[seul-edu] Colin Dellow introduction

[Colin Dellow <plarf@moo.ca>]

Hello, everyone.  I just thought I'd post a quick introductory message about myself and, if possible, elicit some help acclimatizing to the Linux in education world.

My name is Colin Dellow, I'm a high school student in Dawson Creek (look up, look up, look all the way up!), British Columbia, Canada.  I'm very interested in 
computers.  A purchase of a new hard drive has now allowed me to move to Linux on the home computer instead of just on the web server.

I am competent in a handful of programming languages, but would only consider myself an expert in one -- an obscure language known as MOO.  Anyway, after 
developing for the Windows UI and a stint with Apple's free compiler, neither of which I liked very much, I'm eager to dive into programming educational software for 
linux and working on linux advocacy in the local school district.  Thus, I was extremely happy to find kindred souls at SEUL/edu! :)

I have ideas for a few pieces of educational software targeted to the K-3 grades, but would like them to be written so as to be the most compatible with existing work 
done for SEUL/edu.  I'm working my way through the backlogs of SEUL/edu and the SEUL/edu reports, but if anyone could bring me up to date on a few subject, 
I'd be greatly appreciative:

What progress exists with creating a student-friendly "standardised" interface? Micah's menuing system was mentioned in the earlier logs.

What progress exists with creating a "standardised" student tracking system?

What, if anything, would teachers in the K-3 area want?  I'm targeting this as it seems one of the most neglected sectors in the education area.

Has any progress been made on writing interfaces to Mac/Windows encyclopedias?  If not, I'm interested in witing a one size fits all interface for them, extendable by 
libraries specifically designed for different 'pedias.

Sorry for the lengthy introduction,
Colin Dellow