Conozco Uruguay:Day 1

Today I got to sit in on an Uruguay volunteer conference (several groups were there to discuss the laptop project). During a break, I got to meet the European/Canadian/American volunteers who have already arrived.

The conference was well done, with teleconferences out to 3 locations further into the country. A volunteer wondered if they could get GNOME on the Olidata Classmate PC. Someone mentioned Plan Ceibal's robotics initiative and discussion of that was heated - partially because it's a new technology for teachers to master and integrate, partially because it might be closed/limited platform. One volunteer wanted to get back to basic application skills (word processing) because it is more practical.

There was a lot I missed (arrived late, people spoke Spanish), so read Christoph's blog post for full details.

I talked with a teacher afterward about activities and content. The number one problem, he tells me, is that they have lessons to teach the computers, but they need ways to integrate the computer into their main lessons. Especially biology - he couldn't find any biology content for his class. Fortunately, we are looking at National Geographic for our eBook library. There are also some good map demos that he could use. Got his e-mail so I can send these along and talk to him later.

His second point was that the parents (in English he said "fathers" which I interpret to be "padres", parents, but I dunno) do not see a use for the laptops. These concerns are making it difficult to launch the high school program. This despite my stats that the Map activity is used late into the night (Christoph confirms that Plan Ceibal wireless use doesn't fully drop off until 1AM).

What it's like at Ceibal

Working for Plan Ceibal is like working for the Apollo program. You have an unprecedented technological goal, a national program to make it reality, and a team of brilliant and devoted people. Everyone here knows that they are the first country with a laptop for every student. The engineers are eager to push the tech envelope further, with robots, Arduino electronics, and EPUB eBooks.



It's been a week since I started work, and I need to get used to speaking Spanish, taking a long time to convey that I am ordering take-out, eating at 2 and 9PM... But I'm getting settled in. In the Content Department, I've investigated how to use the Khan Academy videos and whether the Uruguay military's maps are public domain. Although I'm on mailing lists and meetings instead of a blackboard like in Africa, there's a network in place that will send our work out nationally, even to towns where kids still ride horses to school.

The other day I had a look at the national curriculum, and they have technology and applied science woven directly into every topic and every grade level. There's no stepping back from that level of commitment. You've taken a step off terra firma, onto a new world.

Memorize + Sensors = Mesmerize?

In so many schools with XO laptops, one of the teachers' favorite activities is Memorize. It's a simple matching game where students and teachers can create cards to review vocabulary or match letters. Tiles can have writing, photos, and audio.

Since this activity is kid-friendly and creative, and the sensor-reading activity, Measure, is decidedly technical and imposing, I'm wondering whether sensors could be part of the matching game. The student clicks a card on their screen, it says stomach, they connect to a contact on posterboard, such as a marker on the large intestine, and the computer senses the match. There could also be a cheat-mode where sensing the poster reveals a matching photo, audio, or website on the student's computer.

Concept:


Before I leave, I want to have a talking map of South America.

March 18 Update talking map is working, thinking about adding website browser, too