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Re: [school-discuss] math/science Linux desktop - The Achilles Heel
Hi Daniel,
On Mon, 10 Sep 2007, Daniel Howard wrote:
Yeah, William and I were discussing that over lunch after our meeting. We
mused that it will be great when enough big districts like Atlanta Public
Schools have Linux deployed everywhere and tell the book publishers that they
want Linux versions of textbook support software...
And I assume that as Desktop use increases we will be more variety in the
Sofware Biosphere... (grin). We are definitely monoclonal if you go into
any computer store...
In the meantime, I think my eParent model will have to suffice: William and I
provided much of the initial training of our teachers at Brandon, and then I
formed a new PTA committee called the eParents so we could get parents to
help out in learning new software and showing teachers how to use it. I'll
try to assemble a cadre of technology-savvy parents from this high school,
burn some live CDs they can use at home, and have each of them help. But I
have to say these teachers today looked really motivated to learn this stuff.
You know Les, that's a really good point: there's probably a growing market
now for software trainers that specialize in Open Source educational
packages. Since Open Source schools are no longer spending that money on
licenses, maybe now they can actually afford to hire a trainer to come in...
Training is needed, yes. And there might even be a living for trainers...
But we need teaching resources for our students.... the software itself is
only part of the equation.
What skills do we want them to have? What basic concepts are required for
our students to have? Pixel? Byte? Pits and Lands? MIME? Character
Encoding? Unicode? Filesystem. Read-only, etc.
What skills? 'Can point and click'? 'Can create a powerpoint
presentation'? 'Can search using Google'? or 'Can create and manage files
in a filesystem'? 'Understands file attributes'? 'Knows what a process
is', etc.
There also _must_ be some progress in the education outcomes area also...
an outline of fundamental ideas and skills that our students should carry
with them as they leave our schools... the same as we would want to have
our own children to have.
The issue is one of balance between hardware, software, training, and
resources, etc.
My 2 cents CDN worth.
Les Richardson
Open Admin for Schools
North Battleford, SK Canada
Daniel
Les Richardson wrote:
Hi Daniel,
The larger problem with any of this software use is the training aspect,
and the teaching materials (if any).
If they are being used in a teaching context, then a teacher will want
materials for assignments, etc. Having software without that will mean a
much slower adoption rate.
Thus software is in a symbiotic relationship with support materials and
documentation, teaching materials, etc.
That is another 'issue' that should be considered in any Linux based
solution...
Les Richardson
Open Admin for Schools
On Mon, 10 Sep 2007, Daniel Howard wrote:
Well, William and I met with the High School principal and his assistant
principal this morning, and also met several teachers (math, physics,
music, multimedia) and all of them are tremendously excited about
getting working Linux computers in their classrooms, and the potential
for lots of new Open Source software titles. The teachers have already
heard how successful the other Atlanta schools were, and don't seem to
care a whit that it will not be Windows based. They just want working
computers, and lots of 'em, and they've heard this is good stuff.
We've asked them to send us ideas for what they'd like to use the
computers for in their classrooms, but at the same time, William and I
are guessing they have no idea what they could ask for, so we thought
we'd put together a system for them to play with with a bunch of high
school appropriate titles on it (like the math titles I listed below).
Can anyone suggest other high school appropriate applications for math,
science, yearbook publishing, web page development (actually I think
William has that one covered), control of MIDI keyboards and music
composition, audio mixing (they have a small studio), etc.
Thanks in advance,
Daniel
Daniel Howard wrote:
I'm meeting monday with an Atlanta High School principal that wants to
use Open Source applications in his school. He's familiar with the
K12LTSP program that Atlanta Public Schools rolled out to 7 schools
last year (he was formerly the principal of a middle school that was
in the pilot) and APS apparently has 35 more elementary and middle
schools lined up for it. So he's a big fan of OSS now. But high
schools are different creatures, and there are lots of reasons why
selected classes (like math and science) need stand alone desktops for
CPU intensive processing.
I'm wondering if there is a Linux package that is geared towards
math/science like K12LTSP is to general education. Something that
installs with FreeMat, Octave, SciLab, etc. built into it. Anyone
seen anything like that?
Daniel
--
Daniel Howard
President and CEO
Georgia Open Source Education Foundation
-- Daniel Howard
President and CEO
Georgia Open Source Education Foundation