[IAEP] Photos From Audubon MS Project

[Caryl Bigenho]

Hi Gerald and all,
I have invited the director of the project at Audubon MS to bring 3-4 of the students to assist Jamaal and I in having a hands-on session for teachers with the XOs at a CUELA/LAUSD tech fair.  It happens in about 3 weeks. If they come it will be great for them, and the teachers they will be assisting.  I'll take pictures and report. 
Caryl

Date: Mon, 26 Oct 2009 19:04:55 -0400
Subject: Re: [IAEP] Photos From Audubon MS Project
From: gerald.ardito at gmail.com
To: cbigenho at hotmail.com
CC: support-gang at laptop.org; iaep at lists.sugarlabs.org

Caryl,

Thanks for sharing about this project/program.
What is most interesting (and exciting) to me is that there are trends that I see in our (5th grade) program and yours. 

Every time that the students get to become owners of the devices and/or software, whether by re-imaging the machines or downloading new activities or showing another student how to do something, the learning environment changes. This is particularly interesting because I also see my 5th graders owning the devices as well right from the start. They seem to relate to them like they do their cell phone or iPod, and completely unlike how I see them interact with typical computers.


We should stay in touch as things develop.

Best,
Gerald

On Fri, Oct 23, 2009 at 2:36 PM, Caryl Bigenho <cbigenho at hotmail.com> wrote:






Hello Gerald, and anyone else who wants to know about the project at Audubon MS. 
Things have changed a lot with the FAMLI after school program since they started their Contributors Program project.  They lost a lot of their funding and went from 50+ students down to 20+. They have 10 XOs.  The students are in grades 6-8 (ages 11-14) with a couple of older students from a nearby high school.  The program runs after school from 3 pm to 6 pm on school days and they also meet on Saturdays. They divide their time between activities that are physically active to others that are quiet such as tutoring and using the XOs. They are also learning music and dance that comes from the Black American culture.  Their director, Torre Reese is wonderful and the students love him!

The original idea was that, as much as possible, the students would be in charge of the project. They have some very bright youngsters in the group and this seems to be working out... under adult supervision.

So far there hasn't been a lot of training.  I visited them for the first time last week (when I took the pictures), and found they had all mastered using the mesh and chatting with the mesh. At that time they didn't have internet for the XOs (now they do), but someone managed to download SimCity using a router from some local business!

The XOs haven't gone home with the students yet. Security is a huge concern. This is south-central Los Angeles.  We are discussing letting the students check out the machines when a parent is picking them up and having the parent sign it out. The students will help work out these details.

With the help of a great IT professional, Ron Goodall, they now have internet. Their hope is to make contact with students their age in other countries via the internet.  Meanwhile, they have given their XOs names of different countries just for fun.

When I arrived, I discovered they were still running build 767 which came with their machines. I happened to have a usb key with 802 on it so I showed one of the students (who had been asking all sorts of knowledgeable questions about the Sugar OS) how to do it and left the usb key with him. Torre reported that the next day he showed the other students how to do it and they reflashed all of the machines.

Now that they have updated their software, they will be able to try a lot of other things.  I have asked that they do a project for us, evaluating the various Activities and suggesting ways that they could be used for learning.  They have agreed and we will set that up when I get back from Hawaii.

If anyone knows of other secure email sites for children, in addition to ePals, please let me know. EPals requires a teacher to register and monitor the accounts. It may be difficult to find an overworked, underpaid LAUSD teacher who has the time and is willing to do this.

If you have other questions... just ask!
Caryl

Date: Fri, 23 Oct 2009 06:09:01 -0400
Subject: Re: [IAEP] Photos From Audubon MS Project

From: gerald.ardito at gmail.com
To: cbigenho at hotmail.com
CC: iaep at lists.sugarlabs.org


Caryl,

Thanks for sharing these pictures. 
Can you share more details about this project, like:
How many XOs are there?
How many students?
Which grades/age groups?

How were the teachers/students trained?


We should probably talk.
Gerald

On Fri, Oct 23, 2009 at 4:57 AM, Caryl Bigenho <cbigenho at hotmail.com> wrote:






Hi...
Here is a link to the photos from the Audubon Middle School Contributors Project. This is an after school program in south central LA that Jamaal volunteers with.  I mentor their Contributors Program project:


http://tiny.cc/kzXwn 


Enjoy!


Caryl


P.S. I got an email from them today... they now have internet access. 

 		 	   		  

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