[OLPC_Boston] Notes from XO/Sugar impact study convo

[Greg Smith]

Hi edhs,

If you are interested in "the voice of the learners",  there are a 
number of blogs with a range of content posted by kids and teachers, 
mostly out of Uruguay.

Here's a kids photography contest:
http://ceibalptoros.blogspot.com/2008/11/el-concurso-de-fotografa-digital.html
here's a blog of a fifth grade class:
http://quintoescuela3.blogspot.com/

Helps to know Spanish, but you can find more by clicking around from 
there or I can send more links.

Just FYI not sure if that fits at all within the scope of your interest.

Thanks,

Greg S

edhs at bu.edu wrote:
> 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
> 
> 
>