[Author Prev][Author Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Author Index][Thread Index]

RE: [school-discuss] Philosophy: Teachers with Admin Privileges or Not

It seems the major concern with LiveCDs (and Knoppix would be one of them) is the ability of a motivated student to use them to hack into the system.

Your reference to 'no support' definitely hits home.  *If* IT support were available enough so that anytime a teacher wanted to try to load a new application to explore, IT support could be there within a day or two to help identify, testload, experiment, and finally formally load on operational machines, I suspect even teachers like Marilyn might not mind too much locking down, but the reality is that schools will seldom, if ever, have the kind of IT support that corporations have.  Hence, I believe it is a responsibility of this group to guide those of us seeking *practical* solutions to the issue of teachers being able to explore new FOSS titles in a manner that works with the system as it currently exists, and in a manner that still meets the needs of network reliability.

This has been an excellent thread, I hope everyone else got as much as I did from it.  Thanks, Daniel


 -------------- Original message ----------------------
From: Uno Kitty <unokitty@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> 
> For the past three years, I've been utilizing Live CDs in my classes. Works very 
> well. The primary Live CD that I use is Knoppix. Choose Knoppix because their 
> were reference books available. Started with Version 3.4, currently use Version 
> 5.1.1.
> 
> For labs, my students use GIMP to capture the screens that demonstrate that they 
> have met the lab objectives. During the lab period, they upload the images to 
> Goggle Docs. This becomes their "electronic lab notebook". Later during the 
> week, they add text to connect the images, and this becomes their lab narrative.
> 
> For the last two years, I've implemented a remastering activity. I've had mixed 
> results with that. But I'm going to keep trying it. One of the goals is to have 
> the students place a class portfolio on the remastered CD. 
> 
> In my environment, Live CDs require no support. Which is a good thing as my 
> students refer to the central support group as the "no support people."  
> 
> Best of luck,
> Uno
> 
> 
> 
> > Date: Mon, 22 Oct 2007 15:30:31 +0300
> > From: mike@xxxxxxxxxxx
> > To: schoolforge-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > Subject: Re: [school-discuss] Philosophy: Teachers with Admin Privileges or 
> Not
> > 
> > On Sun, Oct 21, 2007 at 09:43:17PM -0700, marilyn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> > > I think all student stations should be run with live CD/DVDs or
> > > other bootable media.  Data should be saved on flash drives or
> > > whatever (network storage would be OK too).  I think that
> > > student stations should not have OSs installed on them at all.
> > > 
> > > There should be numerous choices of live CDS.  They should be
> > > topical according to subject area.  They should include every
> > > possible relevant available Open Source Software Package.  They
> > > should already be setup to see the available printers or
> > > network account directories.  They should not include any
> > > system administration type software that could cause mischief
> > > anywhere.
> > 
> > It's all doable with virtualized terminal server as well, we've
> > been migrating from LTSP4 in one VPS to LTSP5 in another one
> > on-the-fly (for some time both were active and used).
> > 
> > There's need to provide either client-side boot menu or
> > server-side configuration utility which would reconfigure DHCP
> > to point different (or all) clients to their LTSP instances but
> > at least it's all doable (and netboot+TS is more complicated
> > still also more robust than CD shuffle...).
> > 
> > Overall: thanks for interesting ideas, list members; I'm
> > archiving the discussion but don't know if/when we're to get
> > to it, even if we're quite interested in helping universities
> > and schools in Ukraine with getting free software based education
> > in place.
> > 
> > > One of the main reasons I did not go with live CDs this year is
> > > that they all have too many mischief causing applications on
> > > them and I do not have the time and/or expertise to make my
> > > own.
> > 
> > Recently even major distros started to provide tools to remaster
> > a LiveCD, and some more obscure (like ALT Linux project I
> > participate in) provided these for years.
> > 
> > > It is almost midnight and I still have to finish my lesson
> > > plans.  Gotta go.
> > 
> > Thanks and good luck!
> > 
> > > The thin client thing is cool . . . but I would like this system better.
> > 
> > Well, thin client can be a bit more diverse too.
> > 
> > PS: 
> http://wiki.ltsp.org/twiki/bin/view/Ltsp/SuccessStories#LTSP_inside_OpenVZ_on_Wo
> odcrest
> > 
> > -- 
> >  ---- WBR, Michael Shigorin <mike@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> >   ------ Linux.Kiev http://www.linux.kiev.ua/
> >  ----       Oct 26--27, Kiev, Ukraine:
> > --       http://conference.osdn.org.ua
> 
> _________________________________________________________________
> Climb to the top of the charts!  Play Star Shuffle:  the word scramble challenge 
> with star power.
> http://club.live.com/star_shuffle.aspx?icid=starshuffle_wlmailtextlink_oct
--- Begin Message ---
For the past three years, I've been utilizing Live CDs in my classes. Works very well. The primary Live CD that I use is Knoppix. Choose Knoppix because their were reference books available. Started with Version 3.4, currently use Version 5.1.1.

For labs, my students use GIMP to capture the screens that demonstrate that they have met the lab objectives. During the lab period, they upload the images to Goggle Docs. This becomes their "electronic lab notebook". Later during the week, they add text to connect the images, and this becomes their lab narrative.

For the last two years, I've implemented a remastering activity. I've had mixed results with that. But I'm going to keep trying it. One of the goals is to have the students place a class portfolio on the remastered CD.

In my environment, Live CDs require no support. Which is a good thing as my students refer to the central support group as the "no support people." 

Best of luck,
Uno



> Date: Mon, 22 Oct 2007 15:30:31 +0300
> From: mike@xxxxxxxxxxx
> To: schoolforge-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: [school-discuss] Philosophy: Teachers with Admin Privileges or Not
>
> On Sun, Oct 21, 2007 at 09:43:17PM -0700, marilyn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> > I think all student stations should be run with live CD/DVDs or
> > other bootable media. Data should be saved on flash drives or
> > whatever (network storage would be OK too). I think that
> > student stations should not have OSs installed on them at all.
> >
> > There should be numerous choices of live CDS. They should be
> > topical according to subject area. They should include every
> > possible relevant available Open Source Software Package. They
> > should already be setup to see the available printers or
> > network account directories. They should not include any
> > system administration type software that could cause mischief
> > anywhere.
>
> It's all doable with virtualized terminal server as well, we've
> been migrating from LTSP4 in one VPS to LTSP5 in another one
> on-the-fly (for some time both were active and used).
>
> There's need to provide either client-side boot menu or
> server-side configuration utility which would reconfigure DHCP
> to point different (or all) clients to their LTSP instances but
> at least it's all doable (and netboot+TS is more complicated
> still also more robust than CD shuffle...).
>
> Overall: thanks for interesting ideas, list members; I'm
> archiving the discussion but don't know if/when we're to get
> to it, even if we're quite interested in helping universities
> and schools in Ukraine with getting free software based education
> in place.
>
> > One of the main reasons I did not go with live CDs this year is
> > that they all have too many mischief causing applications on
> > them and I do not have the time and/or expertise to make my
> > own.
>
> Recently even major distros started to provide tools to remaster
> a LiveCD, and some more obscure (like ALT Linux project I
> participate in) provided these for years.
>
> > It is almost midnight and I still have to finish my lesson
> > plans. Gotta go.
>
> Thanks and good luck!
>
> > The thin client thing is cool . . . but I would like this system better.
>
> Well, thin client can be a bit more diverse too.
>
> PS: http://wiki.ltsp.org/twiki/bin/view/Ltsp/SuccessStories#LTSP_inside_OpenVZ_on_Woodcrest
>
> --
> ---- WBR, Michael Shigorin <mike@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> ------ Linux.Kiev http://www.linux.kiev.ua/
> ---- Oct 26--27, Kiev, Ukraine:
> -- http://conference.osdn.org.ua

Climb to the top of the charts!  Play Star Shuffle:  the word scramble challenge with star power. Play Now!

--- End Message ---