SOCIALCALC
A Spreadsheet Activity for Computer Supported Collaborative Learning
INTRODUCTION
COLLABORATIVE LEARNING
OLPC & SOCIALCALC
LEARNING WITH SOCIALCALC
LEARNING ON THE MESH
LEARNING ON THE CLOUD
CONTEXT BASED LEARNING
CONCLUSION
AGENDA
INTRODUCTION
The secret of life is not enjoyment but education through experience. -Swami Vivekananda Learning taking new dimensions – Organizational Learning Collaborative Learning Learning from the Environment
With technology entering classrooms, what is next is what interests us!
TECHNOLOGY EDUCATIONCOMPUTER SUPPORTED
COLLABORATIVE LEARNING
COLLABORATIVE LEARNING
Collaborative learning can be described as a group learning activity, characterized by two or more than two people, involved in the learning process, conducive to each other’s grasping abilities.
•Enabling users far off to interact in a learning environment•Allows for interaction beyond boundaries•Establishment of a learning community
Platform which hosts questions and discussions from the learners facilitating their learning curve to grow in a manner which advances their knowledge and
at the same time assists their inquisitive minds.
•Develops social skills•Sharing of ideas from different backgrounds•Problem solving approach helps to cultivate the student’s mind in a progressive manner
COLLABORATIVE LEARNING THROUGH SPREADSHEETS
Problem Based Learning through Spreadsheets An ideal bridge between arithmetic and
algebra and allow the student free movement between the two worlds
Students look for patterns, construct algebraic expressions, generalize concepts, justify conjectures, and establish the equivalence of two models as intrinsic and meaningful needs rather than as arbitrary requirements posed by the teacher
VisiCalc LOTUSExcel
SuperCalc Multiplan
Plan Perfect Google Docs
OLPC & SOCIALCALC
One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) is an organization dedicated to create
educational opportunities for the world's poorest children by providing each child
with a rugged, low-cost, low-power, connected laptop with content and
software designed for collaborative, joyful,self-empowered learning
OLPC & SOCIALCALC
SocialCalc is a spreadsheet activity developed for functioning in the Sugar
environment, OLPC’s softwareparadigm.
Features
• Tabulation
• Organization
• Graphing and Calculation
• Localization in different languages
• Multi-user editing over the mesh network
• Ability to read and edit single sheet Excel (.xls),
• Lotus (.wk4) and other popular spreadsheet files
OLPC & SOCIALCALC
Architecture
LEARNING WITH SOCIALCALC
COLLABORATING ON SOCIALCALC
Collaboration over a Mesh Network
Collaboration over a Cloud Network
LEARNING ON THE MESH
A type of networking wherein each node in the network may act as an independent router, regardless of whether it is connected to another network or not.
Allows for continuous connections and reconfiguration around broken or blocked paths by “hopping” from node to node until the destination is reached.
LEARNING ON THE MESH ARCHITECTURE
LEARNING ON THE MESH HOW WE ACHIEVED IT
Dbus-tubes and telepathy framework
A basic infrastructure to call functions and send data from python to the JavaScript part & vice versa
Implementing Localization
Color Coding of Cells on Shared Spreadsheets
LEARNING ON THE MESH USE CASE
LEARNING ON THE CLOUD
The application residing on the school server is common to all the XO laptops. Hence, this removes the need to install the application on the network laptops.
Private Cloud Computing
All the systems integrated to the cloud access the application on the browser, the server handles the specific operations such as saving, etc.
LEARNING ON THE CLOUD ARCHITECTURE
LEARNING ON THE CLOUD
Integration with the server
Scaling the programme to supportcollaborative working
Integration with Chat Activity
Context Based Learning
HOW WE ACHIEVED IT
LEARNING ON THE CLOUD USE CASE
CONTEXT BASED LEARNING
Context = “any information that can be used to characterize the situation of an entity”.
• Plot the behavioural profile of the students• Tailor make the course material to suit the
needs of the students• Allow for interaction between different
peer groups, and study their problem patterns
• Extract resources from the content repositories to solve instantaneous problems
• Allot assignments automatically based on the student’s perception of the topic, his problems and understanding of the same
• Understand group psychology and group dynamics to plot students’ growth better
CONTEXT BASED LEARNING
The server acts as the host for all the XOs
Any amount of activity occurring on the cloud isalmost instantly saved on the server in the database
Presence of the educator is notrequired at all times in order to monitor the study process
The teacher can assume the role of themoderator, who can supervise the growth curve of the
students
ADVANTAGES ON OUR SYSTEM
CONCLUSION
•Demonstrated the use of technology for existing principles such as
• Computer based collaborative Learning
• Using SocialCalc spreadsheet activity as an example
• The scalability of the same into a much more intelligent system that can synthesize context based learning environments
The Beginning..
