I saw a request for more victims -- err, volunteers -- so I'll toss my hat into the ring. What I lack in Squeak proficiency I more than make up for in age and experience.
Here is my bio, just a few improvements over the last one.
My name is Gary Dunn. I am 61, married with two sons, and live in Honolulu. I have a very demanding full time IT job. My formal training is in music, including a Masters in Composition from the University of Illinois. I enjoy cycling and fixing old cars. I am the leader of a still struggling project called Open Slate, about improving the use of computers in education. More about me at:
http://www.facebook.com/garydunn808 http://e9erust.blogspot.com Twitter @garydunn808 http://openslate.org Twitter @openslateproj
Many years ago I used a Windows version of Smalltalk at work. My best effort was a GUI front-end to our Unix mail system which we used until we were forced to implement Exchange. I added word wrap to the supplied text editor class. It had a personal address book, forward and reply, and even supported attachments by way of an implementation of uuencode I wrote in Smalltalk. Those were the days!
My reason for running for the board is to advocate for the role of Squeak in education. In this regard I am deeply inspired by Alan Kay. I am a big fan of Etoys, but my main interest is in high school and college aged students and in using Squeak as a unified platform for educational software, to include classroom activities, course content delivery, team collaboration, grades management, ... everything related to so-called E-Learning 2.0. (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-learning).
Where the trend in E-Learning has been towards a web-based design, my preference is for each student to collect and retain locally the information they need, so that they do not rely on continuous Internet access. I do not see E-Learning as a way to teach students to use popular office automation software. I do embrace the concept of social constructionism (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_constructionism_(learning_theory)) and have long pitched the value of small, individually owned, self-made slate computers as tools to foster communication between students. Many of my concepts that were unfamiliar ten years ago are becoming commonplace. Some, like open-source textbooks, have encountered unanticipated resistance. In the long view, I see the future of educational software in Open Cobalt ... take the interaction in WoW and recreate it in a learning context. Powerful stuff.
Gary,
Many thanks to you for running for the board. You being a candidate in addition will give us a real choice. And the results of the vote will be an indicator where we would like Squeak to head for in the upcoming one year period.
--Hannes
On 3/31/11, Gary Dunn garydunnhi@gmail.com wrote:
I saw a request for more victims -- err, volunteers -- so I'll toss my hat into the ring. What I lack in Squeak proficiency I more than make up for in age and experience.
Here is my bio, just a few improvements over the last one.
My name is Gary Dunn. I am 61, married with two sons, and live in Honolulu. I have a very demanding full time IT job. My formal training is in music, including a Masters in Composition from the University of Illinois. I enjoy cycling and fixing old cars. I am the leader of a still struggling project called Open Slate, about improving the use of computers in education. More about me at:
http://www.facebook.com/garydunn808 http://e9erust.blogspot.com Twitter @garydunn808 http://openslate.org Twitter @openslateproj
Many years ago I used a Windows version of Smalltalk at work. My best effort was a GUI front-end to our Unix mail system which we used until we were forced to implement Exchange. I added word wrap to the supplied text editor class. It had a personal address book, forward and reply, and even supported attachments by way of an implementation of uuencode I wrote in Smalltalk. Those were the days!
My reason for running for the board is to advocate for the role of Squeak in education. In this regard I am deeply inspired by Alan Kay. I am a big fan of Etoys, but my main interest is in high school and college aged students and in using Squeak as a unified platform for educational software, to include classroom activities, course content delivery, team collaboration, grades management, ... everything related to so-called E-Learning 2.0. (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-learning).
Where the trend in E-Learning has been towards a web-based design, my preference is for each student to collect and retain locally the information they need, so that they do not rely on continuous Internet access. I do not see E-Learning as a way to teach students to use popular office automation software. I do embrace the concept of social constructionism (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_constructionism_(learning_theory)) and have long pitched the value of small, individually owned, self-made slate computers as tools to foster communication between students. Many of my concepts that were unfamiliar ten years ago are becoming commonplace. Some, like open-source textbooks, have encountered unanticipated resistance. In the long view, I see the future of educational software in Open Cobalt ... take the interaction in WoW and recreate it in a learning context. Powerful stuff.
-- Gary Dunn Honolulu
squeak-dev@lists.squeakfoundation.org
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Gary Dunn -
Hannes Hirzel