Last year I was home with small children so I spent the year trying to
sell tech products (SafeDesk and some network security solutions) to
schools. Much of that effort was devoted to promoting Linux/OSS. I
couldn't help myself. It was fun.
After speaking with many teachers and tech directors throughout the
year, I think I have reached a similar conclusion: when teachers have
tangible lesson plans in their hands that use OSS, the software will
emerge from obscurity. Most teachers are not married to an OS - they
just want tools that help them do the job.
I am returning to teaching this year as a 5/6 grade music teacher. I
am already working on gathering old computers to make a thin client lab
in my classroom - hoping to use the SafeDesk download and run all of
the great open source music software. Also, Hilaire, I will pass out
the Freeduc Primary CD to all the other teachers.
Marilyn
Hilaire Fernandes wrote:
Bill Kendrick a écrit :
A teacher-and-grad-student over on the 'tuxpaint-users' mailing list
asked if the Tux Paint project had any lesson plans available which used
the software. (There are some "didactical laboratories" published in
Italian, but beyond that, I know of none.)
It is a very interesting subtle shift in the free software education
community.
At first we need free software we can use in education. Some time later,
educators become aware of free software and they start using these
software, then they naturally look for contents they can use with.
I think this is where we stand right now. Once we start to get more and
more contents for free software we will attract more and more teachers,
then we will have more and more contents, and so on. We will enter in a
virtuous circle to the benefice of free software users.
Future looks quite bright for free software in education.
Did I told you about GNU-Edu Odile Benassy is developing. Take a look at
http://www.ofset.org/gnuedu and http://gnuedu.ofset.org
Hilaire Fernandes
She also wanted to know how such lessons would align with NETS standards.
For those who don't know (like I didn't, before being asked about this :^) ),
"The National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) Project is an
ongoing initiative of the International Society for Technology in
Education (ISTE) and a consortium of distinguished partners and
co-sponsors."
http://cnets.iste.org/
Ben Armstrong suggested I bring this topic up over here on
'schoolforge-discuss'. I was wondering if anyone out here knew much
about NETS, and/or how to put together lesson plans for Open Source
educational software that would adhere to the standard. (Is there any?)
In the meantime, since I couldn't easily find any information for
educational software developers/publishers over at the NETS website,
I took the liberty of dropping Lajeane Thomas, the NETS Project Director,
a line to ask her directly. :^)
I'll keep you posted on any response I receive.
Thx in advance,
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