Thank you Samson
Then I guess the email format is not the best choice. Could you please document it on a wiki page at the Sugar Labs wiki? Blessings and a nice week to all Laura Victoria 2017-04-10 8:25 GMT-05:00 Samson Goddy <[email protected]>: > If i am wrong, walter made it clear earlier that this is a "draft > proposal" meaning you can input. > > Samson > > On Apr 10, 2017 2:15 PM, "Laura Vargas" <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > 2017-04-09 19:03 GMT-05:00 Walter Bender <[email protected]>: > >> >> >> On Sun, Apr 9, 2017 at 7:56 PM, Dave Crossland <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>> Hi >>> >>> Thanks Walter. I'd like to better understand some additional context >>> before diving in :) >>> >>> Does this mean Sameer you have stopped the project planning process you >>> started, and we should not expect you to restart it again? >>> >> >> At the most recent SLOB meeting Samson brought up the fact that we were >> still waiting and so I volunteered to write something up to get the >> conversation going again. >> > > Thanks for doing this Walter, > > After a quick read, I have to confess I feel sad and excluded because none > of the projects I have worked on [1] is mentioned on your view of Sugar's > history. > > > Regards and blessings, > > Laura V > > [1] http://pe.sugarlabs.org/ir/Proyectos > > >> >> >>> >>> Walter, are these the goals for this year, or are they your proposal for >>> the goals for this year? >>> >> >> Not sure I understand what you are asking. I wrote up a draft of goals >> but they are not "the goals" until we agree to them. >> >> regards. >> >> -walter >> >>> >>> >>> >>> On Apr 9, 2017 3:31 PM, "Walter Bender" <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>>> As per the discussion in the last Suagr Labs Oversight Board Meeting, I >>>> had agreed to write a draft statement of goals for 2017. The document below >>>> includes feedback from Samson G. I hope this document can serve to >>>> revitalize our discussion from 2016 that never reached resolution. >>>> >>>> Sugar Labs Plans, Goals, Aspirations >>>> >>>> What is Sugar Labs? >>>> >>>> Sugar Labs creates, distributes, and maintains learning software for >>>> children. Our approach to learning is grounded in Constructionism, a >>>> pedagogy developed by Seymour Papert and his colleagues in the 1960s and >>>> 70s at MIT. Papert pioneered the use of the computer by children to help >>>> engage them in the “construction of knowledge.” His long-time colleague >>>> Cynthia Solomon expanded up his ideas by introducing the concept of >>>> engaging children in debugging as a pathway into problem-solving. Their >>>> 1971 paper, “Twenty things to do with a computer”, is arguably the genesis >>>> of contemporary movements such as the Maker Movement and Hour of Code. >>>> >>>> At the core of Constructionism is “learning through doing.” If you want >>>> more learning, you want more doing. At Sugar Labs we provide tools to >>>> promote doing. (We focus almost exclusively on tools, not instructional >>>> materials.) However, we go beyond “doing” by incorporating critical dialog >>>> and reflection into the Sugar learning environment, through mechanisms for >>>> collaboration, journaling, and portfolio. >>>> >>>> Sugar Labs is a spinoff of the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) project and >>>> consequently it has inherited many of its goals from that project. The goal >>>> of OLPC is to bring the ideas of Constructionism to scale in order to reach >>>> more children. A particular focus is on children in the developing world. >>>> In order to meet that goal, Sugar, which was originally developed for OLPC, >>>> was by necessity a small-footprint solution that required few resources in >>>> terms of CPU, memory, storage, or network connectivity. The major change on >>>> focus from the OLPC project is that Sugar Labs strives to make the Sugar >>>> desktop available to multiple platforms, not just the OLPC XO hardware. >>>> >>>> Who develops Sugar? >>>> >>>> Sugar Labs is a 100% volunteer effort (although we do occasionally >>>> raise money for paid student internships). Sugar development and >>>> maintenance is incumbent upon volunteers and hence we strive to provide as >>>> much control as possible to our community members, including our end-users. >>>> (In fact, one of our assertions is that by enabling our users to >>>> participate in the development of the tools that they use will lead to >>>> deeper engagement in their own learning.) Towards these ends, we chose the >>>> GPL as our primary license. It has been said of the GPL that it “restricts >>>> my right [as a developer] to restrict yours [as a user and potential >>>> developer]”, which seems ideal for a project that wants to engage a broad >>>> and diverse set of learners. But at Sugar Labs we go beyond the usual goals >>>> of FOSS: a license to make changes to the code is not enough to ensure that >>>> users make changes. We also strive to provide the means to make changes. >>>> Our success in this goal is best reflected in the number of patches we >>>> receive from our community. (We achieve this goal through providing access >>>> to source code and development tools within Sugar itself. We also actively >>>> participate in workshops and internship programs such as Google Summer of >>>> Code, Outreaching, and Google Code-In.) >>>> >>>> Who uses Sugar? >>>> >>>> Ultimately, our goal is to reach learners (and educators) with powerful >>>> tools and engage them in Constructionist learning. Currently we reach them >>>> in many ways: the majority of our users get the Sugar desktop preinstalled >>>> on OLPC XO hardware. We have a more modest set of users who get Sugar >>>> packaged in Fedora, Trisquel, Debian, Ubuntu, or other GNU/Linux platforms. >>>> Some users get Sugar on Live Media (i.e., Sugar on a Stick). Recently >>>> Sugarizer, a repackaging of some of the core Sugar ideas for the browser, >>>> has been finding its way to some users. There are also a number of Sugar >>>> activities that are popular outside of the context Sugar itself, for >>>> example, Turtle Blocks, which has wide-spread use in India. Harder to >>>> measure is the extent to which Sugar has influenced other providers of >>>> “educational” software. If the Sugar pedagogy is incorporated by others, >>>> that advances our goal. >>>> >>>> Who supports Sugar? >>>> >>>> When we first created Sugar Labs, we envisioned “Local Labs”—hence the >>>> name “Sugar Labs”, plural—that would provide local support in terms of >>>> local-language support, training, curriculum development, and >>>> customizations. This model has not ever gained the scale and depth >>>> envisioned (we can debate the reasons why), although there are still some >>>> active local communities (e.g., Educa Paraguay) that continue to work >>>> closely with the broader community. There are also individual volunteers, >>>> such as Tony Anderson and T.K. Kang, who help support individual schools in >>>> Rwanda, Malaysia, et al. An open question is how do we support our users >>>> over the long term? >>>> >>>> What is next for Sugar? >>>> >>>> We face several challenges at Sugar Labs. With the ebb of OLPC, we have >>>> a contracting user base and the number of professional developers >>>> associated with the project is greatly diminished. How can we expand our >>>> user base? How can we attract more experienced developers? Why would they >>>> want to work on Sugar as opposed to some other project? The meta issue is >>>> how do we keep Sugar relevant in a world of Apps and small, hand-held >>>> devices? Can we meet the expectations of learners living in a world of >>>> fast-paced, colorful interfaces? How do we ensure that it is fulfilling its >>>> potential as a learning environment and that our users, potential users, >>>> and imitators are learning about and learning from Sugar. Some of this is a >>>> matter of marketing; some of this is a matter of staying focused on our >>>> core pedagogy; some of this a matter of finding strategic partners with >>>> whom we can work. >>>> >>>> We have several near-term opportunities that we should leverage: >>>> * Raspian: The Raspberry PI 3.0 is more than adequate to run Sugar—the >>>> experience rivals or exceeds that of the OLPC XO 4.0 hardware. While RPi is >>>> not the only platform we should be targeting, it does has broad penetration >>>> into the Maker community, which shares a synergy with our emphasis on >>>> “doing”. It is low-hanging fruit. With a little polish we could have an >>>> image available for download from the RPi website. >>>> * Trisquel: We have the potential for better leveraging the Free >>>> Software Foundation as a vehicle for promoting Sugar. Their distro of >>>> choice is Trisquel and the maintainer does a great job of keep the Sugar >>>> packages up to date. >>>> * Sugarizer: The advantage of Sugarizer is that it has the potential of >>>> reaching orders of magnitude more users since it is web-based and runs in >>>> Android and iOS. There is some work to be done to make the experience >>>> palatable on small screens and the current development environment is—at >>>> least my opinion—not scalable or maintainable. The former is a formidable >>>> problem. The latter quite easy to address. >>>> * Stand-alone projects such as Music Blocks have merit as long as they >>>> maintain both a degree of connection with Sugar and promote the values of >>>> the community. It is not certain that these projects will lead users >>>> towards Sugar, but they do promote FOSS and Constructionist principles. And >>>> they have attracted new developers to the Sugar community. >>>> * School-server: The combination of the School Server and Sugar desktop >>>> is a technical solution to problems facing small and remote communities. We >>>> should continue to support and promote this combination. >>>> >>>> Specific actions: After last year’s Libre Planet conference, several >>>> community members discussed a marketing strategy for Sugar. We thought that >>>> if we could reach influencers, we might be able to greatly amplify our >>>> efforts. There are several prominent bloggers and pundits in the education >>>> arena who are widely read and who might be receptive to what we are doing. >>>> One significant challenge is that GNU/Linux remains on the far periphery of >>>> the Ed Tech world. Although the “love affair” with all things Apple seems >>>> to be over, the new elephant in the room—Chromebooks and Google Docs—is >>>> equally difficult to co-exist with. Personally, I see the most potential >>>> synergy with the Maker movement, which is building up momentum in >>>> extra-curricular programs, where FOSS and GNU-Linux are welcome (hence my >>>> earlier focus on RPi). (There are even some schools that are building their >>>> entire curriculum around PBL.) We can and should develop and run some >>>> workshops that can introduce Sugar within the context of the Maker >>>> movement. (Toward that end, I have been working with some teachers on how >>>> to leverage, for example, Turtle Blocks for 3D printing.) It is very much a >>>> tool-oriented community with little overall discussion of architectural >>>> frameworks, so we have some work to do. But there is lots of low-hanging >>>> fruit there. >>>> >>>> regards. >>>> >>>> -walter >>>> >>>> -- >>>> Walter Bender >>>> Sugar Labs >>>> http://www.sugarlabs.org >>>> <http://www.sugarlabs.org> >>>> >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) >>>> [email protected] >>>> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep >>>> >>> >> >> >> -- >> Walter Bender >> Sugar Labs >> http://www.sugarlabs.org >> <http://www.sugarlabs.org> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) >> [email protected] >> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep >> > > > > -- > Laura V. > * I&D SomosAZUCAR.Org* > > “No paradox, no progress.” > ~ Niels Bohr > > Happy Learning! > > > _______________________________________________ > Sugar-devel mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/sugar-devel > > > -- Laura V. * I&D SomosAZUCAR.Org* “No paradox, no progress.” ~ Niels Bohr Happy Learning!
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