[IAEP] Planning for the future

Sora Edwards-Thro sora at unleashkids.org
Tue Mar 3 00:59:08 EST 2015


On Mon, Mar 2, 2015 at 11:53 PM, <tkkang at nurturingasia.com> wrote:

> The web sugarizer is a good attempt for quick start with limited
> activities. Hope this can change quickly.
>

Are you thinking the change will be the addition of new activities, or the

> 2. Support the idea that Sugar must be optimised to work with RPi2. It
> works with Rpi but no development or optimization to make it deployable.
> With  5 millions Rpi sold maybe we can get 1 million SugarRpi running :-)
>

I'd like to learn more about who's using the Raspberry Pi around the world.
At Maker Faire events that Unleash Kids attended in the US, there's a lot
of enthusiasm about using them for DIY electronics projects. Then I heard
about RACHEL <http://www.worldpossible.org/rachel/>, which uses it to
provide offline educational content. We should do more research, but it
looks like there are a few projects using it in the developing world
<http://www.raspberrypi.org/tag/developing-world/>.

Finally, they have an education fund
<http://www.raspberrypi.org/education-fund/> where they match whatever
other funds we're able to raise. I have no idea what the typically-awarded
amount is, but if we're interested I'm sure we could reach out to them and
ask. If we gotta pay people for optimization work, might as well try to get
them to cover half those costs.

3. Try to keep XOs deployment alive and support old/new XO with the best
> Sugar experience for learning.


On that note, who else (what lists) should take a look at this survey
before we pass it on?

On Mon, Mar 2, 2015 at 1:32 PM, Caryl Bigenho <cbigenho at hotmail.com> wrote:

> The proposed survey of the educators who have been using Sugar long term
> is a key to making this work. Teachers are very busy.
>

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1swm0KplaCdZnU4hJFcIu9C32PLYMsFt94wxXICgG2PE/edit?usp=sharing

Started here. I don't think it's a bad thing to add other useful questions
- teachers are busy, yes, but they're also eager to provide feedback.








>
>
>
> >-----Original Message-----
> >From: Leinonen Teemu [mailto:teemu.leinonen at aalto.fi]
> >Sent: Tuesday, March 3, 2015 12:35 PM
> >To: 'IAEP SugarLabs'
> >Subject: Re: [IAEP] Planning for the future
> >
> >Hi,
> >
> >Sean's idea of 1-click installers for Windows / MacOS / GNU/Linux makes a
> lot of sense. If possible, by default it could be so that in a start screen
> on could choose 1) Sugar 2) The other. Having installers for Android and
> iPad would be great, too.
> >
> >Why?
> >
> >Bring your own device (BYOD
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bring_your_own_device) is becoming popular
> in schools. In this case having one pedagogically visionary OS in the
> children's own devices would be great.
> >
> >       - Teemu
> >
> >> On 1.3.2015, at 23.57, Sean DALY <sdaly.be at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>
> >> Hi Samuel,
> >>
> >> thanks for this
> >>
> >> I believe Sugar has had a clear pedagogical vision from day one, but
> has not had a strategy for some time.
> >>
> >> Outside the XO, Sugar's historical technical architecture has
> unfortunately kept it out of reach from all but the most determined and
> tech-savvy teachers (and journalists). Without a pancake button download
> and one-click installer, the installation barrier is too high. OLPC's
> historical focus on the hardware was never helpful either, and the main
> reason OLPC got mauled by incorrect memes was they didn't want to accompany
> journalists past the unfamiliarity barrier of the XO (hardware+software).
> >>
> >> In my view there are only a few ways to overcome this issue:
> >>
> >> * Develop 1-click installers for Windows / MacOS / GNU/Linux. I had
> suggested maintaining a matrix of preconfigured (i.e. languages/keyboards,
> prepopulated Journal, selection of Activities) VMs over Oracle VirtualBox,
> whose license allows free distribution for nonprofit and educational
> purposes. Upsides were immediate fullscreen Sugar experience without
> touching the configuration of the host computer. The downsides were huge VM
> images and the effort required to build and maintain the matrix. At the
> time I suggested we approach Oracle for corporate sponsorship, but some
> community members voiced objections.
> >>
> >> * Arrange for Sugar to be preinstalled on low-cost, reliable machines
> other than XOs. This is complex and would require a sales force (or working
> with a partner's) since no OEM will make that investment without a prospect
> of selling many thousands of units. As an alternative I had suggested we
> ride the wave of Raspberry Pi units (five million sold in three years) by
> developing an SD card for it based on Sugar on a Stick, but there was no
> interest in that effort. I still believe a Sugar-branded version (case +
> teacher starters kit -documentation) could have an impact.
> >>
> >> * Migrate to a web-based Sugar compatible with browsers on any
> platform. Lionel's Sugarizer is I think a fabulous solution.
> >>
> >>
> >> I've heard it suggested that marketing could do fund-raising, but
> donors large and small won't want to contribute unless there is a plan.
> I've been bewildered what the plan is for some time.
> >>
> >> Sean
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> On Tue, Feb 24, 2015 at 12:36 AM, Samuel Greenfeld <
> samuel at greenfeld.org> wrote:
> >> Disclaimer: The following are my views, and not the views of my current
> or past employers.
> >>
> >> About a year ago, I privately expressed concern that Sugar needed to
> ensure it had long-term sponsorship and a long-term user base.
> >>
> >> Since then, both the historical US-based OLPC organization and Sugar
> Labs have not publicly said much about their long-term plans, with OLPC
> also being rather closemouthed about the present.
> >>
> >> Meanwhile contributors silently leave.  It is hard to justify
> volunteering when you don't know who will benefit besides mysterious
> "customers."
> >>
> >> Everyone seems happy to cite their past successes.  No one corrects the
> press when they report stale information in their favor.
> >>
> >>
> >> There is no shame in being a smaller project.  But we need to ask the
> hard questions.  With Sugar, getting users and developers for a niche
> platform is a problem.  With OLPC, everyone seems to love repeating the 2
> or 2.5 million number for laptops historically shipped.  Rarely is it asked
> how many XOs been shipped in the past year or are in active use & where.
> >>
> >> Sugar & OLPC need to come up with long-term strategies.  While there is
> nothing public I have seen stopping One Education's XO Infinity from
> running Sugar, I haven't seen anything stopping it from running anything
> else.  It is also unclear how much One Education is willing to engage with
> the historical Sugar & OLPC communities (or how much they can tell us at
> this time).
> >>
> >>
> >> Historically there have been many philosophical questions like "Does
> there need to be a physical machine?" and "Have we succeeded if every child
> has a computer, but from someone else?"
> >>
> >> I do not believe Sugar or OLPC is down for the count.  But in order to
> engage One Education, governments, and other educational groups, both Sugar
> and the historical OLPC structure need to have plans to transition to the
> future.  Otherwise these plans will be written for us.
> >>
> >> I suspect I know how things will end; but I wish it was not happening
> though silence.
> >>
> >> ---
> >> SJG
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
> >> IAEP at lists.sugarlabs.org
> >> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
> >> IAEP at lists.sugarlabs.org
> >> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
> >
> >--------------------------------------------------
> >Teemu Leinonen
> >http://teemuleinonen.fi
> >+358 50 351 6796
> >Media Lab
> >http://mlab.uiah.fi
> >Aalto University
> >School of Arts, Design and Architecture
> >--------------------------------------------------
> >
> >_______________________________________________
> >IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
> >IAEP at lists.sugarlabs.org
> >http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
> IAEP at lists.sugarlabs.org
> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
>
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