Re: [IAEP] A video about a 1-1 Apple laptop middle school in NYC - School Surveillance and a discussion on Multitaskingr
I agree with Bastien. Helping teachers doesn't disadvantage Learners. Teachers need our support. The great advantage of Sugar is its collaboration. Learners should be able to easily identify the teacher with a larger avatar for example. Teachers need to know what's going on without running around the classroom. Although it's more fun to take photos, record videos, and chat than study maths, teachers need to have Learners concentrating on learning in the classroom. With 1:1 computing, Learners have plenty of time for creating and collaborating outside the classroom. There is little existing software to meet these needs; the interactive whiteboard vendors have defined the market. Blackboard Inc. is the market leader. Intel has made Windows-only SMART software (http://www2.smarttech.com/st/en-US/Products/SynchronEyes+Classroom+Management+Software/) the centerpiece of the Classmate offer (http://blogs.intel.com/technology/2009/08/classmate_pc_as_a_one-to-one_l.php). Let's look at it another way. Dell is claiming success for its education netbook (the Latitude 2100 visible here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/39656...@n02/3649026438/) which it developed following studies, focus groups and 2 pilots. One of its selling points is an LED tattletale bar which lights up by default when there is wireless network activity. However, the light can be called by software - indicating that a child has completed a task, or is taking too long on a step, or wishes to signal the teacher silently. Dell has said that teachers appreciate seeing immediately who is surfing instead of studying. Note that Dell has no collaboration offer (Ubuntu is standard on that machine though it is likely many schools are choosing Windows XP in particular for older kids) so network activity is considered bad. However, this is a software limitation. Dell has said they are looking at a multicolor bar in future versions to signal several states at once. OLPC's detractors cite an anti-teacher bias which may not serve the project. I believe teacher support in Sugar (including backups, XS support, Moodle integration, etc.), particularly in non-XO deployments such as Sugar on a Stick, will allow classroom collaboration to flourish - children won't lose their work, teachers won't lose time solving technical problems. Sugar will have far lesser impact without teacher buy-in. While aiding teachers will I am sure encourage widespread use of Sugar. A final observation. Learning and collaboration are different for 6-year olds and 10-year-olds, for gadget-experienced kids and kids who have never had a computer, for Internet-connected and sneakernet-connected classrooms, for learning math and assembling a report with images and text from the Net. I think issues of teacher monitoring and control should be discussed in specific contexts. Teachers will provide us with the most likely classroom scenarios Sugar should be able to adapt to. Sean On Mon, Sep 7, 2009 at 12:06 PM, Bastienbastiengue...@googlemail.com wrote: Benjamin M. Schwartz bmsch...@fas.harvard.edu writes: Dennis Daniels wrote: That's one of the reasons I was initially attracted to Sugar in that the peer networking was built in... please tell me that one station monitoring of all students is built in as well. Nope. No monitoring built in. However, I have recently implemented it as an Activity called Watch Me [1]. If it isn't then it should be for the teacher's sake. 1. As a technical matter, this is not so easy over a congested wireless network. 2. We care much more about students than teachers. Is it good for the students? Who is we? I personally think this reasoning is very wrong. I wish Sugar can be developed in a way that caring about the students and caring about the teachers are complementary challenges, not opposite tasks. Everytime someone sees the teachers as a barrier to learning, he gives credit to the illusion of spontaneous learning, and we loose the Sugar audience. Learning by oneself is very different from spontaneous learning, and good teachers have a great expertise in guiding students throught what they want or need to learn by themselves. In fact, learning by oneself should be considered kind of a tautology: what we learn is what WE learn. If the first learner was Menon, let's not forget he had a great teacher. In other words, Sugar's design comes from a culture with a deep distrust of authority figures. I got my programming start by hacking my school's computer systems, and I'm sure the same is true of many other contributors here. You will find plenty of opposition to letting teachers watch what students are doing without permission. I don't think there is a relevant connection between dictatorship and teachers monitoring their classrooms via the system Dennis is calling for. But maybe there will be a link between the lack of such system and the lack of Sugar in classrooms. Regards, -- Bastien
Re: [IAEP] student guidelines _very_ rough draft
FWIW, Helen Foster @ Moodle handles that -- according to Google's SoC ppl -- is one of the best-run GSoCs. What I hear from students is that the explicit 'expectations' document is very good guidance. All the docs are -- I think -- interesting: http://docs.moodle.org/en/Category:GSOC as a mentor, Helen is always there, and sends me brief kind emails in advance of deadlines, calls on meta-mentors to help when I am bogged down and not answering to my mentees in timely fashion, etc. Her approach is really outstanding. As a mentor for 3 runs now, I have so say that the best indicators of success have been... - The time I spend on it -- not just direct irc time -- quality code review takes a lot of time! - How hard the students work, and how skilled they are, *before* the project starts. A student that can't get a checkout and a build going and patch a bug or two without help is of no interest to me (in the context of GSoC). Pretty damn high bar, but there are a lot of people applying for GSoC -- get the best ones :-) -- and it will be valuable dev time diverted from other work. hth, m On Tue, Sep 8, 2009 at 12:45 AM, David Farningdfarn...@sugarlabs.org wrote: This summer, Sugar Labs had 12 students working under various gsoc, intern, workstudy, and co-op programs. Overall, the results have been promising. There are a few things which we can do to improve the experience for everyone. Based on conversations with other opensource project the three keys to success for working with students are: 1. Clearly defined expectations for student, sponsor, and project. 2. Clearly project plan with implementation strategy. 3. Experienced mentor. Below is a very rough draft of a student guidelines document. I would appreciate suggestions. david Thank you for your interest in working, and learning, with Sugar Labs. Sugar Labs has a large number of smart and passionate student participants. These student often go on to become Sugar Lab's most important contributors and project leaders. One of the advantage of being a student is that you can combine your learning experience at Sugar Labs with your official school activites through intern-ships, co-ops, work study programs, and privately sponsored contracts. The following guidelines are intended to insure that your Sugar Lab's experience is beneficial for you, your school, and Sugar Labs. Working with Sugar Lab's as an intern, co-op, or work study student means that there is a contractual obligation between you, your school, and Sugar Lab's. This document represents the thoughts and deliberations which have gone into making your experience at Sugar Labs beneficial for you, your school, and Sugar Labs.[REPEATED TEXT] == project description== Experience has shown than the most important factor in having a successful experience at Sugar Labs is your project plan. The plan represents the vision of what you want to accomplish and provides roadmap for how to make that vision a reality. Exploration, collaboration, and reflection. Plan provides boundaries so you can freely explore. First big project for many students. Done before starting program good plan implies investment by student-investment by student results in good mentor. Fail to plan - Plan to fail. The plan should include: [CHECK LIST] *deliverable *learning objective ==mentor== The second most important piece to success is your mentor. link to community master - apprentice ==General information== Below is general information for filling out your school's forms. ===Overview=== Sugar Labs is organized as a member project of the Software Freedom Conservancy[1]. The SFC is an umbrella organization which handles the accounting work, financial management, and makes sure the activities of Sugar Labs fit within the scope of the non-profit status. ===Mission statement=== The mission of Sugar Labs® is to produce, distribute, and support the use of the Sugar learning platform; it is a support base and gathering place for the community of educators and developers to create, extend, and teach with the Sugar learning platform. ===Funding=== Sugar Labs is funded through donations from its contributing members. ===Agency Name=== Sugar Labs (A member project of the Software Freedom Conservancy) ===Agency Contact=== Bradley M. Kuhn ===Postal Address=== Software Freedom Conservancy 1995 Broadway FL 17 New York, NY 10023-5882 ===Telephone=== +1-212-461-3245 tel +1-212-580-0898 fax ===Email=== conserva...@softwarefreedom.org ===Addition information=== For additional information or forms please contact dfarn...@sugarlabs.org. ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep -- martin.langh...@gmail.com mar...@laptop.org -- School Server Architect - ask interesting
[IAEP] Open Edge: Open Education Forum - Fri 9 October - SCEGGS, Darlinghurst NSW
Hi All! The program for the Open Edge forum is now online! http://open-edge.info/program This one day forum will address questions and issues about 'open education' in Australian schools. Open education refers to open educational resources, and draws upon open technologies that facilitate collaborative, flexible learning and the open sharing of teaching practices that empower educators to benefit from the best ideas of their colleagues. The Open Edge Forum will bring together school leaders, practitioners and policy makers to discuss strategies for fostering open education in Australian schools. Understanding and embracing innovations like these will be critical to the future of education in Australia. Using online technologies, this workshop will be linked into other similar events occurring around the globe. Hear what colleagues in the US, UK and Portugal are doing in their schools using open education initiatives. Presenters will outline current directions in Australia and overseas concerning: * open content * open source software * open learning platforms * open licencing * open pedagogy * open standards * open networks Registration is just $49 and you can register and pay online http://open-edge.info/open-edge-fri-9-october -- donna benjamin Open Edge: Open Education Forum forum facilitatorSCEGGS Darlinghurst, NSW http://open-edge.infoFriday 9th October 2009 ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] student guidelines _very_ rough draft
Thanks Martin, I'll ping Helen later today. david On Tue, Sep 8, 2009 at 5:49 AM, Martin Langhoffmartin.langh...@gmail.com wrote: FWIW, Helen Foster @ Moodle handles that -- according to Google's SoC ppl -- is one of the best-run GSoCs. What I hear from students is that the explicit 'expectations' document is very good guidance. All the docs are -- I think -- interesting: http://docs.moodle.org/en/Category:GSOC as a mentor, Helen is always there, and sends me brief kind emails in advance of deadlines, calls on meta-mentors to help when I am bogged down and not answering to my mentees in timely fashion, etc. Her approach is really outstanding. As a mentor for 3 runs now, I have so say that the best indicators of success have been... - The time I spend on it -- not just direct irc time -- quality code review takes a lot of time! - How hard the students work, and how skilled they are, *before* the project starts. A student that can't get a checkout and a build going and patch a bug or two without help is of no interest to me (in the context of GSoC). Pretty damn high bar, but there are a lot of people applying for GSoC -- get the best ones :-) -- and it will be valuable dev time diverted from other work. hth, m On Tue, Sep 8, 2009 at 12:45 AM, David Farningdfarn...@sugarlabs.org wrote: This summer, Sugar Labs had 12 students working under various gsoc, intern, workstudy, and co-op programs. Overall, the results have been promising. There are a few things which we can do to improve the experience for everyone. Based on conversations with other opensource project the three keys to success for working with students are: 1. Clearly defined expectations for student, sponsor, and project. 2. Clearly project plan with implementation strategy. 3. Experienced mentor. Below is a very rough draft of a student guidelines document. I would appreciate suggestions. david Thank you for your interest in working, and learning, with Sugar Labs. Sugar Labs has a large number of smart and passionate student participants. These student often go on to become Sugar Lab's most important contributors and project leaders. One of the advantage of being a student is that you can combine your learning experience at Sugar Labs with your official school activites through intern-ships, co-ops, work study programs, and privately sponsored contracts. The following guidelines are intended to insure that your Sugar Lab's experience is beneficial for you, your school, and Sugar Labs. Working with Sugar Lab's as an intern, co-op, or work study student means that there is a contractual obligation between you, your school, and Sugar Lab's. This document represents the thoughts and deliberations which have gone into making your experience at Sugar Labs beneficial for you, your school, and Sugar Labs.[REPEATED TEXT] == project description== Experience has shown than the most important factor in having a successful experience at Sugar Labs is your project plan. The plan represents the vision of what you want to accomplish and provides roadmap for how to make that vision a reality. Exploration, collaboration, and reflection. Plan provides boundaries so you can freely explore. First big project for many students. Done before starting program good plan implies investment by student-investment by student results in good mentor. Fail to plan - Plan to fail. The plan should include: [CHECK LIST] *deliverable *learning objective ==mentor== The second most important piece to success is your mentor. link to community master - apprentice ==General information== Below is general information for filling out your school's forms. ===Overview=== Sugar Labs is organized as a member project of the Software Freedom Conservancy[1]. The SFC is an umbrella organization which handles the accounting work, financial management, and makes sure the activities of Sugar Labs fit within the scope of the non-profit status. ===Mission statement=== The mission of Sugar Labs® is to produce, distribute, and support the use of the Sugar learning platform; it is a support base and gathering place for the community of educators and developers to create, extend, and teach with the Sugar learning platform. ===Funding=== Sugar Labs is funded through donations from its contributing members. ===Agency Name=== Sugar Labs (A member project of the Software Freedom Conservancy) ===Agency Contact=== Bradley M. Kuhn ===Postal Address=== Software Freedom Conservancy 1995 Broadway FL 17 New York, NY 10023-5882 ===Telephone=== +1-212-461-3245 tel +1-212-580-0898 fax ===Email=== conserva...@softwarefreedom.org ===Addition information=== For additional information or forms please contact dfarn...@sugarlabs.org. ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
[IAEP] Testing, please ignore
I moved the hos...@sugarlabs.org alias to Google Apps so it keeps working even if sunjammer goes down. -- // Bernie Innocenti - http://codewiz.org/ \X/ Sugar Labs - http://sugarlabs.org/ ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] [Sugar-devel] DB module for moodle in XS server serously coool and needed addittion
On Sat, Sep 5, 2009 at 2:56 AM, David Van Asschedvanass...@gmail.com wrote: To create a easy reference for linux commands, the best way was to use the Moodle database module. You can create quite elaborate databases which are then easily edited and added to by users. http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=132152 :-) m -- martin.langh...@gmail.com mar...@laptop.org -- School Server Architect - ask interesting questions - don't get distracted with shiny stuff - working code first - http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Martinlanghoff ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] installation problem
On Thu, Sep 3, 2009 at 2:07 PM, Tomeu Vizosoto...@sugarlabs.org wrote: On Tue, Sep 1, 2009 at 16:19, robertorobert...@gmail.com wrote: hello everyone i am trying to install sugar-on-a-stick using the process suggested in: http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Sugar_on_a_Stick/Strawberry#Windows_Users i use Xp currently but when the live-usb creator tries to complete the procedure the following error is reported: .\tools\dd.exe if=/dev/zero of=E:\LiveOS\overlay-FEDORA-D07F-3503 count=1902 bs=1M rawwrite dd for windows version 0.5. Written by John Newbigin j...@it.swin.edu.au This program is covered by the GPL. See copying.txt for details Error writing file: 112 There is not enough space on the disk 1614+0 records in 1613+0 records out .\tools\syslinux.exe -m -a -d syslinux E: Reading boot sector: The parameter is incorrect. the guide suggests at least 1 GB and i am allocating 1,9 ! on the stick Hi Roberto, what happens if you allocate 1,5 GB? this is the error when i try to create the live usb with 1,5 GB: ### Downloading soas-strawberry.iso... Download failed: Requested Range Not Satisfiable You can try again to resume your download ### thank you again -- roberto ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] installation problem
I have tried to create on a 2GB stick and it fails: not enough space Have tried the max allowed a bit over 1.5G, 1.5G and 1.4G the iso is 379 MB Tony On Thu, Sep 3, 2009 at 2:07 PM, Tomeu Vizosoto...@sugarlabs.org wrote: On Tue, Sep 1, 2009 at 16:19, robertorobert...@gmail.com wrote: hello everyone i am trying to install sugar-on-a-stick using the process suggested in: http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Sugar_on_a_Stick/Strawberry#Windows_Users i use Xp currently but when the live-usb creator tries to complete the procedure the following error is reported: .\tools\dd.exe if=/dev/zero of=E:\LiveOS\overlay-FEDORA-D07F-3503 count=1902 bs=1M rawwrite dd for windows version 0.5. Written by John Newbigin j...@it.swin.edu.au This program is covered by the GPL. �See copying.txt for details Error writing file: 112 There is not enough space on the disk 1614+0 records in 1613+0 records out .\tools\syslinux.exe -m -a -d syslinux E: Reading boot sector: The parameter is incorrect. the guide suggests at least 1 GB and i am allocating 1,9 ! on the stick Hi Roberto, what happens if you allocate 1,5 GB? this is the error when i try to create the live usb with 1,5 GB: ### Downloading soas-strawberry.iso... Download failed: Requested Range Not Satisfiable You can try again to resume your download ### thank you again -- roberto ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep _ This mail has been virus scanned by Australia On Line see http://www.australiaonline.net.au/mailscanning ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
[IAEP] New versions of Read Etexts and View Slides available
The usual automatic announcement went out to the Sugar-Devel list but I thought it might be appropriate to mention something here too. The latest View Slides can now extract an image from a slide show and make a Journal entry with the correct MIME type. This was something that someone asked for awhile back. The need was to be able to distribute a collection of images such that individual images could be extracted and used to create a Memorize game, for example. View Slides also supports annotations and bookmarks (but not highlighting) much like Read Etexts does. I also fixed lots of bugs. I'm not saying ALL of them, but a lot. Read Etexts has a new filter script that lets you read ebooks in RTF format. This is useful to read the books in the Baen Free Library, which contains current and near current science fiction titles that you can download and read for free. Of the formats available for download, RTF is the easiest to support. I just convert it to a plain text file on the fly. The conversion is not perfect, but it is readable. So in addition to reading Jules Verne, H.G. Wells and Stanley G. Weinbaum our learners can also read _The Two Faces of Tomorrow_ by James P. Hogan and other good stuff. James Simmons ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] installation problem
On Tue, Sep 8, 2009 at 5:21 PM, fors...@ozonline.com.au wrote: I have tried to create on a 2GB stick and it fails: not enough space Have tried the max allowed a bit over 1.5G, 1.5G and 1.4G the iso is 379 MB THis is hard to diagnose. Did you set a overlay size? What size did you set? WIth a 512 mb overlay it should fit on a 1GB stick without a problem. What does windows report as the free space on the stick? Dave Tony On Thu, Sep 3, 2009 at 2:07 PM, Tomeu Vizosoto...@sugarlabs.org wrote: On Tue, Sep 1, 2009 at 16:19, robertorobert...@gmail.com wrote: hello everyone i am trying to install sugar-on-a-stick using the process suggested in: http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Sugar_on_a_Stick/Strawberry#Windows_Users i use Xp currently but when the live-usb creator tries to complete the procedure the following error is reported: .\tools\dd.exe if=/dev/zero of=E:\LiveOS\overlay-FEDORA-D07F-3503 count=1902 bs=1M rawwrite dd for windows version 0.5. Written by John Newbigin j...@it.swin.edu.au This program is covered by the GPL. �See copying.txt for details Error writing file: 112 There is not enough space on the disk 1614+0 records in 1613+0 records out .\tools\syslinux.exe -m -a -d syslinux E: Reading boot sector: The parameter is incorrect. the guide suggests at least 1 GB and i am allocating 1,9 ! on the stick Hi Roberto, what happens if you allocate 1,5 GB? this is the error when i try to create the live usb with 1,5 GB: ### Downloading soas-strawberry.iso... Download failed: Requested Range Not Satisfiable You can try again to resume your download ### thank you again -- roberto ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep _ This mail has been virus scanned by Australia On Line see http://www.australiaonline.net.au/mailscanning ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep -- Dave Bauer d...@solutiongrove.com http://www.solutiongrove.com ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
