Re: [school-discuss] Feedback needed from teachers for the

[Michael Hall <olc@ninti.com>]

I have already said this once, and I'm saying it again: I'm sorry I
was
not more measured in my initial response to Anne-Marie's request for

feedback about KDE-Edu, and I apologise to Anne-Marie for any
perceived
insult, because none was intended. My ill-chosen adjectives (such as

'mind-numbing') were not directed at any specific program by any
specific
author, as Anne-Marie may have felt. They were generic comments on a

genre of software. I also apologise to the list for the
tone that the debate may have taken on.

That said, some interesting issues have been raised. I don't think
there's
any value in pursuing the 'drills versus whatever' line of debate
... I'm
happy with the proposition that all types of software have a place
and the
more choice the better.

Anne-Marie does raise an important issue, however, which is that of
access
to the internet. It is true that many schools in the world do not
currently have access to the net, but does this mean that the
possibility
should be ignored altogether? To do so would probably not be in the
long
term interests of the schools or students in question. The amount of

educational information available on the net will always far
outstrip
anything a standalone machine can provide. HTTP, whether in the form
of
the internet or on a LAN, is a very simple, cheap and
efficient way of delivering educational content to many people, and
for
this reason is well suited to schools in developing countries.
Machines
accessing web-based content do not need to be high-powered and
memory
hungry (as KDE is becoming?). An
important question, perhaps, is how can access to the net and/or
http
technology be provided to these schools? There is surely a VERY big
role for Linux here, and a role that uses existing, proven software
(the basic Linux system itself).

I realise that there are very important questions of cultural
imperialism
with respect to the internet, but spreading internet technology may
help
internationalise internet content. Schools can publish their own
culture
in their own language for their own use, quickly and easily and
without
the need to be programmers.

> > I think that schools in the USA or Australia obviouly don't need
the
> > kind of software we aim to produce and even don't find it
> > interesting.

I don't think this conclusion can be made on the basis of just
one email reply. I'm sorry if I gave this impression.

> > I would like to know if this list is only for people from
developed
> > countries.  In this case, I have nothing to do with it. When I
see a
> > lengthy thread about gradebooks stuff, I am sorry to say that it

> > does not concern the majority of people in the world who don't
use
> > gradebooks in schools.

Again, I don't see how these conclusions can follow from the
evidence
of just one email. I am from a developed country (though I live and
work
in the desert with traditionally-oriented indigenous Australians),
but I
don't use gradebooks (nor do any state schools here). Actually, at
this
point it might be worth explaining my apparent fixation with the web

paradigm: where I live, we have small schools spread over hundereds
of
kilometres of remote country - the net is an ideal method of
delivering
content to these schools and an ideal means of communication between

schools.

Anyway, at the end of the day Anne-Marie and I might have
more things in common than not. We probably agree that
Linux the technology is embedded in a very complex socio-political
and
economic global context characterised by inequality, and that
perhaps
Linux may help address some of this inequality. I'd like to do just
what
Doug suggested and 'start again', if possible.