[OLPC_Boston] Notes from XO/Sugar impact study convo

[edhs at bu.edu]

hello there Greg,
Wonderful information and indeed the key idea here is to learn from 
other venues and also to find ways to document the voice of the 
learners which is my hope.
edhs

Quoting Greg Smith <gregsmitholpc at gmail.com>:

> 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!
>>
>
>



Evangeline Harris Stefanakis, Ed.D.
Associate Professor in Administration, Training, and Policy
Boston University, School of Education
Two Sherborn St.
Boston, MA 02115
email: edhs at bu.edu
phone: 617-358-6947