will do a study  of the impact of 
> XOs/Sugar on local Boston-area pilots.
> 
> This is particularly timely in terms of looking for funding because the 
> new administration is actively looking for alternative methods of 
> assessing student learning (says Evangeline).
> 
> Priorities of pilot/study, in order
> 
> 1. Provide a good educational experience for the children participating 
> in the pilot
> 2. Serve the teachers, administrators, and volunteers (including parents 
> and Sugar developers) facilitating the pilot by giving them feedback on 
> the project's ongoing impact on the children
> 3. Be a good learning experience for the graduate students assisting 
> with the study
> 4. Disseminate good, solid results on the impact of XOs/Sugar to a wider 
> (national, if not global) audience.
> 
> Funding for the study will be needed due to institutional requirements. 
> This can be viewed as a plus, as funded research will give both the 
> study and the thing-being-studied (grassroots deployments, XOs, and 
> Sugar) further legitimacy.
> 
> Concerns on demographics: CFS is not the target demographic that we want 
> to reach eventually (there is a much greater need in low-income public 
> schools, for instance). Mel explained that given the resources situation 
> when the "we should do a local pilot" conversation started some months 
> ago, tackling anything beyond a small-scale trial at a supportive school 
> was seen as overly ambitious back then, but with increased local 
> activity and interest now, we *should* look for at least one comparison 
> public school.
> 
> Fletcher/Maynard, in Cambridge with a 99% minority population, was 
> suggested. Since CFS is doing 6th grade saturation, F/M doing 6th grade 
> saturation would provide a nice comparison sample.
> 
> * Evangeline will talk with Robin Harris, F/M's principal, to see if the 
> school was interested.
> * Mel will find an university chapter to work with F/M as their loop 
> team; first place to check will be with the BU team.
> * Caroline Meeks may also be a good person to ask about the local Sugar 
> (non-XO) pilots and the feasibility of expanding the study to those 
> schools as well.
> 
> Timeline for deployment is Jan/Feb 2009 (at CFS, with workshops in 
> January and physical XOs being handed to children in February).
> 
> * Mel will see if local engineering students might be interested in 
> doing tech development work on Sugar/XOs for the pilots and this study 
> specifically - making modifications needed for researchers to carry out 
> their work. The main concern is whether Sugar gathers the data needed 
> already, or if it can be made into more of a portfolio-capturing tool.
> 
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 4
> Date: Wed, 10 Dec 2008 09:34:17 -0500
> From: "Diane Serley" <olpc.aunti.mame at gmail.com>
> Subject: [OLPC_Boston] Monthly meet-up 12-16-08 @ Cosi
> To: olpc_boston at lists.laptop.org
> Message-ID:
> 	<1ac2acda0812100634g7bc1acbdl532abe75b610df0b at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
> 
> Just a reminder to everyone that this month's meet-up is on Tuesday 12/16,
> 5:30-7:30pm at Cosi Restaurant in Kendall Square Cambridge.
> 
> We'll be talking about the upcoming CFS pilot, upgrading systems and
> generally having a fun time.
> 
> Hope to see lots of people there!
>