Could we use EduPoints ?

[Mallory L. Chua]

I like the idea of extending Edubuntu (and the open-source ethos) beyond software development. It's a great way for kids to start thinking about sharing information, not to mention it'd be a huge timesaver for teachers if it catches on as Mauricio proposes.

In order to do this, we need to work with educators - administrators, teachers, students, parents - the folks we ultimately want Edubuntu and EduPoints to catch on with. They have to be, in part, the designers of the system. 

What I'd suggest is to run a pilot. The pilot would last for one semester (the American spring semester starts in January and ends in June) so there'd be a definite evaluation date and everyone can step back and have something concrete to show. The pilot team (the people that would be going at this pretty hardcore and be the centers around which everyone else would chip in) should consist of...

*  2-3 StudyPackages-specific developers that have worked on the Edubuntu system. They won't be the only coders, but they'll be the ones responsible for communicating with the rest of the Edubuntu developers and making sure that whatever code changes/additions we make are happily compatible and implemented in the most painless way possible. They build the Edubuntu part of the system.

* 2-3 teachers/classrooms. They don't need to be tech-savvy, but they have to want to learn. Their class has to want to do this as a learning experiment on how to build this sort of system. They're not just testers, not just our "clients" - they're designers. They'll /roleplay/ the part of client on occasion, but they're just as much part of the creating team as everyone else.  Having multiple classrooms means we'll have a diverse set of viewpoints to draw from; we'll be forming a little StudyPackages community already. They build the classroom part of the system.

* 1-2 go-betweens. These people will have to be fluent in both education and code, but they won't be teachers or hardcore developers (at least not for this project). They need to monitor how the classrooms are doing and find out how to translate that into things we should do to the software and help the separate classrooms learn from each other. They build the community part of the system.

The pilot would try to figure out what happens through the whole "make Edubuntu happen in your classroom!" experience, from nothing all the way up to "we're working on adding stuff to it ourselves!"

1. First, installation and setup. How easy is it for someone to get hold of Edubuntu? To set it up? To make it do what they want it to do? What technical background do they need? How supportive are we and our documentation, really?

2. Second, doing the things they were already doing with computers in their classroom. Presentations, internet, word processing... how much activation energy is it to switch?

3. Third, how do they do more? Is it easy for them to play with the system? Add things, change things?

4. And then we get to StudyPackages. How does a teacher/classroom create curricular material to share with another teacher/classroom? How should this entire process work - what motivates it, what supports it, how do we leverage it for max impact? (This is a very vaguely-written question, I know.)

5. And beyond...

Phew. So it's time for a disclaimer: I'm a total newbie here and am trying to get up to speed on how Edubuntu works (both distro-wise and dev-team-wise), so these are all very naive suggestions from a youngster who's still trying to figure out what's going on. Fire away.

-Mel

-----Original Message-----
From: edubuntu-devel-bounces at lists.ubuntu.com on behalf of Mauricio Hernandez
Sent: Thu 11/24/2005 10:22 AM
To: Edubuntu Mailing List
Subject: Could we use EduPoints ?
 
Hi list people/ubunteros!

As you may already know, http://wiki.edubuntu.org/EduPoints or have
read my recent mail to the list answering to Mel.

If you don't, please read up and share your ideas.

Do you think we could develop the EduPoints idea to motivate more
teacher/student participation?

How could we use them?

If you don't like the idea, why?

--
Cordialmente,

Mauricio Hernandez Z.

"Hell is repeating someone else's mistakes"
 (JPS)

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