Changes

This page is updated each week (usually on Monday morning) with notes from the Sugar Labs community. (The digest is also sent to the community-news at sugarlabs.org list, blogged at [http://walterbender.org/ walterbender.org], and [[Archive/Current Events|archived here]].) If you would like to contribute, please send email to [[User:walter|walter]] at sugarlabs.org by the weekend. (Also visit <span class="plainlinks">[http://planet.sugarlabs.org planet.sugarlabs.org].</span>)

This page is updated each week (usually on Monday morning) with notes from the Sugar Labs community. (The digest is also sent to the community-news at sugarlabs.org list, blogged at [http://walterbender.org/ walterbender.org], and [[Archive/Current Events|archived here]].) If you would like to contribute, please send email to [[User:walter|walter]] at sugarlabs.org by the weekend. (Also visit <span class="plainlinks">[http://planet.sugarlabs.org planet.sugarlabs.org].</span>)

== Sugar Digest ==

== Sugar Digest ==

1. I just returned from India, where I had the pleasure of giving the keynote at BITs Pilani (my theme was how Sugar can provide the means for appropriation of knowledge) and then headed to Mumbai to give some Turtle Art workshops. At Pilani, which draws upon students from across all of India, I had a chance to spend time with students to discuss Sugar in greater detail and met with several GSoC candidates. In Mumbai, I was able to use the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education as a base (thanks to G Nagarjuna). Turtle Art Day was split across two venues: first, a workshop for educators, where we put the new Javascript version through a workout, and then at a nearby school, where we worked with a fourth grade classroom using some XO-1 laptops. Both groups seemed to take to turtle -- "hard fun" had by all. While in Mumbai, I also had a chance to visit with Tata Trusts, to discuss possible venues for collaboration, including a possible Sugar pilot in Assam. And I visited IIT Bombay, where I met with the IITB Tata Centre, which pursues education and development projects across the subcontinent. Many thanks to Harriet Vidyasagar, who both helped to organize the Mumbai visits and to provide insights into local culture and needs.

1. Sugar Labs got six slots from Google. We had 67 applications -- many quite strong -- so there are undoubtedly a lot of disappointed students (and mentors -- we have seventeen community members who have signed up). But we have six great students/projects so there is lots to look forward to this summer. Congratulations to:

2. At Monday's Sugar Labs oversight board (SLOB) meeting, we voted to add two new members to the Sugar Labs Membership committee: Sebastian Silva and Caryl Bigenho. They have tasked themselves with getting the members list refreshed. We are looking to recruit another committee member (or two) to help with outreach. Someone connected to the community of youths contributing patches to Sugar would be ideal. Also, recruiting more educators who use Sugar in their classrooms would help round out the committee.

* Michaël Ohayon, Sugar WebBasic Activity Set

* Richa Sehgal, Interactive Javascript Shell

3. 67 students have applied to work as interns for Sugar Labs as part of [[Summer_of_Code/2015|Google Summer of Code (GSoC) 2015]]. I've read through the applications and we have some very strong candidates. It will be a difficult decision as to how assign the slots we receive from Google -- the number is still to be determined. I have already begun looking for other means of support we might offer to some of the qualified students who don't make the cut. The mentors are meeting this evening to discuss the applications.

 

 

 

3. Sebastian Silva posted a link to an [http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/03/the-deconstruction-of-the-k-12-teacher/388631/ article] in ''The Atlantic'' about the future role of the teacher in elementary and secondary education [2] that is thought-provoking. In essence, the author is conceding teaching to the myriad of resources becoming available on the web and parroting Sugata Mitra's position that children will learn given access to kiosks connected to the Internet. I remain skeptical: none of the scant evidence I have seen from Mitra (or the much talked about OLPC tablet experiment in Ethiopia) is convincing. Perhaps the succinct way I can express my doubts is to assert that no one has ever learned to program from reading a book (or attending a MOOC). You can only learn to program by programming.

 

I don't doubt that resources will continue to amass on the web and that we can algorithmically steer students through those materials wherever Internet is generally available, but I am yet to be convinced that access can or should be equated to learning. Learning is a culture, one that is includes a spirit of open access, but also mutual support, respect, and responsibility. (These attributes of learning culture are tightly aligned with the culture of Free/Libre Software, one of the reasons I remain convinced that Free/Libre Software is fundamental to the future of education.) Children need access to powerful ideas, but there is still no getting around the need to do, to make, and to engage in order to learn.

=== In the community ===

=== In the community ===

4. I'll be doing a Turtle Art Day in Kingston, Jamaica, on 23 April. Details to follow. I'd love to reconnect with any Sugar users while I am in the area.

4. With help from the Musson Foundation (and Trip Advisor) I ran a Turtle Art Day in Kingston, Jamaica, on 23 April for sixth-grade girls from five local schools. The girls had been given Android tablets with fairly stale bits. We tried running Turtle Blocks (both with the [http://people.sugarlabs.org/walter/TurtleBlocks.apk APK] and through the [http://turtle.sugarlabs.org browser]) with out much success. So we switched to a variety of computers -- whatever was kicking around the workshop venue -- and the fun began in earnest. See [http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/magazines/career/Future-coders_18811152] and [http://jis.gov.jm/state-minister-urges-young-women-enter-ict-sector/] to read some of the local press about the event. (Note that the press someone turned "Turtle Art Day" into "Total Art Day". Cute.)

5. James Cameron has been running performance tests on the XO-1 hardware, comparing boot and activity launch times across a number of builds [http://lists.sugarlabs.org/archive/sugar-devel/2015-April/049916.html]. It is great to have some data to look at. The good news is that we have been making steady progress over the past few releases in terms of reducing boot and launch times. Those of you running old versions of Sugar/Fedora on XO-1 hardware should consider looking at Sugar 104. Many bug fixes, improved stability, etc., and as James has demonstrated, seemingly minimal impact on performance.

6. I'll be doing a Turtle Art workshop in Tel Aviv in early June.

7. We will be meeting on Saturday, 11 April, to continue discussing plans the 106 release. Please join Martin Abente Lahaye and the Developer team on irc.freenode.net (#sugar-meeting) at 22:00 UTC.

7. The Sugar spin of [[Fedora 22]] is now in Beta.

=== Sugar Labs ===

=== Sugar Labs ===