Claudia, I have been thinking about trying to write a grant to host a conference for teachers. The goals would be similar to the programming blitzes earlier on, where the teachers come together and create best practices, lesson plans, tips and techniques, etc. I think the social piece is critical. We expect the students using Sugar/XOs to be social; the same is true, in my experience, of the teachers. At least the ones I am working with are really looking forward to connecting with other teachers. What do you think? Gerald <div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Oct 20, 2009 at 12:05 AM, Claudia Urrea <<a href="mailto:callaurrea@gmail.com">callaurrea@gmail.com</a>> wrote: <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">I do believe that Ceibal presents a great opportunity to do great things. It is a great opportunity... I believe we all want to be given the opportunity to contribute. The best way to get people to appropriate technology is to have them use it in powerful ways. Yes, more documents are needed, but focusing only in XO and Sugar, and expect students and children to get comfortable as a strategy to get them to do the good things is not going to happen. Teachers more than students need to good examples.. some have to do with specific activities, and others with concepts that can be understood and learned by using different activities. Creating examples that are always part of a practical experience is good... even when introducing a particular feature of the XO, or an activity. Yama.. i like your article in olpcnews! Claudia<div><div></div><div class="h5"> <div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 9:35 PM, Edward Cherlin <<a href="mailto:echerlin@gmail.com" target="_blank">echerlin@gmail.com</a>> wrote: <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><div>On Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 10:41, Yamandu Ploskonka <<a href="mailto:yamaplos@gmail.com" target="_blank">yamaplos@gmail.com</a>> wrote: > Yesterday I spent way too much time trying to figure out the different press > articles and opinion pieces in the internet around the delivery of the > "ceibalita" # 396.727, the "last" in Uruguay > > the main thing: Congratulations! </div>Indeed. <div> > the main thing: it's not enough > > It is clear that the LATU team headed by Ing. Brechner has done an almost > incredible job, and even though there are excellent teachers there "giving > us lessons" internationally, even though there are highly dedicated > volunteers, the use of these machines in the classroom is not a solved > matter. > Even if the most extreme opinions (both ends) are fruit of political > interests, it is getting more and more clear that there is a lot of work to > be done to make the XOs really a useful feature of the classroom > > I say we need to focus on what is easy, to gain buy in by the majority of > teachers > > when using the XO in class is easier for the teacher than giving class > without the XO, we will have won </div>Then we know how to win. I am proposing a guide for teachers on how to help students learn the XO, Sugar, and everything else with a minimum of effort and a maximum of results. Then, as Brian Berry has pointed out, we will need 10,000 topic modules with lesson plans, for every school subject at every age, translated into more than 100 languages. I have a plan for that, too, which I will tell you about later. Let's start with the XO and Sugar. When we can get teachers and students comfortable with all of the features of the XO and Sugar in general, and with certain essential activities, we will be able to turn them loose on the Internet on any topic consisting primarily of information. The harder topics are skills such as math, the arts, and languages, where it is not enough to know. You must be able to _do_. But put that aside, for the moment, along with the learning modules. Let us think about what is required to get basic understanding and competence on an XO with Sugar. I have been collecting the principal obstacles, which are listed at <a href="http://wiki.sugarlabs.og/go/The_Undiscoverable" target="_blank">http://wiki.sugarlabs.og/go/The_Undiscoverable</a>. We need to think about the order imposed by dependencies, and put together a sequence of lessons covering all of these. I'm ready to get to it, and you are welcome to join in. <div> > I may be wrong, and opinions are welcome > > meanwhile, my article > <a href="http://www.olpcnews.com/countries/uruguay/last_xo_laptop_olpc_uruguay.html" target="_blank">http://www.olpcnews.com/countries/uruguay/last_xo_laptop_olpc_uruguay.html</a> </div>Thanks. I've started reading it. > _______________________________________________ > IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) > <a href="mailto:IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org" target="_blank">IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org</a> > <a href="http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep" target="_blank">http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep</a> > -- Edward Mokurai (默雷/धर्ममेघशब्दगर्ज/دھرممیگھشبدگر ج) Cherlin Silent Thunder is my name, and Children are my nation. The Cosmos is my dwelling place, the Truth my destination. <a href="http://www.earthtreasury.org/" target="_blank">http://www.earthtreasury.org/</a> _______________________________________________ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) <a href="mailto:IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org" target="_blank">IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org</a> <a href="http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep" target="_blank">http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep</a></blockquote></div> <input type="hidden"><input type="hidden"><div> </div> </div></div> _______________________________________________ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) <a href="mailto:IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org">IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org</a> <a href="http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep" target="_blank">http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep</a> </blockquote></div>