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Re: [school-discuss] Discussion About Linux on Linkedin



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Max,

That story about your grandmother is heartwarming (at least to an open source advocate like myself).  Regarding children, in grad school, today's children were referred to as technology natives, as they have always had technology in their lives.  Most adults were referred to as technology immigrants, as many of us didn't grow up with technology (technology in my house as a child was a pocket calculator until 1983, when I got my first computer, a Commodore Vic 20).  My experience has been that GNU/Linux can be learned as quickly (or more so) as Windows.

I agree that it would be interesting to see how many children at home use Linux in the home.  While researching my book, Energize Education through Open Source, I found out about OLPC, One Laptop Per Child, an organization that provides laptops with Linux preloaded to school children in Third World countries.  One laptop is given to each child to use at school and outside of school.  They are equipped with Wi-Fi and solar powered batteries, so that learning can take place anywhere and the students can readily communicate with their teachers and peers.  The children, and the entire village, have a sense of ownership of these laptops, so they take care of them, which helps to build a sense of community.

Chris

Christopher Whittum
M.Ed. Learning and Technology
CDW Web Design
Energize Education Through Open Source

On 01/27/2014 02:40 PM, Max Shinn wrote:
I am amazed at how hi-tech children are nowadays. It would be 
interesting to see how many children out there use Linux at home,
and of those children, if that is because the family uses it.
My grandma was getting confused with Windows, so I reformatted her
computer with GNU/Linux several years ago.  She doesn't know how to move
a window around the screen, and is baffled by the concept of
"minimizing", but nevertheless she can manage her photos, browse the
internet, backup her files to an external hard drive, etc.  Her laptop
from 2005 is running great with Kubuntu Feisty.  If you have no
experience at all, the learning curve for GNU/Linux is much less than
that of Windows...

-Max
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