[Server-devel] Drupal on OLPC? (Martin Langhoff)

[Carol Lerche]

Martin and friends,

One problem with moodle is its lack of "skinning".  I have not found any
examples that are not text heavy and I can't find examples of use by actual
young children.  The elementary examples referenced are closed (moodle login
doesn't work and the site pointed to says "by invitation only".)

I want little kids to access a class website while in school, as a way to
upload their work, both to share with each other and with the teacher and
other adults at the school.  I am dealing with very young kids who are just
learning to read and write.  The school only has grades k-2 at present,
though it will grow one grade per year until it is a K-8.  I am trying to
build facilities that have icons and limited text in the areas that they
need to use, and that has the same look and feel, but with more text,
obviously, for the "adult" sections of the website (which contains
standards, lesson plans, forms, and an accessible version of the cataloging
of the library.)

The adult section is a no-brainer no matter what system is used.  I
definitely see the appeal of moodle for delivering e-courses.  But I think
content management also needs to have a flexible look and feel for kids.
Even though my deployment doesn't quite match the third world use cases, it
does in this regard.  I think there is a tendency for the adults
volunteering and working for OLPC to get most excited about activities and
applications that are most suited for older elementary and high school kids,
and to forget that the target age group is 6-12.  6, 7 and 8 year olds are
still reading simple text, and verbose interfaces don't work for them.  This
is also true for older kids who have literacy issues.  These kids need
doorways into learning that don't require them to already be fully literate.
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