<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> <html> <head> <meta content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" http-equiv="Content-Type"> </head> <body bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000"> Hi, On 6/14/2020 7:28 PM, Hilaire Fernandes via Cuis-dev wrote: <blockquote cite="mid:5ecfe842-8c9d-c5ca-798f-76905289dc5e@drgeo.eu" type="cite"> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"> Hi, The software part is important and it can be built right now, in a portable way. But the hardware part is as much important. </blockquote> I usually focus more on the software part, just because it is where Cuis might be relevant and is where we can help the most. It can be built now, but we are still rather far from it <blockquote cite="mid:5ecfe842-8c9d-c5ca-798f-76905289dc5e@drgeo.eu" type="cite"> The computers at school are not used permanently, just from time to time, it is not game changer, it is decoration. Now try to think about what will be need for a computerized device (it is likely not a computer) to be used in each lesson in the class, at home during the home work. To get an idea, try to observe your kids doing their homework, what physical tools do they use? How do they use it? Try to extrapolate what will be needed to let your kids work with fluency in a computerized form. </blockquote> Not being a teacher, but a father (13 and 17 y.o. girls in technical high school), I don't think much about computer use at school. Yes, schools could do much better. <blockquote cite="mid:5ecfe842-8c9d-c5ca-798f-76905289dc5e@drgeo.eu" type="cite"> Likely your kids as mine use workbooks, textbooks, pens, rulers, dictionary, teacher document, audio file from cd. That is the reality of schools and a useful computerized device will have it as the minimum, as dynamic media, and it should be as easy to use as the physical form. </blockquote> Well, mine don't use audio cds. And in addition to traditional tools, they always have their laptop or pc at their desk. They use Wikipedia and other online resources, sometimes told by teachers, sometimes not. And in these months of social isolation in Buenos Aires, they have online classes using Zoom, and class material and homework is all digital and handled with Google Classroom. For homework to be done in teams, they use Zoon, Meet and Whatsapp video calls. They share the stuff they work on on Google Docs. Besides during several years the government has been giving laptops to students in public schools, in the hundreds of thousands. A lot of transition to digital is going on. Still, both hardware and software need to get much better. No doubt on that. <blockquote cite="mid:5ecfe842-8c9d-c5ca-798f-76905289dc5e@drgeo.eu" type="cite"> When I observe kids at my school I fell ashamed how big their bag is. Each year the parents rightly complain about the weight: plenty of blenders (in the class I manage, student can replace it with one file sorter), plenty of books and once a week the sport equipment). </blockquote> Yes. Here primary school kids use wheeled packpacks, because weight is too much for a kids back. <blockquote cite="mid:5ecfe842-8c9d-c5ca-798f-76905289dc5e@drgeo.eu" type="cite"> A rightly designed computerized workbook with the appropriate software will replace 95% of this weight. But we don't want to really think about it. At best, kid may receive a tablet or notebook which is not designed for their use, and I have been in situation in 2001 were kids will have to carry both their bags and their notebook (and its hard cover)[1]. So yes, kids deserve a dedicated hardware designed for them to fit what they need and not with what we can practically do. They will received it during the primary school and it will be their own. It must be open hardware based, repairable and could be assembled anywhere at best in local factory. For me the best from will be as a large workbook which unfold with two screens, and come with one stylus because this is what kids use and need. I discussed this with my kids and they told me about Samsung and Micrsoft dual screen devices. Dynabook should be larger. Why two screens? If you observe kids, often they work with two documents simultaneously: a workbook and a textbook. </blockquote> Fully agree with all you say. <blockquote cite="mid:5ecfe842-8c9d-c5ca-798f-76905289dc5e@drgeo.eu" type="cite"> Regarding the software, so far I can only imagine about a multiple layer graphics to mix the contents in nature and form. Should the main layer be text based (not handwritten)? </blockquote> Well, I'd like to have stuff as good as DrGeo for every thing they do at school. And for older kids, or kids in a technical orientation perhaps, a media that is powerful enough for them to be able to build DrGeo level of quality stuff. <blockquote cite="mid:5ecfe842-8c9d-c5ca-798f-76905289dc5e@drgeo.eu" type="cite"> Okay it's late, it took me one hour to wrote this email :-) Hilaire PS: The way I write is not subtle, it is hard for me to write in English. But I don't mean to be harsh, I am quite the opposite. </blockquote> Don't worry about that. Most of us are not native English speakers, and email is not the best possible tool. We are all doing quite well in this community! <blockquote cite="mid:5ecfe842-8c9d-c5ca-798f-76905289dc5e@drgeo.eu" type="cite"> [1] Kids going to school look like travelers... <a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.cndp.fr/ecolenumerique/uploads/pics/landes_un_eleve_un_ordi_01.jpg">http://www.cndp.fr/ecolenumerique/uploads/pics/landes_un_eleve_un_ordi_01.jpg</a> <div class="moz-cite-prefix">Le 14/06/2020 à 22:30, Juan Vuletich a écrit : </div> <blockquote type="cite" cite="mid:5EE688CD.7090304@jvuletich.org">Most school kids already have the required hardware. It is us who need to build the missing software parts! </blockquote> <pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">-- GNU Dr. Geo <a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://drgeo.eu">http://drgeo.eu</a></pre> </blockquote> Cheers, <pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">-- Juan Vuletich <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.cuis-smalltalk.org">www.cuis-smalltalk.org</a> <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://github.com/Cuis-Smalltalk/Cuis-Smalltalk-Dev">https://github.com/Cuis-Smalltalk/Cuis-Smalltalk-Dev</a> <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://github.com/jvuletich">https://github.com/jvuletich</a> <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/juan-vuletich-75611b3">https://www.linkedin.com/in/juan-vuletich-75611b3</a> @JuanVuletich</pre> </body> </html>