Getting Started
My work with Plan Ceibal has been gradually starting, but isn’t completely underway. At first, I was just familiarizing myself with the XO laptops and learning how they work. The first thing I noticed was that these computers are not designed for Uruguay–they have American plugs (so will always need converters), and all the information in the “help” section is in English. Here’s the home screen–the XO logo surrounded by logos for all the different programs.
There’s a Wikipedia link, Skype, “Tortuga Art,” which is like Logo, a calculator, a chat program, a text editor, a web browser, a paint program, and a bunch of games that are less clear to me. One, called “Pippy,” seems to teach some basic programming–not something I learned in elementary school! But the games aren’t big, pretty, multilevel programs like Oregon Trail or Gizmos and Gadgets or the other supposedly educational games that caused everyone to fight over computer time when I was in elementary school. There’s a simple maze game, a tetris game that uses math, a quiz game about cities in Uruguay, etc. I guess the Internet connection is probably the most important thing, but it still seems weird that these games are so much more basic than what American students were playing a decade ago.
I’m still figuring out exactly how the different volunteer groups fit together. Pablo, who helped me arrange my work here, mostly coordinates CeibalJAM. This is a group that works on programs for the XO computers. He also directed Blogging Desde Infancia, which apparently has now been replaced with Tus Ideas Valen (something along the lines of “Your Ideas Have Value”). Yesterday I met Cesar and Nathalie, who are working with this group. CeibalJAM provides technical help to Tus Ideas Valen.
So far, the schools participating in the blogging project have used tools like WordPress and Blogger, which are free and accessible but definitely not designed for six-year-olds. So CeibalJAM has written its own version, called EduBlog, which is much simpler and has features designed for the classroom. For example, rather than sending a forgotten password to an email address, a teacher can restore access. However, the site is still very buggy, and the user guide is very brief. So, my current job is to test all the different parts of the site to figure out where the bugs are, and to work on English and Spanish versions of two user guides–a detailed one for teachers, and a simpler one for the kids.
Cesar and Nathalie asked me what I was most interested in working on, and said that there are tons of jobs and almost everyone’s a volunteer so I should make sure to tell them what I enjoy. I had no idea what to say (not in English, and definitely not in Spanish), because I don’t really know how the organization functions or what jobs there are to do. But it sounds promising!
Saturday, I went to a miniJAM–a meeting where CeibalJAM volunteers get together to discuss what needs to be done and then work on some projects together. Meetings take place in a building that is eventually going to be a small art museum.
When I’m not working with CeibalJAM and Tus Ideas Valen, I’ll be working with Flor de Ceibo, the group from the university. This is a separate group that works with kids in the classrooms using what software has already been developed. I’ll be working with two groups–one that works in cities in the interior of the country, and one that works in rural areas. I’m really looking forward to seeing more of the country.
