[IAEP] Sugar Labs - Directions of Growth

[Caroline Meeks]

Yes, I need details. This list needs to go on a wiki page and I and others
need to gather all the tickets, wiki pages and other work that has already
been done as well as my evidence for why these things are problems. None of
this is new and most of them we have a theoretical idea of how to solve.

Its on my todo list.

Thanks,
Caroline

On Mon, Jul 27, 2009 at 9:55 AM, Walter Bender <walter.bender at gmail.com>wrote:

> On Mon, Jul 27, 2009 at 8:54 AM, Caroline Meeks<solutiongrove at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > I'd like to build on this from the 100 ft level and Sugar on a Stick.
> >
> > I've been with kids this summer and when Sugar is working on the computer
> in
> > front of them the experience is great. Lots of learning, great
> engagement,
> > kids are willing to take on challenges.
> >
> > This fall I'd like to see lots of other people working with Sugar and
> small
> > groups of students.
> >
> > Based on my experiences this summer there are some technical/logistical
> > barriers I'd like to break down before I recruit teachers/parents/day
> care
> > workers to try Sugar on a Stick in group settings.
> >
> > Here are what I think the barriers are:
> >
> > Very hard to customize your spin and then copy it for a hundred kids.
>
> Can you break this down further? Are you suggesting it is hard to
> create a customized key? to replicate the key for 100s of children? or
> there is a need to customize keys per child? (a wholly new requirement
> AFAIK for which it would be useful to here a use case).
>
> > Sticks are dieing a lot! Like 1 or 2 every class.
>
> It would be helpful to see real data here. I certainly haven't seen
> these sorts of failure rates.
>
> > Backup and recovery
> > What is a reasonable expectation for the role of the XS in Sugar on a
> Stick
> > deployments in the next 6 months?
>
> If possible, we need a simple backup strategy independent of XS since
> the population of XSs will lag behind...
>
> > Collaboration is unreliable and thus frustrating.  Its working fairly
> well
> > in the wired network at the GPA lab, but no other use case seems to work
> > reliably.
>
> In fact, once we had properly configured the customization process not
> to mangle the public keys, collaboration at GPA seems to be quite
> reliable and not at all frustrating. There are some issues with
> workflow around sharing that is part of a separate discussion thread.
>
> Regarding wireless collaboration, we do need to better diagnose the
> various failure modes we have been seeing. But this has not been part
> of the SoaS pilot experience at GPA or LGF.
>
> > Using a CD helper take a lot of prep time before and after class. A
> floppy
> > helper would reduce it.  A VM solution might also reduce it.
>
> Some of this can be handled with better workflow. The CD can be
> rejected once the USB is booted, so it doesn't have to include a
> power-on / reject / power off cycle at the end of the class.
>
> > I'll try to expand on these in the next week and come up with a plan of
> > action for each.
> >
> > What are the other critical things we need to do in the next month or two
> > that will allow teachers/parents/daycare workers to try Sugar on a Sick?
> >
> >
> > On Fri, Jul 24, 2009 at 6:17 PM, David Farning <dfarning at sugarlabs.org>
> > wrote:
> >>
> >> Over the last couple of weeks we have been talking about how to grow
> Sugar
> >> Labs.
> >>
> >> Without looking at specific solutions, I would like to think about
> >> framing Sugar Labs growth in three directions:
> >> 1. Improve and stabilize the learning platform.
> >> 2. Grow towards the student.
> >> 3. Increase reach and impact.
> >>
> >> Growing in these directions will help Sugar Labs accomplish its
> >> mission.  But, hand in hand with growth we must think about how our
> >> structure as a community based projects affects that growth.
> >>
> >> The two most important factors driving growth in a community project
> are:
> >> 1.  A _product_ that is valuable enough for others to test, use, and
> >> improve.
> >> 2.  A _project_ that encourages users to test, use, improve, and
> >> participate in the project by sharing their improvements with the
> >> project.
> >>
> >> 'Users' is a wide term.  In the case of Sugar Labs, it can range from
> >> individuals, to companies, to national governments.  Anyone who takes
> >> a Sugar deliverable and builds on it to help someone learn is a user.
> >>
> >> To take a step back, we can think of adding value to Sugar Labs.  But,
> >> what is value? There are many definitions of value in a project such
> >> as Sugar Labs:
> >> Quality of code.
> >> Number of users.
> >> Number of headlines.
> >> Compliance to specific teaching pedagogies.
> >> ....
> >>
> >> The notion of  value that I tend to looks at, from a 50,000 feet, is
> >> 'How does Sugar Labs create a large pool of users -- who benefit
> >> enough from using Sugar -- that they, and others, are willing to
> >> invest in improving Sugar'?
> >>
> >> As a rough model we can think of value as Educational Excellence(X),
> >> Technical Excellence(Y) and Reach and Impact(Z).
> >>
> >> Growth towards educational excellence represents extending the core
> >> product towards the learner.  Possible steps include:
> >>
> >> Stable learning platform.
> >> Easy distribution mechanism -- the shift from ./configure; make; make
> >> to [rpm|apt-get] install .... was huge.
> >> Easy deployment process.
> >> Creation of base learning activities/content.
> >> Creation of specific learning curriculum to meet specific teaching
> needs.
> >>
> >> Going down this list, the groups involved involved tend to shift from
> >> developers to practicing educators.  We need to think of growing to
> >> include educators rather than crowding out developers.  As we move
> >> towards the right along the x-asis, each prior stage grows and
> >> improves along the y-axis
> >>
> >> In the larger context of adding value to the project, we can
> >> think of project visibility and desirability along the z-axis .  As
> >> the product grows towards the user and the quality of the product
> >> increases, the
> >> marketing team is able to increase the visibility and desirability
> >> (z-axis) of the product and project to more and more people.
> >>
> >> Another way to look at this, is to examine how a tree grows:)
> >>
> >> Tree growth is most easily measured in how much taller or wider the
> >> tree become as a result of linear grow of the trunk or branches. In
> >> addition to growing in length, new branches grow off of the trunk or
> >> existing branches.  As the length and number of the branches increase,
> >> the trunk and branches increase in width to provide both physical
> >> support and enough pores to transport water from the root to the
> >> leaves and transport energy from the leave to the roots.
> >>
> >> In this analogy, the length of the branches can represent market
> >> penetration.  Sugar must become useful enough to penetrate deeply into
> >> the learning occurring at individual schools.  As Sugar penetrates in
> >> to individual schools, those efforts can be "branched" to migrate
> >> sugar into additional schools.
> >>
> >> Finally, the education, deployment, development, and support teams
> >> must grow proportionally to support the deployments while pulling the
> >> ideas and
> >> improvements from the schools back up stream.
> >>
> >> david
> >> --
> >> David Farning
> >> Sugar Labs
> >> www.sugarlabs.org
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
> >> IAEP at lists.sugarlabs.org
> >> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Caroline Meeks
> > Solution Grove
> > Caroline at SolutionGrove.com
> >
> > 617-500-3488 - Office
> > 505-213-3268 - Fax
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
> > IAEP at lists.sugarlabs.org
> > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
> >
>
> -walter
> --
> Walter Bender
> Sugar Labs
> http://www.sugarlabs.org
>



-- 
Caroline Meeks
Solution Grove
Caroline at SolutionGrove.com

617-500-3488 - Office
505-213-3268 - Fax
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