PILOTed

Young Adults Making a Difference

Our family is very proud of our niece, Eve. She graduated with a Masters of Education from Quinnipiac college last May. Since she did not have a teaching job lined up, she and a friend decided to travel. But, instead of just joy traveling, they made a difference. They worked at an AIDS orphanage in Cambodia. Below is her tale, in her own words, from four emails. I’ve left the misspellings, but remember that she only had 15 minutes or so on a PC to get these written and sent.

Here is her first email, in mid-January, 2008:

Hello everyone!!!

I am so sorry it took me so long to write. I am in heaven and would love to reside in Cambodia. Ok since I have been here tons has gone on. I came to Phnom Penh thinking I was going to spend 3 days. I am now on my third week. I am heavly involved in two orphanages. I have rasied close to one hundread dollars for one orphange. I went out with my Cambodia friends and bought 60 lbs of rice and dried fish. Its enough food for 2 months. It was amazing to bring it over and see how greatful all the children were. I have been teaching in both orphanages as well. The orphanage with all HIV/AIDS children has VERY little resources and support so the kids speak little English. I am finding it incrediable that I am still able to teach and they are picking up on many things. I have gone a couple times with a Cambodian friend who helps translate. Tommow I am bringing about 10 kids to my guest house to show traditional dancng to raise money. I have never felt so happy and in place in my life. I have become attached to every single child and I don't know if I can leave. I really have found my nitch. The kids here are unlike any kids I have ever come in contact with. I have also become close with the street kids who gfo around selling books. I teach mini lessons to them in the evening. The kids LOVE to learn. I feel like a part of the community. I am currently staying for free at my guest house because I am working there. The free accomadations means living like the Cambodians. A hose is used to shower. I have a little colony of bed bugs sleeping with me and Amanda and I share a wooden plank as a bed.

Yesterday I went with two Cambodian friends I work with to this island where all the local families go. I am seeing things tourists never see. I am just in love with EVERYTHING! I know this sounds crazy but i am contemplating extending my visa. The guy in charge of the orphanage said he would do it for me since I am volunteering there. He really wants me to stay and teach. Everything is wonderful. I miss you all and love to everyone!!! I will write again when I have a minute! XXX

ps sorry i did not proof read...i know gramma my spelling is awful!

Here is her second email a week later, asking close relatives for help.

I know I just wrote an update but I just met with the director and asked about field trips. The director was thrilled and said the kids barely ever make it out of the orphanage. I have raised enough money to buy a good amount of food, clothes and some activities. My next move is to take the kids on field trips. I would like to go once a week to a different place. I am volunteering at two orphanages, in all 53 kids. The field trips cost money. This is where you come in.

Just 6 months ago 25 children were sharing one packet of ramen noodles per meal; one bite per child. The children have come a long way and are now properally fed, medicated and clothed/

Now that I am here, I want to try to raise some funds from outside sources so these children can experience activities and trips outside the orphanage , If any of you are interested in donating or want more information please forward this e-mail to whomever. Any money donated will go directly to the trips and activities I have arranged.. I want to leave here knowing that others, like yourself, understand the struggles of this life and are prepared to help in any way possible. I have also been offered a teaching job. I am going tonight to co-teach with the manager of the orphanage. I am looking in to buying some teaching materials from this school to donate to the orphanage since the children with HIV/AIDS do not get proper schooling. Thanks so much for your support. If you are interested I will tell you how to wire money in to my account. Now I am here I am able to directly deal with the money I raise and spend it how I believe it should be spent! Love u all!

Then, a week later, she and her friend expanded the list of people they asked for help.

Hello

For those of you who do not know, I am currently in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. I stumbled across an orphanage a month ago and immediately fell in love. The orphanage was in a lot of trouble when I arrived. The children were barely surviving. I, along with a couple other people, are doing everything and anything to stabalize this orphanage. I wrote a little story about a very special man who devotes his entire life to the children. If you have already donated this will allow you to see where the money has gone. Your money has helped change the lives of 21 beautiful children. For those who would like to donate this story will inform you of the costs to keep the orphanage running. Thank you so much from all of our hearts! Pictures are soon to come!

Mr. Lee Sary, Tuk Tuk driver by night, superhero by day. He starts his morning at 5 am. Mr.Sary drives his Tuk Tuk to NOC (New Orphanage Center). He is greeted by two women, volunteers, who devote everyday and night to the orphanage. Mr. Sary, Mom and Nanny dress, feed, bathe, and medicate 21 children before they are off to school. At 6:30, Mr. Sary must take multiple trips in his Tuk Tuk to transport the children to school, where they attend school. Meanwhile Mom and Nanny prepare rice ($20, 55 kilos, for 3 days) necessary for the day. 21 blouses, trousers, and underwear must be washed in preparation for the next day. The three devoted souls are hard at work while the children are off learning. 11:00 rolls around and the children need to be picked up from school. A tank of gas($30/month) and an hour of transportation time later the children return to NOC. From 11 to 5pm travelers passing through are encouraged to stop by to play with the children. 5pm comes and the children sit down for dinner. Rice, dried fish ($), and sometimes vegetables($5/day) are served. The children, all infected with HIV/AIDS, must then receive their medication. The time, 7pm, Mr. Lee Sary must say goodbye. He is off to work for the night to earn money to support his family and the orphanage.In the little free time Mr.Sary has the electricity, ($30/month) water bill ($45/month)and rent ($160/month) are paid. Three dedicated strong individuals keep these children alive receiving no monetary compensation.

This is just one day in a set of many. Depending on the donations for the week, this story may vary but the volunteers remain the one constant. They see the light from within the children's eyes, soak in their laughs and absorb their vibrant spirits, this is their payment. Mr. Sary has many responsibilities and can sometimes feel overwhelmed. Rent, electricity and water are vital for the success of NOC and donations and the kindness of others provides that stability; one less concern for Mr. Sary. If you would like to help keep this organization going please contact me through email and I will inform you how.

The two raised almost $1,000 over about a month. Here is what they were able to accomplish.

First off, we would like to thank you for donating you time/money to this needy cause. Many things have happened thanks to your kindness and generosity. Your money has been used to support the orphanage for the last 7 weeks. Thankfully, there is help on the way; grants are being applied for and a new formation of staff and principles is being put together to save this orphanage. Listed below are just some of the things we have done.

The Essentials: For the last seven weeks, we have been providing food and healthy drinking water for the children, paying the electric, rent and other various utilities that make the orphanage run. While the government provides basic health care for the children all extra complications that come along with HIV are not covered. Your money has been also used to buy the medication that is considered a luxury for them on a normal basis.

Mekong River Field Trip: All 21 children were able to go out for the day on a boat tour of the Mekong River to Mekong Beach for a wonderful day with some new beach toys.

New Clothes: The children each received 2 brand new outfits including hair ties, jackets, socks, underwear, pants and dresses.

New Watches: The children are able to have their own watches, something that may seem small, but it has made a significant difference.

Washing Machine: A brand new washing machine was bought and installed with enough washing powder to last for a few months. This will free up a lot of time for the volunteer nanny and cook to do other things.

New Toys: Coloring materials, dolls, cars, electronic cars ect.

   

Artwork: The children, many of whom are excellent   artists, were able to decorate the first level with Chinese New Years dragons.   Paper and supplies were all through your donations.

Sewing Machine: A brand new sewing machine was bought for both the nannies and older children to learn to repair their torn items and to create new ones. Another way to self sustain the orphanage. In addition to this, multiple yards of fabric were bought to get the projects started.

Appreciation Gifts to Volunteers: As an appreciation to those who work the hardest at NOC but are purely volunteers, necklaces were bought to show the women that good deeds don't go unnoticed.

   

Pizza/Amusement Park Field Trip: All 21 children   went out for pizza on the Riverside and then to the amusement park where they   were able to ride roller coasters, Ferris wheels and jump in a bouncy castle   for hours.

Tee Shirts: With the help of your money, we were able to design and produce 130 tee shirts with the children's artwork on them. Selling for 5 dollars, 100% of the proceeds have gone to the children.

Conclusions

 

And now, Eve's coming back to the US to look for a teaching job. She spent almost 3 months in Cambodia, raised about $1,000, and changed people’s lives.

All of us often forget how lucky we are to live the lifestyles we live. Wouldn’t it be great if everyone could use their blessings and make the kind of impact that Eve and her friend did?

 

Learning to Speak English in Second Life with SRI

Innovation seems to be the hot topic of the moment. Countries have to innovate, or their populations are doomed to a lower economic status. Companies have to innovate or die. Education has to innovate to propagate educated workers and citizens that can compete in a flat world.

SRI has been innovating for 60 years. Curt Carlson, President and CEO, has written a book (well worth reading) on innovation (Innovation, The Five Disciplines for Creating What Customers Want) and he will be the keynote speaker at the SIIA’s Ed Tech Industry Summit on May 18 in San Francisco.

Recently, I had the opportunity to talk with Valerie Crawford and John Brecht of SRI’s Center for Technology in Learning. They provided me with a preview of a really cool new technology, and also with great background information on what SRI does and how it works.

The technology was built around voice recognition software developed at SRI and is designed to support building fluency in English, through either formal or informal learning approaches. What was most cool was that the software worked with Second Life (SL). Second Life is a three dimensional world where visitors can travel, interact with each other, learn, build stuff, take classes, buy things, conduct meetings, etc. Once logged into SL, using SRI’s technology, students interact in social situations through speaking. The SRI software not only conveys the meaning into the Second Life world, it responds and also provides feedback about how well their speech compares with native speakers’. In SRI’s SL-based environment, users can engage in game-like activities, talking through a microphone and listening to responses. This allows them to practice and assess their English-language fluency, comprehension, and pronunciation, all with speech recognition technology. 

The core software for the speech recognition technology was originally designed for the exact opposite function. The software was originally written so that the computer would allow for errors in speaking, but would still recognize what the person was saying, a forgiving speech recognition system. In order for this to work, the developers had to understand the differences between how a native speaker would speak and how a non-native speaker would speak. The software has to select meaning from different possible interpretations.

The education application uses those same capabilities, but with the opposite purpose. It compares the user’s speech to an optimal voice pattern, scores the results, and provides feedback and possibly remediation to the speaker. For example, take the pronunciation of the letter “t,” which has different sounds depending on the context (wrestle, put, better, vacation, these, thing). One type of error would be to use a wrong but valid “t” sound in a word. A different error is to pronounce a “t” like a “d” or “z”. (My mother-in-law is Hungarian, so I always know when “ze dinner is on ze table.”) For each context, there must be trapping sequences for common speech errors.

A second hurdle involves interfacing the technology with SL.

Second Life has an API for developers wanting to create new applications. You would think it would be a quick leap to interface the speech engine with Second Life. But, the licensing agreement calls for Linden Labs to have unrestricted use of all intellectual property in SL. In order not to lose the IP, SRI had to put the speech recognition and all software architecture for the system outside of Second Life, without diminishing the user’s SL experience.

They were able to accomplish this through a combination of client software (on the user’s machine) and server software at SRI. Oversimplifying a little, the client software captures what the user is saying and communicates data over the Internet with the SRI server. SRI has also integrated into the SL environment to capture information about avatars’ actions in SL, and then communicate actions back to SL.

One vision is to develop this into a SL resort island. Visitors would have the ability to practice and self assess their language skills in a risk-free setting, and learning experts acknowledge that language use in context is the best way to build language skills, and a lot more fun than memorizing conjugations and verb tenses.

For example, visitors might go to a bar and ask for a drink. The bartender avatar might respond, “I think you asked for a drink, but your pronunciation needs a little practice.” They may be given a language improvement mission to complete before they get the drink. When they come back to ask again, if they still need practice, the bartender might respond, “Yes, I understood you, you want a drink. You still need some practice on pronunciation. If you want a glass of water I can give you some now, but if you want something more upscale, first go to the language gym to work on your letter ‘R.’”

As Valerie made clear, the speech recognition technology that interfaces with SL is not a stand-alone product. The CTL group of SRI does not create products but rather focuses on innovating new learning technologies, designs, and resources. They perform five different types of services, generally in the disciplines of math, sciences, and language.

1. They develop assessments of student learning (devising and deploying instruments to assess different cognitive skills)

2. They evaluate methods or products to determine their effectiveness in cognitive, information, or skill transfer

3. They research and study different methods that try to improve teacher effectiveness, specifically looking at how teachers learn complex forms of pedagogy. In fact, they host one of the longest running online social networks: Tapped-In (tappedin.org)

4. They develop technologies that can become the basis of products (creating feasibility demonstrations, and then partnering with others who will produce and sell the product). Once a technology is developed, they may also help specify an infrastructure that will allow the technology or products to scale.

5. They      provide consulting to commercial firms to leverage existing and new      research to inform product design and product strategy, to lower      innovation risk and enhance product effectiveness and traction.

The SL/Speech Recognition technology falls into the first part of the fourth service, technology development. To actually take this technology and turn in into a product that people can buy may still take $1–2 million and 9–18 months. That is where SRI looks for partners.

A partner can be a joint development effort, technology can be purchased, it can be licensed, or there can be royalty arrangement.

So what can we learn from SRI?

First, SRI may have a technology that you can use to create a business. SRI has a lot of different IP that can be applied to education, and they are looking for partners to commercialize the technology into products.

Second, successful innovation requires overcoming a number of different hurdles. CTL started with an existing voice recognition software, developed years ago at SRI’s Speech Technology Lab. There are a slew of complexities in figuring out how to best leverage this technology for learning in the current and near-future learning technology market, through integrating it with learning environments, such as Second Life and mobile devices. Creating successful products almost always takes substantially more resources than expected; plan to have the people and resources to continue moving forward even when obstacles slow you down.

Third, interesting ideas often come from where you least expect them. When developing a forgiving voice recognition application, who could have predicted that the product might also be used to grade the quality of speech of English language learners?