ILXO/Jam planning

Teacher Jam

1 day, Aug 1-3 (pick one!)
Host: hopefully, Google Chicago
(I'm trying to fill it out in the pattern of the "How to Run a Jam" guide. Info is still not definitive, as we need to contact the relevant people!)

Focus

Discussing what kind of content they want? --- how to still meet state curriculum standards while still teaching in new, innovative manner?

What kind of platform are we using? Scratch, Etoys, Pygame?

Less a “jam”, per se, but as a comprehensive discussion?

IL State Standards

http://www.isbe.state.il.us/ils/html/descriptors.htm

Please consider the NETS standards as well: http://www.iste.org/nets/ ScottSwanson 17:51, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

Pre-Jam: Figure out how to display these nicely/efficiently/effectively. May have to consider specializing? Or just having teachers clump up by academic interest and look up the relevant ones.

Mel’s idea – fill a grid with ways XO (existing or not) could be used to meet these goals. Identify gaps and figure out how to fill them.
Note: MSTE has already been doing stuff similar to this: http://www.squeakcmi.org/resources.php?subpage=k5

How to apply to pilots?

Space

Google Chicago
20 W. Kinzie St, 9th floor

Must be a weekday.

Contact person:
Kate Pellettiere
katherinep@google.com

Scheduling Time

Agenda

1. Discuss curriculum standards
2. Discuss XO applicability
   • (tentative) Discuss Etoys vs Scratch vs Pygame
3. Address community needs
4. (tentative) Discuss pilot potential or low-cost laptop act
5. Outline specific desired outputs
   • What needs are unmet by the XO?
   • What is a tangible product we can create to fix this?

Is this the end result we want to see for the evening?

Do we want some sort of speaker for the evening?

Getting People

OLPC-Chicago
Educators
Try contacting MSTE department at U of I - http://www.mste.uiuc.edu/

How do we reach teacher-y folk in IL who may not already know about OLPC?

• I can ask my own former teachers
• is there mailing list somewhere?
  • maybe try http://www.classroom20.com/group/xo
  • or some of these folks http://www.classroom20.com/profiles/members/?q=illinois

• Potential University interest groups
  • OSEP, CCL - Northwestern - Worth seeing just if we can contact the SESP department?
  • BULUG - Bradley - Linux User Group, had an OLPC speaker in February - mmcgill at bradley.edu
  • Technology in Education - NLU - craig.cunningham at nl.edu

Resources

Food

Presumably evening. Dinner? Snack-y things? Do we provide food? Will Google graciously provide food?

(Nommy places to eat nearby)

Equipment

Whiteboards, like woah.

Swag

Do we have anything to offer? Should we offer anything? --> (erm, on no funds, probably not)

Game Jam

• 3 days, August 8-10
• Host: IMSA

Day 1 (4:00-8:00pm)

• Welcome, Opening Statements
• Review of Teacher Jam
• break into teams and begin planning ideas
  • keep ideas and plans publicly posted and updated (whiteboard? online? both?)
• debrief on progress at end of day

Meals

• (lunch)
• dinner
• snacks

Speakers

• opening statements
• Teacher Jam review - ILXO

Day 2 (9:00am-8:00pm)

• continue working
• drop-in sessions/talks as coding breaks
  • usability
  • interface design
  • educational principles
• debrief on progress at end of day

Meals

• lunch
• dinner
• snacks

Speakers

• 2:00pm - Interaction Design discussion - Karen Sittler

Day 3 (9:00am-6:00pm)

• finish up games
• test games at end of day
  • bring in teachers
  • get kids to come

Meals

• lunch
• snacks

Interested parties

Jake Elliott

• wants to help out but will not be in town July 19-20

Hans Sittler (tentative)

• will bring kids
• wants to lead a discussion
  • experience with Python and teaching

Robert Myers

• working on Asteroids game engine
• working on "Bubbles" game engine (copyright limitations on this)
• he and his son are willing to help out

Karen Smith (tentative)

• background in interaction and learning design
• has kids, can bring
• most likely can come on Saturday

Yifan (tentative)

• is Yifan, and therefore useful to have around

We need to...

• find a host for the Game Jam
• contact Google Chicago about hosting the Teacher Jam
• get participants for both jams
• find speakers for the Game Jam
• figure out the logistics of food (and money for food...)
• figure out what type of games we're after
  • Mel and I seem to have settled on the following: a minigames framework, 2D tile, arcade/fighting engine, 2D physics, memory/matching/flahscards/trivia --- /game engines