Re: [school-discuss] Status of Engima gradebook project

[Michael Hall <olc@ninti.com>]

> That brings me to the gradebook project. I am worried. The way
this
> was supposed to go, when i posted the storm recommendation for
> DISCUSSION, I would be pelted with substantive responses
(responses
> about what to change or building on some other base), but,
instead,
> only one or two folks responded, NONE OF THEM TEACHERS.

Is that 'storm' Storm Linux?

I responded to the gradebook idea and I'm a teacher. I asked whether
it would be useful internationally and would be able to cope with
all sorts of grading and assessment systems. As a teacher, I can't
use an "English 9/10, Maths 3/10" type of application. The only
reporting that really matters where I teach is reporting against the
outcomes stated in our state curriculum framework. Individual
teachers might record numerical grades, but they have no meaning
outside that teacher's classroom. I'd be interested in something
that helped all teachers do the kind of systemic assessment and
reporting that we are required to do.

Also, would it work over my school's http intranet so that the end
user machine was irrelevant?

>
> The silence was (and is) overwhelming. Some good teacher need to
> step forward and SPONSOR it. By sponsor, i mean a teacher should
say
> "if you do the work, my school will use it, and you will hear
about
> it when we have problems." i need this very badly, because the
first
> person account is always the most valuable because it is based on
> observation, not conjecture.

This is only a suggestion, but maybe it would be a good idea to ask
teachers what sort of software they actually want. I honestly can't
remember a teacher ever saying "Gee, I wish I had a computerised
gradebook". I'm not trying to be negative, just stating a fact.
Also, bear
in mind a point I've made before in this forum: most teachers don't
care whether software is open source or not ... they just want
educationally good software that works for them. Price is irrelevant
(they don't pay for software), ease of installation and use is very
important
(they don't have time to waste).

Most teachers have little say about what software a school uses ...
by this I mean that administrators decide on a platform (usually M$
Windows), which determines the software used to a great extent.

> If teachers rise to the occasion, gradebook will be seeing
quarterly
> releases too. but right now, it seems the teachers have turned
their
> backs on us.
>
> It's nice to talk to other programmers, but we don't really know
> what is good and what won't work. and I'm not talking about choice

> of software or coding style. If the code is stable and the user
> interaction is acceptable and appropriate - then you have a
winner.
>
> I am going to light a candle and hope that before week's end
> teachers will be telling us on the list why this "storm" needs the

> following changes.

Well, there you go. I hope this doesn't come across as negative ...
this is how I see things. A gradebook (in the traditional sense) is
not something I feel I need.

What do I need? A tool that allows me to pose complex tasks
requiring students to access information , record and process it,
think deeply about issues involved, synthesise ideas and come up
with new understandings, see an issue from multiple perspectives,
collaborate with other students (in other schools, states or
countries). Something that is part web browser,
search engine, word processor, keyword lister, concept mapper,
organiser, emailer, dictionary/spell checker, calculator. Something
that allows the creation of multimedia hypertext products via a
process that combines  both higher order thinking and attention to
things at the spelling and punctuation level as well. And to top it
all off, with a built-in
feedback and assessment system that would allow me to map a
student's position and progress within an outcomes-based curriculum
framework. Maybe I'm just talking about the entire Linux system ?
;-)

Seriously, some kind of integrated package that represents a tool
for facilitating critical, higher order thinking, which IMHO is what
education is ultimately about. Something that had both a desktop/GUI
side and a http/net side, like Python for example would probably be
able to do quite well. Something that integrates 'subject' areas
(literacy, numeracy, IT, soc. ed, etc) in purposeful, meaningful
project-based learning. I know fads come and go in education, but
I'm talking about more than a fad here.

At the end of the day, open source educational software will only
succeed if it is *educationally* as good as or superior to the
alternatives. Otherwise, all those other great reasons that the
techies have for using OSS won't count for a lot. I suppose this
raises an
interesting question: is there anything about OSS and the process
that creates it that can produce software that is intrinsically
superior *educationally*? I suspect there is, but I'd like someone
more capable than I to spell out what it is.

Anyway,

Michael Hall