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Re: [school-discuss] FW: OpenOffice in education



Cross-posted to OpenOffice.org in Education list.

Inline response to initial request and Tom's reply.

mviron@findaschool.org wrote:

All,

Do we have any tutorials for openoffice.org? or any members who have built
one?

Michael

________________________________

From: Hildy@ultra2k [mailto:hildy@totalspeed.net]
Sent: Wednesday, February 25, 2004 8:28 PM
To: mviron@findaschool.org
Subject: OpenOffice in education


I have started a website www.tutorialsforopenoffice.org The mission of the
website is to provide free assistance in the use of OpenOffice.
Great. The more awareness of resources the better.

OpenOffice has been taught by teachers thousands of times.
The OpenOffice.org community, specifically the Marketing Project would appreciate demonstrable numbers, case studies, testimonials and stories. In other words, we would like to hear from you if you are using OpenOffice.org :)

I have not been able to find any step-by-step tutorials that a teacher
>> can use that I can post on my website .

Perhaps if you were to describe "that a teacher can use" here and on your website, people would know what you are looking for.

How many times do we have to reinvent the wheel.
How do you get better wheels ? Honestly, if you cannot find tutorials that suit your needs or that of the visitors to your site - roll your own. That is the open source way.

Do you know where I can get a tutorial(s) to post?
Do you mean to have a link farm, or actually provide the tutorials?

For example, ItrainOnline provides training materials including handouts and trainers' notes for:

* Introduction to open source
* Choosing open source software
* Introduction to OpenOffice.org Writer
* Moving over to OpenOffice.org Writer from MS Word
* Using the OpenOffice.org Writer bibliography database tool
* Core OpenOffice.org Writer materials
* Introduction to OpenOffice.org Impress

See: http://www.itrainonline.org/itrainonline/mmtk/opensource.shtml

The ItrainOnline materials are provided with the Creative Commons copyright license and differ from module to module. Most are free to use and distribute for non-commercial use. Some allow modification.

I would think with teachers that you would want to use material with a copyright license that provides the flexibility to use, modify and distribute.

OpenOffice works on Linux and other platforms.

Waalter Hildebrandt
Denver CO


Tom Adelstein wrote:

Plenty of tutorials exist.
Yes they do and we need more.

I don't understand the reason for another web site?
Because not any one site can accommodate the diverse groups and individuals that wish to use OpenOffice.org.

Did you know that you can have Star Office for free?

Some groups may be able to obtain StarOffice for free. But not everyone.

I understand that many people in education use Openoffice.org. But, why?
The feedback that I have received is that they can copy and distribute to their friends and family. And the helpful and friendly manner in which the OpenOffice.org community assists them.

Star Office uses the same code base but works better and has additional
features.
I would be interested to know how it works better. Users need to determine that the extra features are required.

You can also have the curriculum at no cost.

Finally, we're on the verge of establishing an on-line course for
teachers to provide college semester hours for taking the course.
Is this for StarOffice ?

Other learning spaces and tutorials that I know about:

http://www.sover.net/~mackmoon/OOoHelpOutline.html
http://www.digitaldistribution.com/

Someone has already mentioned Colin's tutorials (http://training.bytebot.net/), but he also maintains a comprehensive FAQ at: http://www.bytebot.net/openoffice/faq.html This is currently being collated with other FAQ resources in a place yet to be announced.

http://documentation.openoffice.org/
http://www.math.umd.edu/~dcarrera/openoffice/docs/

Many of the resources that I have listed about link to other resources. So this is the short list :)

If you are interested in using and promoting OpenOffice.org in schools I encourage you to keep an eye on the OpenOffice.org in Education Project, see: http://marketing.openoffice.org/education/schools/

Reminder: Closing date for entries to the OpenOffice.org in Education "In search of a project mascot!" competition is 28 February, i.e. this Saturday.

All the best
Jacqueline McNally
www.decisions-and-designs.com.au/jacqueline

Community Contact, Australia/New Zealand
OpenOffice.org Marketing Project (www.openoffice.org)

Are you a computer angel? (www.computerangels.org.au)