10 Things You Should Know When In an RIT OLPC Course

Here is a list of 10 Tips in order to be successful in OLPC at RIT.

This is in no particular order:

1. Know the basic commands to freenode
2. Know who Richard Stallman is
3. Become familiar with the history OLPC
4. Learn the basic commands to build a wiki page
5. Know how to write an email [that can motivate and is understandable]
6. Become familiar with Python
7. Keep HCI in mind when designing a program
8. Be persistent
9. Be patient
10. Work Hard

10.1 Above all have fun and gain from this experience

Created by the Blocku Team: http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Blocku

Blocku

Have you heard of Blocku! My Team in OLPC is currently working on a game called Blocku. Blocku is a puzzle game geared towards 4th grade students around the world. Students have the opportunity to play the game independently, and with friends. Teachers can use it to evaluate learned concepts in their classroom. It is easy to learn, and we have been working hard these past 10 weeks to present our project. From creating the name, creating lesson plans, and coding the material, the Blocku team (Mark, Fran, Ariel, and myself) have been working hard to bring this game to fruition. While we have a long path ahead of us, we have made many achievements this quarter.

Check us out sometime on our wiki: http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Blocku

OLPC Course Overview

This Winter Quarter, instead of taking a stereotypical course that provides me the opportunity to focus on my programming skill set, I have decided to take a Special Topics Course concerning One Laptop Per Child.

Originally, I was signed up to take a JavaScript course, but after talking about the Special Topic course to friends and family, I realized that signing up for it would be a good decision. I enjoy helping people, and the OLPC course provided me the opportunity to use my skill set to help students who are learning about computers. Who would think, I would learn so much more.

The first day of the course, I was pleasantly surprised that the 11 week quarter "Craziness" of RIT would not be affecting our work in this course. Our professor stressed on producing quality work that can easily be handed off to the Open Source Community.

Speaking of Open Source Community, that was yet another pleasant surprise. We would be learning about the Open Source Community and be involved with the membership throughout the quarter.

Lastly, I learned we were going to get our hands dirty and learn a new programming language called Python. I am eager to start programming in this language, as it is a HOT language in the market.


-Wish me luck :D