Aneto,
It is good to hear from you. Thank you for the introduction and kind
wishes. Yeong Haur, it is a pleasure to meet you. I am glad the ability
to add custom texts/ curricula to the tutor is one of your basic goals;
the easier this is, the more interesting the result will be to many
children.
Your draft scope looks good. I would recommend adding it and your
references to the OLPC wiki: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Typing_tutor
A pygame port remains a priority -- mceesay, how is this coming?
I am certain that your help would be appreciated there when you have
the time.
Best wishes,
SJ
--
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> w +1 617 452-5664
On Sun, 4 Feb 2007, Aneto Okonkwo wrote:
> SJ,
>
> Hope all is well. Congratulations on all the progress that the OLPC
team is
> making. I apologize that I have been unable to contribute to the pygame
and
> childsplay porting project so far due to other commitments but I hope to
set
> aside time in the near future.
>
> On another note, I would like to introduce you to Yeong Haur Kok, who
has
> recently joined the effort to develop the typing tutor. I am extremely
> excited and grateful to be working with Yeong Haur, he brings extensive
> experience in education and teaching from Singapore and is a member of
my
> Education masters program at Stanford. We have recently completed
> preliminary research and defined the goals and scope of the project. In
the
> coming weeks we will be drafting the complete project proposal which
should
> include the design ideas and preliminary mock-ups. Your feedback on the
> scope below is welcome as well as any comments/questions/suggestions.
>
> *Learning problems*
>
> - Higher order computer use e.g. creative writing or programming, is
> slow / limited until sufficient typing skill is developed
> - Sufficient familiarity in learning to type takes significant time
> investment and practice
> - Existing typing curriculum are boring, repetitive and time consuming
> for students
>
> The project idea is to develop a typing and writing learning application
for
> the target users of the "Children's Machine" ($100 laptop). The One
Laptop
> Per Child (OLPC) Typewriter application delivers an interactive keyboard
> typing and writing curriculum. To increase the speed, efficiency, and
> effectiveness of typed documents, messages and communication on the
laptop,
> it emphasizes simultaneous motor-tactual and creative writing skill
> development, utilizing a customizable, collaborative and adaptive rhythm
> video game to maximize fun and engagement. The Typewriter application
can
> also be delivered to all Internet users with the capability to use
custom
> curriculum. Our initial language curricula will be focused on English
and
> Mandarin Chinese.
>
> *
> *
>
> *References*
>
> Bernstein, R., *A Nontraditional Approach to ESL Instruction:
Typewriting. *
> 1982. National Association for Foreign Student Affairs.
>
> Book, W, F., *The Psychology of Skill, with Special Reference to Its
> Acquisition in Typewriting *. 1908. University of Montana.
>
http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC03969917&id=XakCAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA9&lpg=PA9&dq=typewriting#PPP6,M1
>
>
> Cooper, W., *Cognitive Aspects of Skilled Typewriting.* 1983.
> Springer-Verlag
>
> Darragh., J., Witten, I, H., *The Reactive Keyboard.* 1992. Cambridge
> University
>
> Press.
>
http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0521403758&id=obxCY0wcaTgC&pg=PP1&lpg=PP1&ots=xNgk0YOGUu&dq=The+Reactive+Keyboard&sig=Q5hOxtKEzQHQVqQ74DNrhXMxxY8
>
>
> Donovan, T, R., McClelland, B, W., *Eight Approaches to Teaching
> Composition.* 1980. National Council of Teachers of English.
>
http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/Home.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=RecordDetails&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED191042&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=eric_accno&objectId=0900000b800fab07
>
>
> Flynn, N., Stainthorp. *The Learning and Teaching of Reading and
Writing.*
> 2006. Wiley Publishers.
> http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0470029102.html
>
>
> Hall, J, K., *Evaluating and Improving Written Expression: A Practical
Guide
> for Teachers. * 1981. Allyn & Bacon.
>
>
> Reagan, S, D., *Increasing Touch-Keyboarding Skills in the Middle School
> Student: "KeyWords" vs. "Type To Learn," Hand Covers vs. No Hand
Covers.*
> 2000.
>
>
http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/contentdelivery/servlet/ERICServlet?accno=ED443386
>
>
> On 1/2/07, SJ Klein <[EMAIL PROTECTED] > wrote:
>>
>>
>> Dear Aneto,
>>
>> You should coordinate with Mamading; pygame & childsplay is a doubly
>> useful starter project because it will help others learn python so they
>> can start understanding their environment and contributing on their
own.
>> Mamading, meet Aneto; see below for a brief introduction to his
>> background.
>>
>> A typing tutor would be a good second project; we could start
specifying
>> what that will look like now if you have design ideas. A framework
that
>> lets one choose what source text to use would be most useful. Teachers
>> could feed it the stories or workbooks students were working on.
>>
>> Discussions about specific interfaces should take place on the sugar
list
>> -- you should both subscribe yourselves to [email protected] and
>> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>
>> As for Flash : we will have support for basic Flash 7 material via
Gnash;
>> how much support remains to be seen. Python software is still
preferable,
>>
>> at least until we have a good toolchain for children to edit flash.
>>
>> SJ
>>
>> NB: We would need SDL support to support pygame / childsplay -- also
>> to support TuxPaint and the default gnash interface. One issue to work
>> out is how much disk space the extra libraries will add to the core
OLPC
>> system, something we are trying to keep extremely small.
>>
>> --
>> SJ Klein <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> w +1 617 529 4266
>>
>>
>> On Tue, 2 Jan 2007, Aneto Okonkwo wrote:
>>
>> > SJ,
>> >
>> > Happy new year and hope all is well. Sorry for the delay in my
>> response. I
>> > have recently been reading up on Sugar, the Sugar tutorial and
>> Childsplay
>> > and I am also quite interested in the typing tutor idea and have some
>> > preliminary ideas on designs for that project. Also, I recently read
in
>> the
>> > OLPC Weekly that Mamading Ceesay is also looking at porting
Childsplay
>> to
>> > Sugar. Do you want me to continue looking at this, try and
coordinate
>> with
>> > him/her or do you have another starter project in mind?
>> >
>> > Also, I read that there is now potential for FLASH support on the
>> laptop. I
>> > am very comfortable developing FLASH apps as well and would be
>> interested in
>> > developing the typing tutor or whatever other app you suggest for my
>> > research project in FLASH or Python. Thanks
>> >
>> > ~ Aneto
>> >
>> > On 11/13/06, SJ Klein <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> Aneto --
>> >>
>> >> It sounds as though you have an excellent background for
coordinating a
>>
>> >> useful and multilingual effort. It might make sense to find
something
>> >> worth emulating, and either port it or rewrite it from scratch for
the
>> >> laptops. Something simple like a good typing tutor, or a language-
>> >> flashcard tutor.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> As a first project:
>> >>
>> >> Take a look at childsplay, and see if you can make a sugar activity
>> >> out of it:
>> >> http://childsplay.sourceforge.net/
>> >> http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Sugar
>> >> http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Sugar_Activity_Tutorial
>> >>
>> >> Doublecheck how much space the activity takes, including any
components
>> >> it pulls in that aren't in the latest build. Hang out in #sugar on
>> >> irc.freenode.net to help with development.
>> >>
>> >> To cap off the project, start a [[Childsplay]] page on the olpc wiki
>> about
>> >> the activity, and make sure the childplay devs know what you've
done.
>> >>
>> >> SJ
>> >>
>> >> --
>> >> SJ Klein <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> w +1 617 452-5664
>> >> c +1 617
529-4266
>> >>
>> >> On Sun, 12 Nov 2006, Aneto Okonkwo wrote:
>> >>
>> >> > SJ,
>> >> >
>> >> > Thanks for your message. I am more open to designing and building
>> >> software
>> >> > from scratch, or taking an existing program and improving its
design.
>> >> >
>> >> > For my masters project, the focus is on researching and using
>> >> educational
>> >> > and learning theories and also going through a thorough research
and
>> >> design
>> >> > process including user testing, etc and documenting this process.
>> >> >
>> >> > My goal and reason for wanting to implement something for OLPC is
>> that I
>> >> am
>> >> > really passionate about the work that you are doing and instead of
>> doing
>> >> a
>> >> > purely academic masters project I want to help create something
that
>> can
>> >> > actually be used.
>> >> >
>> >> > My experience includes a current role at Google as a Product
Manager,
>> (I
>> >> may
>> >> > even be able to promote this project internally as 20% time) as
well
>> as
>> >> past
>> >> > experiences at a startup - Presto, Microsoft, Goldman Sachs,
etc I
>> have
>> >> > experience mainly in web design, and scripting technologies such
as
>> >> Perl,
>> >> > Python, Javascript, as well as a C, C++ background. I also have
>> >> experience
>> >> > in languages, English, Igbo (Nigeria), French, Mandarin, Arabic.
>> >> >
>> >> > Other members of my masters programs have software backgrounds and
>> some
>> >> have
>> >> > teaching backgrounds in early learning, e-learning, and kids
media,
>> etc
>> >> >
>> >> > My plan is to find a specific OLPC project and then start to
garner
>> >> interest
>> >> > among other students and potentially at Google as well. The
masters
>> >> project
>> >> > has a rolling start from now until January and lasts until
>> August. This
>> >> > time frame should give us a significant amount of time to have a
>> >> thorough
>> >> > implementation through design, testing and development.
>> >> >
>> >> > The useful first project of taking a small existing game or
program
>> and
>> >> > altering it for the conditions of the OLPC sounds great, do you
have
>> any
>> >> > suggestions or ideas for existing games or programs? Thanks
>> >> >
>> >> > ~ Aneto
>> >> >
>> >> > On 11/7/06, SJ Klein <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>> >> >>
>> >> >>
>> >> >> Hello Aneto; thank you for your interest.
>> >> >>
>> >> >> Are you hoping to design and build software from scratch, to take
an
>> >> >> existing program and improve its design, or to design new
software
>> >> >> that others build with your help? What kind of teaching and
>> software
>> >> >> background does your team have?
>> >> >>
>> >> >> A useful first project might be to take a small existing game or
>> >> >> program, and alter it so that it can be used within the OLPC
>> >> environment.
>> >> >>
>> >> >> Regards,
>> >> >> SJ
>> >> >>
>> >> >> --
>> >> >> SJ Klein [EMAIL PROTECTED] +1 617
>> >> 529.4266
>> >> >>
>> >> >>
>> >> >> On Tue, 7 Nov 2006, Aneto Okonkwo wrote:
>> >> >>
>> >> >> > Great thanks, I am looking forward to hearing from Chris and
>> >> SJ. Thanks
>> >> >>
>> >> >> >
>> >> >> > ~ Aneto
>> >> >> >
>> >> >> > On 11/7/06, Jim Gettys <[EMAIL PROTECTED] > wrote:
>> >> >> >>
>> >> >> >> Greetings.
>> >> >> >>
>> >> >> >> >From the one sentence description of what you are about, I'm
>> >> >> forwarding
>> >> >> >> your mail to Chris Blizzard, who is leading the efforts around
>> user
>> >> >> >> interface educational software, and SJ Klein, who is worrying
>> about
>> >> >> >> content.
>> >> >> >>
>> >> >> >> Best Regards,
>> >> >> >> - Jim
>> >> >> >>
>> >> >> >>
>> >> >> >> On Mon, 2006-11-06 at 22:01 -0800, Aneto Okonkwo wrote:
>> >> >> >> > Jim Gettys,
>> >> >> >> >
>> >> >> >> > My name is Aneto Okonkwo and I am a Masters student at
Stanford
>> >> >> >> > University in Learning Design and Technology. Myself and my
>> >> >> >> > classmates are interested in creating learning software and
>> >> >> >> > content for the olpc as part of 6 month masters project. I
>> have
>> >> >> >> > been reading the olpc wiki and wanted to connect with you
>> >> >> >> > directly for direction on where me and my team can add the
most
>> >> >> >> > value on a particular peice of
>> >> >> >> > software. I look forward to hearing from you. Thanks
>> >> >> >> >
>> >> >> >> > ~ Aneto
>> >> >> >> >
>> >> >> >> > --
>> >> >> >> > Aneto Okonkwo
>> >> >> >> > BS Management Science & Engineering
>> >> >> >> > MA Education: Learning, Design & Technology
>> >> >> >> > Stanford University
>> >> >> >> > [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>> >> >> >> > 650.906.3961 (M)
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Aneto Okonkwo
> BS Management Science & Engineering
> MA Education: Learning, Design & Technology
> Stanford University
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> 650.906.3961 (M)
>
