Re: [school-discuss] Presentation for local SD

[Marc Lijour <marc@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Cameron

We are also preparing for procurement in Ontario, Canada.
Could you share some studies/info with us? How do you evaluate different 
products' performance? Proprietary vs Open Source? In house customization vs 
COTS?

Thanks

Marc

On April 15, 2008 09:25:54 pm Cameron Bell wrote:
> When I argue the case for FOSS, I also strongly mention that as schools
> build networks amongst themselves and establish relationships worldwide,
> using FOSS is the only guarantee that  teaching and learning materials
> designed to be shared, will be able to be opened across platforms across
> schools.
> Why should a poor Windows school miss out on a nice worksheet-type
> activity created as an odt? ;)
> As our Government is tendering for a WAN LMS for all schools in my
> region, I can only see its potential limited if proprietary file formats
> only are accepted or accepted as "default". Some schools are Mac, some
> implement Linux in the form of the eeePC etc, sharing will be so much
> more effective if FOSS is used.
> I also mention that whole epochs of school resources can be lost in an
> upgrade. FOSS allows a measure of security in that materials created
> will always be able to be opened. I am sure many of us have old
> activities that we laboured over and created in the days of 386's and
> Windows 1 that are no longer usable. (Often that is not a bad thing -
> curricula and times change) But school histories are important and need
> to be consciously preserved in the digital age.
> Cheers
> Cameron
>
> Richard Andrews wrote:
> > You might be interested in http://openeducation.org.au - there's some
> > work done there on how FOSS applications can fill curriculum needs
> > (Victoria, Australia).
> >
> > I've been keeping notes on presenting in schools here:
> >
> > http://openeducation.org.au/wiki/index.php/Linux_For_Education_Institutio
> >ns#Selling_Linux_and_Open_Source
> >
> > To summarise (so discussions can occur on list)
> >
> >
> > Suggested guideline for spoken and written communications
> >
> >     * Don't dwell on zero cost, it makes FOSS look flimsy
> >     * Focus on the applications and show what they can do
> >     * Use the term Open Source in preference to FOSS or Free Software
> >           o FOSS is more correct but only use it with other geeks
> >           o Free Software has the word free, see zero-cost above
> >     * Present applications by name and short description
> >           o FOSS project names tend to be quirky or in-jokes, not
> > appreciated o Providing a three word descriptive title will drive home
> > the purpose of the package
> >     * Open Source software is reliable
> >     * It's built by communities as a labour of love
> >           o The developers take pride in what they have created and will
> > show you how to get the most out of it
> >           o The developers use the software themselves so the software
> > will work well
> >     * Open Source communities are powerful
> >           o Open Source people are about helping one another
> >           o Open Source schools are forming their own communities to help
> > one another
> >           o Schools can share Open Source programs with each other any
> > time * Open Source is about sharing knowledge and educating the user o
> > Teach programming by taking an already working program and modifying it
> >                 + More immediate gratification to students
> >                 + Not as hard to get into programming
> >                 + Open Source programs are written so they are easy to
> > modify by anyone who wants to
> >     * Open Source Software has no licensing headaches
> >           o You can legally copy it as many times as you want (you are
> > encouraged to do so)
> >           o If you find a good program give it to your colleagues
> >           o You will never be committing piracy
> >
> > --- Richard Houston <rhouston@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
> >> I was wondering if anyone had any advice, ideas, suggestions or anything
> >> that would help make this presentation as effective as possible. If you
> >> have testimonials that I could quote that would be great. I will also
> >> promote the schoolforge.net site as a great resource for the Trustees to
> >> get more info.
> >>
> >> Also I was thinking that it might be a good idea to put together a info
> >> package skeleton that others doing this kind of thing could use to kick
> >> start there presentation. What do ya think? Good Idea or not?
> >
> >       Get the name you always wanted with the new y7mail email address.
> > www.yahoo7.com.au/y7mail
>
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