[IAEP] Service-Learning Curriculum around Sugar Testing

[Kevin Cole]

Replying more to the subject line than anything else...  I have been
approached by two professors who are working on a cross-discipline
class focusing on international development of deaf communities.  The
Social Work Department and the Foreign Languages Department are
planning to offer this as a two semester course, culminating in a
visit to Costa Rica.  And they're looking to have an technology
component.  They're intrigued by low-cost, low-powered, open-source
learning tools, even if they're not certain exactly what that entails.
 Part of the "new curriculum" here centers around having a
multi-disciplinary approach, and on service learning.

Meanwhile, a high school computer science teacher in this area, who
spends his summers south of the border setting up Ubuntu labs is
intrigued by the possibilities offered Scratch, and he too is a fan of
the XO and Sugar.  Lastly, a local non-profit, obscure.org (which
hosts the local OLPC jabber server among other things) is looking for
ways to "step-up" their activities, and is also looking towards
Central America.  All of us are looking to combine our interests with
Wavepoint, and see what comes of it.

This is all still in the very early stages, as near as I can tell, but
we're coming together.  Locally, obscure.org has piloted a Scratch
class in one of the elementary schools in Arlington, and I've
introduced them to some of the DC hardware hackers (HacDC and the DC
FIRST Robotics Team) to see what might come from that.  Between
obscure.org, Gallaudet, Jeff Elkner's efforts in Central America, and
Wavepoint, we're thinking of pooling our finances for a "Give Many"
set and then divvying up the spoils. ;-)   I don't know how or if
that's actually going to happen...

-- 
Ubuntu Linux DC LoCo
Washington, DC
http://dc.ubuntu-us.org/