<html> <head> </head> <body class='hmmessage'><div dir='ltr'> <style></style> <div dir="ltr">Sora, thanks so much for setting up the spreadsheet…. now, to recruit folks to survey users about what they think are the key Activities. </div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">Tomorrow I'll make a document with a quick little survey that asks users... mostly students and teachers... which Activities are their favorites, which ones they find most useful and what subjects they use them for. Then we need to get a sampling of users to reply to the survey. </div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">I'll write versions in English and Spanish and perhaps others can translate them into other target languages. Then we can send links to friends in various deployments and ask them to respond.</div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">When we finish, we should be ready to focus on a small number of key Activities to start a Sugar project.</div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">Caryl<br><br><div>> From: tkkang@nurturingasia.com<br>> To: support-gang@lists.laptop.org<br>> Date: Sat, 21 Dec 2013 03:12:37 +0000<br>> Subject: Re: [support-gang] Activities Survey<br>> <br>> Awesome work! Really glad to see the kind of activities from the gang to support the XO-1 out in the wild. Looking forward to the new image and the many development that has sprung up!<br>> <br>> Best wishes to all and have a great Christmas and New Year.<br>> <br>> T.K.<br>> XoD<br>> <br>> <br>> >-----Original Message-----<br>> >From: Sora Edwards-Thro [mailto:sora@unleashkids.org]<br>> >Sent: Saturday, December 21, 2013 11:04 AM<br>> >To: 'Community Support Volunteers -- who help respond to help AT laptop.org'<br>> >Subject: [support-gang] Activities Survey<br>> ><br>> >On Fri, Dec 20, 2013 at 12:09 PM, Caryl Bigenho <cbigenho@hotmail.com><br>> > wrote:<br>> ><br>> >><br>> >> Does anyone want to join me in a "survey" project? We can keep it simple.<br>> >> I can put together a few easy questions. We could use Google Docs to keep<br>> >> track of our findings. I can work on getting responses in English and<br>> >> Spanish. Others can fill in with French and other languages. Any takers?<br>> >><br>> ><br>> >Hey all, I figured making a separate thread for this topic would be easier,<br>> >so here it is. Caryl, thanks for pushing everyone to do this - yours was<br>> >actually the second email I've read today about identifying which<br>> >activities are really useful and sharing that information with other<br>> >deployments...we've been talking a lot about what works and what doesn't<br>> >here within the Haiti team and I'd love to pass that knowledge on and hear<br>> >what others have to say.<br>> ><br>> >So, anyway, here's a preliminary spreadsheet I put together for people to<br>> >add to:<br>> >https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AugVXkFnPouIdGFFUkJ6UnhvOXNwbFJuQ1pWLUhXYmc#gid=0<br>> ><br>> >You'll see it's divided into Sugar / XO version - I put up only Activities<br>> >that work on 12.1.0 and XO-1s, because that's what we're using in Haiti.<br>> ><br>> >It's also divided into Base, Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced<br>> >Activities. I'm basing these definitions off of "at what point should<br>> >someone start learning this Activity (right after they get the XO, a few<br>> >months in, after they've mastered everything and are looking for a new<br>> >challenge), and how long will it take them to learn it?" Here's a little<br>> >bit clearer explanation of each designation:<br>> ><br>> >Base: extremely useful Activities that are easy to use and just seem like<br>> >the logical thing to start with the first day/week kids open a computer.<br>> >Paint, Record. Speak are a few examples.<br>> ><br>> >Easy: these activities are really easy to learn (not much explanation<br>> >required from teacher) and the kids can also immediately understand their<br>> >purpose. Note: It's possible to create really complex things with some of<br>> >these activities (for example, Physics), but a total beginner can also make<br>> >something with them, so they're still classified as easy despite that<br>> >potential to also be complicated in some cases.<br>> ><br>> >Intermediate: These activities require a little bit more patience or<br>> >explanation from the teacher. In general it's still pretty easy to create<br>> >something with them and understand their purpose, but the kids will need a<br>> >little help and they should build confidence in easier activities first in<br>> >most cases. Note: Laybrinth and Fototoon are actually really easy,<br>> >yes...but working with them can be a little tricky (resizing boxes on<br>> >Fototoon is a pain) so they shouldn't be the first things kids do with a<br>> >computer...wait one or two weeks in, basically.<br>> ><br>> >Advanced: These Activities have their own "interfaces" that have to be<br>> >mastered, and require a lot of critical thinking skills on the part of the<br>> >kids to use (Scratch, eToys, Turtle Art / Blocks). Other Activities on this<br>> >list require special knowledge - no one in Haiti knows what an Abacus is<br>> >for example, and Chart isn't that hard but some of the teachers may have<br>> >never even seen one before. Measure requires special equipment for you to<br>> >really have fun with it - yeah, measuring frequency of sounds is cool, but<br>> >you'll be missing out on a lot of other stuff.<br>> ><br>> >Anyway, obviously this chart needs to be fine-tuned and added to, but this<br>> >is just the first step of me trying to figure out the process I went<br>> >through when I was picking activities for our HaitiOS and as I put together<br>> >a step-by-step "XO Intro Course" for teachers to follow now. I know so many<br>> >others have done this before and better than I ever could - let's get all<br>> >that useful info into one place.<br>> ><br>> >Thanks guys!<br>> ><br>> >Sora<br>> ><br>> <br>> <br>> _______________________________________________<br>> support-gang mailing list<br>> support-gang@lists.laptop.org<br>> http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/support-gang<br></div></div> </div></body> </html>