Thank you young Cameron, some good questions but it isn't my place to spoon out the answers.<br><br>Here are some more. Can you tell me about your planet and your place in it? If you came back to school in 20 years time, what would changes would you see? Can you still open your homework files? If you had a penfriend in Africa, what changes could you expect? Imagine a school surrounded by mine fields, no electricity and a hand cranked laptop. What would you learn? What do you think about introducing new technology to the native people of the pacific islands, what will they think of us? Should we throw your old computer into landfill so we can have some better ones? Golly, has the bell gone yet? Now run outside, kick a ball and soak up some sunlight, we can tackle world peace tomorrow.
<br><br>Thanks everybody .. today 24 October is the official United Nations day and as the official school flag coordinator, we fly the UN flag. BTW, the UN is taking charge of distribution for the OLPC project.<br><br>Regards Roland
<br><br><div><span class="gmail_quote">On 24/10/2007, <b class="gmail_sendername">Cameron Bell</b> <<a href="mailto:bell.cameron.p@edumail.vic.gov.au">bell.cameron.p@edumail.vic.gov.au</a>> wrote:</span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
Dear Mr Gesthuizen,<br>Regarding the homework you set us - "What can we do to really help our<br>students make this world a better place for us all to live in?"<br>Did you want that as a PowerPoint or Word Document? Also, I have read
<br>all through the text book and can't seem to find the answer. Can you<br>give us a clue as to what chapter it is in? Also, when is it due?<br>Could you at least make it multiple choice?<br>Regards<br>A. Typical<br>
PS - Will it be on the exam?<br><br><br>Roland Gesthuizen wrote:<br>> I am really excited to read all these posts and all the right<br>> questions that we seem to be asking each other.<br>><br>> I agree with Bill. The OLPC is a fascinating invention. Like the
<br>> student that freely dips into the wireless access spilling over the<br>> school fence from his neighboring home, the mesh technology has even<br>> enough range to bridge between the different islands in the Solomons.
<br>> Whilst the original vision for the telephone was that it could be used<br>> to pipe music directly to homes, we would be equally narrow minded to<br>> think that the Internet was for edumail and piping music to pockets
<br>> filled with iPhones.<br>><br>> I have some Sudanese lads who are struggling with renaming files yet<br>> can happily play computer games and chat online. Is it appropriate to<br>> measuring their learning from their understanding of a computer
<br>> desktop, a metaphor based upon the workings of a small business<br>> office? The different ethnic groups at our school have vastly<br>> different traditions and ideas of what it means to 'be working<br>
> together'. I am now not sure if the collaborative, learning model that<br>> I carry about in my head is best and only way forward.<br>><br>> I have had some indirect contact with of the huge technology issues
<br>> faced by countries on our doorstep. From young computer technicians<br>> trained in Melbourne to set up Ubuntu Linux networks for East Timor,<br>> the KhmerOS group that has managed to retain a Cambodian keyboard and
<br>> recover their language using Open Office and the network manager on<br>> Naru who is experimenting recycling old hardware using Kbuntu.<br>><br>> I would like us to engage with what it really means to transform ICT
<br>> education, beyond rubbing the latest shiny new toy or unboxing the<br>> latest bit of commercial software. I like asking the big questions in<br>> my IT classrooms so here is one. What can we do to really help our
<br>> students make this world a better place for us all to live in?<br>><br>> Regards Roland<br>><br>> On 23/10/2007, *Bill Kerr* <<a href="mailto:billkerr@gmail.com">billkerr@gmail.com</a><br>> <mailto:
<a href="mailto:billkerr@gmail.com">billkerr@gmail.com</a>>> wrote:<br>><br>> hi Cameron,<br>><br>> The OLPC has wireless mesh networking and a new user interface<br>> (sugar) based on a community metaphor, which invites extensive
<br>> collaboration with each child having their own laptop. In that<br>> respect (and some others) OLPC is superior to its new low price<br>> rivals from Intel etc.<br>> <a href="http://billkerr2.blogspot.com/2007/05/community-user-interface.html">
http://billkerr2.blogspot.com/2007/05/community-user-interface.html</a><br>> <<a href="http://billkerr2.blogspot.com/2007/05/community-user-interface.html">http://billkerr2.blogspot.com/2007/05/community-user-interface.html
</a>><br>><br>> If each child owns the laptop then that open up potential for home<br>> use - as well as the clearly important "sense of personal ownership"<br>><br>> I agree with you that if the laptops are introduced and teachers
<br>> keep to their old techniques and lesson plans then its not going<br>> to work very well at all<br>><br>> That is sort of the point of this discussion - where would /<br>> should it lead?
<br>><br>> Papert has argued for years that maths could be transformed with<br>> one laptop per child but that it doesn't work with other ratios.<br>> The pencil argument, it would be poor education to chain up
<br>> pencils in a lab or to insist on sharing of pencils<br>><br>> As you say:<br>> The laptop struggles to break out from being a glorified<br>> word-processor, file storage and email client to the off the shelf
<br>> tool that gets used as needed, to develop a solution for the<br>> problem at hand.<br>><br>> With OLPC the laptop does or should develop or appear to develop<br>> some sort of agency of its own, it demands to be used in new and
<br>> different ways - are the teachers up to it?<br>><br>> btw I attended a conference at Methodist Ladies College<br>> (Melbourne) in circa 1980 when every child had a laptop and they<br>> were using logo extensively (David Loader was the Principal).
<br>><br>> Your points about forcing collaboration are interesting and I'd<br>> like to hear more about the tool you mention that facilitates a<br>> process whereby students "produce work that reflects their own
<br>> knowledge, not the groups knowledge"<br>><br>> I'm wary of formalising collaboration in an institutional sense. I<br>> think learners have the right to choose their time and place for
<br>> collaboration. When setting up groups I often do permit a group of<br>> one. I'm aware of one very good educational blogger who has been<br>> arguing this for some time:<br>> blog of proximal development
<br>> <a href="http://www.teachandlearn.ca/blog/">http://www.teachandlearn.ca/blog/</a><br>> (I will dig up some of his posts about this particular topic if<br>> you want)<br>><br>> cheers,<br>
> --<br>> Bill Kerr<br>> <a href="http://billkerr2.blogspot.com/">http://billkerr2.blogspot.com/</a><br>><br>><br>> On 10/23/07, *Cameron Bell* < <a href="mailto:bell.cameron.p@edumail.vic.gov.au">
bell.cameron.p@edumail.vic.gov.au</a><br>> <mailto:<a href="mailto:bell.cameron.p@edumail.vic.gov.au">bell.cameron.p@edumail.vic.gov.au</a>>> wrote:<br>><br>> But Bill, lots and lots of schools have implemented laptop
<br>> programs - some for many years now. We have found that you<br>> don't need one laptop per child - in fact, I believe that<br>> insisting each child having their own laptop can stifle
<br>> pedagogical progress. When each child has their own laptop or<br>> they are working in a lab, the teacher is generally just using<br>> the same teaching techniques and lesson plans they always
<br>> have, insisting on personal work, students working in<br>> isolation (communicating, but in isolation) with the whole<br>> class doing the same activity at the same time. The laptop<br>
> struggles to break out from being a glorified word-processor,<br>> file storage and email client to the off the shelf tool that<br>> gets used as needed, to develop a solution for the problem at
<br>> hand.<br>> We have run with a one-between-two program here for the past<br>> couple of years (I was skeptical as I had just come from a 1-1<br>> school) and apart from a couple of dedicated labs, we now
<br>> deliberately aim for one-between-two for all our technology<br>> infrastructure. It means students _must_ collaborate as teams<br>> on producing work and we are being forced to develop methods
<br>> for students to be able to collaborate- but then produce work<br>> that reflects their own knowledge, not the groups knowledge.<br>> It's tricky but I have found a very useful little tool that
<br>> enables that to happen in my classes and the rest of the staff<br>> have adapted too! Some of us are creating digital portfolios,<br>> this requires group prac work, but individual reflections. How
<br>> do you do this with one-between-two? You are forced to examine<br>> individual learning plans, multiple lesson plans within a<br>> lesson, rather than the one-size-fits-all approach that we
<br>> have always done. (Primaries have done this for years!) While<br>> 1/2 the class use the laptops for part of an activity, the<br>> other 1/2 are doing another part. For us, this is also
<br>> essential to break up a 72 min period and help keep the<br>> students focussed.<br>> One between two is cheaper too! ;-)<br>> Cheers<br>> Cameron<br>><br>> Bill Kerr wrote:
<br>>> There is a large elephant in the room that no one has<br>>> referred to so far: the OLPC<br>>><br>>> The one laptop per child non profit project not only plans to<br>
>> deliver millions of laptops to third world children but has<br>>> also become a hand grenade in the commercial world - and has<br>>> succeeded in forcing down the price of other laptops now on
<br>>> offer<br>>><br>>> "... the whole global mind-think around technology has changed.<br>>><br>>> No longer is low cost computing in education a fantasy, no<br>
>> longer are big technology companies secondary, and everyone<br>>> wants to sell technology into classrooms. Intel introduced<br>>> Classmate PC<br>>> <<a href="http://www.olpcnews.com/countries/brazil/olpc_classmate_mobilis.html">
http://www.olpcnews.com/countries/brazil/olpc_classmate_mobilis.html</a>><br>>> to Brazil, Asustek is selling Eee PC's<br>>> <<a href="http://www.olpcnews.com/sales_talk/intel/negroponte_100_laptop_asus.html">
http://www.olpcnews.com/sales_talk/intel/negroponte_100_laptop_asus.html</a>><br>>> in the USA, and even thin-client manufactures compare<br>>> themselves to OLPC<br>>> <<a href="http://www.olpcnews.com/sales_talk/competition/stephen_dukker_anti_olpc_campaign.html">
http://www.olpcnews.com/sales_talk/competition/stephen_dukker_anti_olpc_campaign.html</a>>."<br>>> <a href="http://www.olpcnews.com/sales_talk/countries/sales_inhibiting_xo_distribution.html">http://www.olpcnews.com/sales_talk/countries/sales_inhibiting_xo_distribution.html
</a><br>>> <<a href="http://www.olpcnews.com/sales_talk/countries/sales_inhibiting_xo_distribution.html">http://www.olpcnews.com/sales_talk/countries/sales_inhibiting_xo_distribution.html</a>><br>>>
<br>>> How will schools and education departments in the wealthy<br>>> west react to the fact that in a few years we will have the<br>>> capability for every child to have their own laptop?
<br>>><br>>> Will we treat them like mobile phones and ban them or try to<br>>> figure out a way to utilise them for optimal educational<br>>> development?<br>>><br>>> The use and misuse of computers in schools has up until now
<br>>> been based around the idea that computers mainly belong in<br>>> labs and / or that access is limited. The fact of limited<br>>> access has acted as a powerful brake for many teachers not to
<br>>> extend their knowledge much beyond the basics.<br>>><br>>> Most (all?) of the maths curriculum could be taught using<br>>> laptops. In fact MIT produced a series of books in the 80s
<br>>> for teaching much of maths and aspects of language and art<br>>> using logo.<br>>><br>>> Shouldn't we factor this potential into the discussion? If we<br>>> are talking about the future it might be incorrect to assume
<br>>> that the pattern of distribution of computers in schools will<br>>> remain similar to the present.<br>>><br>>> --<br>>> Bill Kerr<br>>> <a href="http://billkerr2.blogspot.com/">
http://billkerr2.blogspot.com/</a><br>>><br>>> _______________________________________________<br>>> <a href="http://www.edulists.com.au">http://www.edulists.com.au</a> <<a href="http://www.edulists.com.au">
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><br>><br>><br>> --<br>> Roland Gesthuizen - ICT Coordinator - Westall Secondary College<br>> <a href="http://www.westallsc.vic.edu.au">http://www.westallsc.vic.edu.au</a><br>><br>> "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can
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</a> <<a href="http://www.vitta.org.au">http://www.vitta.org.au</a>> - VITTA Victorian<br>> Information Technology Teachers Association Inc<br><br>Important - This email and any attachments may be confidential. If received in error, please contact us and delete all copies. Before opening or using attachments check them for viruses and defects. Regardless of any loss, damage or consequence, whether caused by the negligence of the sender or not, resulting directly or indirectly from the use of any attached files our liability is limited to resupplying any affected attachments. Any representations or opinions expressed are those of the individual sender, and not necessarily those of the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development.
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</div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Roland Gesthuizen - ICT Coordinator - Westall Secondary College<br><a href="http://www.westallsc.vic.edu.au">http://www.westallsc.vic.edu.au</a><br><br>"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed it is the only thing that ever has." --Margaret Mead