Hmmmm... I have to agree with Christoph here. I didn't really see it as being dramatic at all, but quite factual in fact. The western small deployments really don't give us any useful stats on what is happening on a larger scale in the third world. And its important to acknowledge the differences between these, which Christoph listed quite concretely. I think what may not have come across obviously enough was that we need way more data from the field, in places where Sugar is being used on a large scale, and this data is just not getting to us. I for one, would love to have some cold hard facts about Sugar as used in South America and Africa.<br>
<br>kind Regards,<br>David Van Assche<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Aug 13, 2009 at 2:21 PM, David Farning <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:dfarning@sugarlabs.org">dfarning@sugarlabs.org</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><div class="im">On Thu, Aug 13, 2009 at 5:42 AM, Christoph<br>
Derndorfer<<a href="mailto:e0425826@student.tuwien.ac.at">e0425826@student.tuwien.ac.at</a>> wrote:<br>
> Sean DALY schrieb:<br>
>> IMHO, close study of small deployments makes them incredibly useful to<br>
>> all teachers and Learners. The observations and take-aways need to be<br>
>> triaged of course, starting with what can/should be done by Sugar<br>
>> Labs, but I am convinced many learnings will benefit large<br>
>> deployments. Until reliable means of sharing experiences and feedback<br>
>> (polls, questionnaires, council of deployers, etc.) can be put in<br>
>> place, microscopic study of a classroom using Sugar is well worth the<br>
>> effort, in particular for revealing blockers.<br>
>><br>
> I'm not sure I really agree with this statement...<br>
<br>
</div>Christoph please keep the dramatic headlines to olpcnews.<br>
<br>
In the above paragraph, Walter notes that many lessons can be learned<br>
from controlled environments which can then be applied to larger<br>
scaled, less controlled environments.<br>
<br>
Please note, this does not _exclude_ anyone from providing feedback<br>
from large scale deployments. Nor does it _prevent_ anyone from<br>
creating small scale deployments anywhere in the world. _all_ it<br>
states is that it is often cost effective to start small and grow as<br>
lessons have been learned.<br>
<br>
And yes, Christoph I _am_ holding your writing to a higher standard.<br>
Several times, you have described yourself as the voice of the<br>
project.<br>
<font color="#888888"><br>
david<br>
</font><div><div></div><div class="h5"><br>
> Extrapolating the data and drawing conclusions based on observations in<br>
> a trial that represents less than 0,01% of all current Sugar<br>
> installations is a risky endeavor at best and a serious mistake at<br>
> worst. Even more so when the environment between the trial (in this case<br>
> GPA) and the global deployments really couldn't be more different in<br>
> just about every way imaginable (SoaS vs. XO, summer classes vs. regular<br>
> year-long classes, Boston connectivity vs. Rwanda connectivity, 25<br>
> installations in a school vs. 1000 installations in a school, US power<br>
> infrastructure vs. Nepali power infrastructure, having a team consisting<br>
> of Walter / Greg / Caroline supporting the efforts vs. being lucky to<br>
> maybe have a single person who has used a computer before, 25 pupils in<br>
> a classroom vs. 80 pupils in a classroom, users that were raised in<br>
> urban North America vs. users who don't have electricity at home, and I<br>
> could go on...).<br>
><br>
> Yes, some of the findings at GPA will indeed be of a broad and general<br>
> nature and subsequent actions will benefit all Sugar users. Yes,<br>
> projects like in Alabama, Austria, the UK and similar places will be<br>
> able to learn many things from the GPA pilot.<br>
><br>
> But let's not forget that the current million Sugar users and (if the<br>
> reports are to be believed) also the next million Sugar users are much<br>
> more likely to be found in Ancash, Kigali or Sichuan rather than Boston,<br>
> London or Vienna. And I doubt that you'll find too many schools in those<br>
> places that have a profile similar to GPA [1].<br>
><br>
> Just my 2 Nepali Rupees,<br>
> Christoph<br>
><br>
> [1] "The Gardner Pilot Academy is the flagship full-service community<br>
> school within the Boston Public Schools (BPS). The school's vision is to<br>
> educate the minds and develop the characters of all students in<br>
> partnership with families and community. To achieve this GPA provides<br>
> high quality teaching along with a range of social, emotional and<br>
> enrichment programs delivered by means of partnerships with an array of<br>
> community organizations and individuals. Over the past twelve years, GPA<br>
> has developed strong associations with four universities, several health<br>
> and mental health agencies, the YMCA, and various organizations teaching<br>
> visual and performing arts. As one of just 20 pilot schools in the BPS,<br>
> GPA is exempt from district mandates. Therefore, GPA has autonomy in the<br>
> areas of budget and personnel, along with the freedom to implement<br>
> innovative curricula, assessments, and interventions."<br>
> (<a href="http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Gardner_Pilot_Academy#Gardner_Pilot_Academy" target="_blank">http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Gardner_Pilot_Academy#Gardner_Pilot_Academy</a>)<br>
><br>
> --<br>
> Christoph Derndorfer<br>
> co-editor, olpcnews<br>
> url: <a href="http://www.olpcnews.com" target="_blank">www.olpcnews.com</a><br>
> e-mail: <a href="mailto:christoph@olpcnews.com">christoph@olpcnews.com</a><br>
><br>
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><br>
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</div></div></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><br><a href="http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/s/stephen_leacock.html" target="_blank">Stephen Leacock</a> - "I detest life-insurance agents: they always argue that I shall some day die, which is not so."