Re: [school-discuss] my puzzle about OSS in education

[Sydney Weidman <weidmans@xxxxxxx>]

On Thu, 2005-06-02 at 15:32, Greg Farrell wrote:
> Thanks No One.  I'm compiling a report for all the
> schools in my province on OSS options for them.  Each
> district and school is set up differently, and each
> will try a different application to introduce
> themselves to OSS, I'm sure.
> 
> Being able to include information like this will help
> schools know beforehand where limitations may exist
> and keep them from getting bad impressions where it
> could be avoided.
> 
> Any information of this kind will help our schools
> make the best choices for a switch to OSS.  I've been
> trying to find real examples of OSS effects on
> learning content value for the schools that have
> implemented OSS because I know this question is at the
> forefront of the discussion for many of the schools
> here.  So any statistical or anecdotal measure like
> the one you've provided helps me a lot.
> 
> Greg Farrell

I don't direct this at you in particular, but I find it amazing that
educators nearly broke the school doors down getting technology into
classrooms without doing a lot of number crunching. (The numbers are now
starting to show that there may be no positive effect on achievement).
But when you suggest using something that promotes sharing over
something that forbids it, everyone wants proof of its effectiveness.
Free Software is such that if we want it to be effective, we need only
pool our resources and make it so. We don't have to be passive
consumers, allowing ourselves to be bullied into believing that things
will never change.

Regards,
Syd