[math4] 3. Personal Letter to Educators (Karlie Robinson)

[Edward Cherlin]

2009/4/2 Eric Grace <ericmgrace at gmail.com>:
> Hello all, I've been reading your posts, but haven't contributed yet so I'll
> introduce myself.

Hi.

> My name is Eric M. Grace and I am co-instructing the RIT OLPC XO/Sugar
> Development Honors Seminar with Stephen Jacobs.  I have a background in
> teaching and I have a Visual Arts K-12 NYS Certification.  I've worked for
> several years teaching grades 7-12 and developing alternative/outreach/youth
> employment programs that connect RIT with the Rochester City School District
> and the City of Rochester.
>
> Thank you Karlie for posting your message, it will be helpful for others to
> follow a similar request/format.  I think it is important to start these
> school district collaborations as soon as possible, the education community
> will surely have their own opinions and desires for development, and we need
> their support if XO's are to be used more regularly in the classroom.

+1

> I will probably be a good resource for advocating and connecting our efforts
> to local school districts and have been developing some of my contacts in
> both RCSD, Sodus School District, and local non-profit organizations.
>
> We could strategically plan a regional dissemination of OLPC efforts or just
> shotgun requests and see what takes.  Either or both approaches are fine
> with me to start.
>
> Each school district's interests and negotiations will differ, but it would
> be good to identify our goals, efforts, outcomes, and potential costs
> involved.  We can use the XO's as is & test any new developments we want to
> get feedback.  I see three different models to pitch each with
> specific/individual Policies, Procedures, & Plan/Framework development
> needed for:
>
> 1. "XO Lab on a Cart" - Facilitator/Teacher/Trainer(s) visit local school
> districts to run a one day workshop to raise awareness &
> student/teacher/school district interest. (This XO cart could be a shared
> resource for the western NY region & signed out?) - Districts may be willing
> to fund for a simple one time event.
>
> 2. "XO Lab After School Program" - This is an easy format for a
> Facilitator/Teacher/Trainer(s) to be housed in a specific school without
> curriculum constraints of teaching to a standardized test.  This is a great
> environment for student access & feedback/testing ground (Funding is
> available for these activities).
>
> 3. "XO School Lab" - Similar to any school's computer lab (the XO's could be
> housed in the same room or different), the school's technology teacher could
> facilitate XO classes for student access and feedback/testing ground and
> report back to to the OLPC/Sugar community. (Schools may seek funding to
> support this, matching grants may support this, or OLPC donations? -all
> depends on specific situation.)
>
>
> Thoughts & feedback?

You might do better to focus on getting Sugar on existing computers,
either on popular Linux distrubitions that have Sugar packages, or
using Sugar on a Stick USB keys to boot Fedora Linux and run Sugar. If
you are only using school computers, the portability, ruggedness, and
extreme low power of XOs are irrelevant.

OLPC requires buyers to commit to one-to-one computing, and won't sell
fewer than 10,000 at a time anyway.
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