attending: Kathleen, Avigail, Randy, Cherry, Steve, Rita
- we discussed the google RISE Award, we will use Squeak Germany to manage the funding, since it is an established non-profit organisation
- Randy suggested to get an letter of recommendation from Alan Kay
- basic outline: we focus on the website, at the moment we do have a rather closed website, we want to change that to be more open source, making our materials easier accessible, providing space for communication
- Cherry reported from her work at the Philippines, kids are good at Etoys, better than the teachers, but teachers accept their role and concentrate more on subject matter, accept to be taught some Etoys things by the kids, some kids who are academically below the average are very good at Etoys, this helps to get better results in other areas, too
- kids love the quick guides, there is a mailing list to ask questions, kids an teachers need more help, more material, especially offline ressources
chat log:
[22.09.11 18:45:45] Rita Freudenberg: hi there
[22.09.11 18:46:01] akathleen: hi steve
[22.09.11 18:49:20] akathleen: http://www.google.com/diversity/rise/index.html
[22.09.11 18:49:34] stevesargon: okay found it
[22.09.11 18:50:10] stevesargon: same for me
[22.09.11 18:50:13] Cherry Withers: Found it
[22.09.11 18:50:59] Randall Caton: i see it
[22.09.11 18:51:22] Cherry Withers: Deadline for RISE app is Oct 31st
[22.09.11 18:52:23] stevesargon: +1 for Website
[22.09.11 18:54:04] stevesargon: Kathleen, I would love to get connected to the Scratch folks at some point (they will be assimilated ;)
[22.09.11 18:55:54] stevesargon: Yes, list of schools using Etoys (Gerald Ardito, is one contact, and there is someone in Virginia who is interested, etc)
[22.09.11 18:56:27] stevesargon: We could setup the web site to allow "Classroom spaces" where classes can have private/shared showcases
[22.09.11 18:56:43] Cherry Withers: There are two in the Philippines but it there internet connection is always down.
[22.09.11 18:56:57] akathleen: Amon.Millner@gmail.com is who we are working with writing a curriculum called Computer Programming Tools in Schools. It will be for middle/high schools.
[22.09.11 19:03:13] stevesargon: Two parts the CMS (aka Drupal) and the showcase portion (perhaps Google App Engine woudl be a better fit, plus the benefit of a Google product in the mix)
[22.09.11 19:03:17] stevesargon: Drupal
[22.09.11 19:03:17] Cherry Withers: Drupal
[22.09.11 19:03:25] Rita Freudenberg: brief outline for the proposal
[22.09.11 19:03:32] Cherry Withers: Because Google is all about open source
[22.09.11 19:03:41] stevesargon: Need to step out, hopefully be right back.
[22.09.11 19:04:00] Rita Freudenberg: use drupal for creating online resources to better spread Etoys
[22.09.11 19:06:09] stevesargon: Ok I'm back
[22.09.11 19:08:00] stevesargon: Very few new contributions
[22.09.11 19:09:40] stevesargon: Yes! Google, help creating the Showcase.
[22.09.11 19:09:56] Cherry Withers: I'll be back..
[22.09.11 19:10:58] stevesargon: There are other browsers, maintaining for all browser will always be an issue.
[22.09.11 19:11:43] stevesargon: FYI, I am running WIndows 7 and the plug in works with Chrome
[22.09.11 19:12:56] stevesargon: http://www.google.com/chrome Try it, its a better (and Google Browser)
[22.09.11 19:13:46] stevesargon: The money is probably needed for art work as well
[22.09.11 19:14:26] Cherry Withers: If we can get the backbone structure done with the current art work I think it will be a good start. We can then ALL work
[22.09.11 19:14:37] Cherry Withers: +1 with Kathleen
[22.09.11 19:15:47] Cherry Withers: If anyone has worked with Wordpress to make a blog...the beginning skills will be akin to that in a more open system
[22.09.11 19:17:24] Cherry Withers: We will keep trying!
[22.09.11 19:18:01] akathleen: i like the idea of writing one outline we can send to more than one funding source but it sounds like we need to stay close to Squeak.org
[22.09.11 19:18:30] Cherry Withers: Great!
[22.09.11 19:19:18] Cherry Withers: Wow even better!
[22.09.11 19:21:48] stevesargon: Yes, that kid is great!! I love that he can go back and forth in both languages/environments
[22.09.11 19:23:50] stevesargon: Ooh, cool question. How old were these kids?
[22.09.11 19:28:58] stevesargon: Moving verses changing costumes