Re: Requirements educational programs must fulfill (from journal article)

[Doug Loss <dloss@csrlink.net>]

Roman Suzi wrote:
> 
> 3) the program must be real (not demo) and  could  be  used  to
> fulfill students needs for information processing. That is,  it
> must be able to be used in student's individual work
> 
> 5) Built-in well-structured context help system
> 
> 6) The educational program must be  able  to  work  under  some
> script  (or  macros)  so  the  teacher  could  make  demos  and
> tutorials
> 
> 7) Stability and  security  of  software  in  the  class  room.
> Exe-files must not be corrupted by user actions  or  be  easily
> replaced by copying in no time.
> 
> 8) There must be textbook/exercise book support, which  present
> material "from  simple  to  complex".  Professional  books  and
> reference guides are not suitable!

From these requirements it does sound as though many existing Linux
applications would fit quite well into this educational environment
except for one thing.  That's the textbook/excercise book support.  For
those of you on the mailing list who are thinking, "I really want to
help promote Linux in education, but I don't feel that I'm a good enough
coder to contribute anything of value," here's a place to make a
meaningful contribution.  Pick an application (since it was mentioned,
Gnumeric comes to mind), learn it in detail, and write the textbooks and
exercise books that would enable it to be used in the various curricula
around the world that are using some less appropriate programs.  This
could and probably should be a collaborative effort; certainly the
various drafts of whatever documents get developed should be available
for comment and peer review here on the list or at some location on the
SEUL website.

-- 
Doug Loss                 It is impossible to imagine Goethe
Data Network Coordinator  or Beethoven being good at billiards
Bloomsburg University     or golf.
dloss@bloomu.edu                H. L. Mencken