Re: [seul-edu] Young Linuxers in school

[Jim Troutman <jlt@pivot.net>]

> Second, there's a strong interest in Linux and an interest in helping among
> the young people who contacted me.  What should we do to foster and channel
> that interest?  I've invited them all to join us here, and I'm sure that at
> least some of them have.  Since most of us are older and are either
> teachers or technical (or both), I think these folks can provide us with a
> valuable perspective.  But I don't want to bore them if we can avoid it. 
> Perhaps we can thing about something like an email mentoring program, where
> some of us take on interested young people as cyber-apprentices.  The whole
> idea is a bit hazy to me just now; let's squint at it for a bit and see if
> it comes into focus.  At any rate, let's talk about how we can use their
> interest and energy.

I think that mentoring is an interesting idea.

There is one school system in my area that encourages kids (unoffically)
to learn linux.  The school system uses linux and MacOS X servers
exclusively.  On most Friday afternoon after school, there is a informal
gathering of kids and the technology coordinator at the HS library.  They
hack on hardware, help each other install linux on their PCs they brought
in from home, and so forth.  Sometimes some of the "surplus" hardware that
the district has (386s and 486s) find their way into curious students
hands.

From time to time, I have answered the occasional question via email from
these kids (and others), and I have been to their Friday event (I need to
visit them again soon).

Some electronic mentoring would probably be useful.  Perhaps a
(moderated?) discussion list for interested students and us "old folks" to
respond to questions.

> This may be a good impetus for us to work on developing some of the
> configuration guides we're planning.  They might make it easier for these
> students to convince their schools to let them set up Linux systems overtly
> ("Oh, there's a manual on how to do this?  Well then, go ahead; just follow
> the instructions.").

Unoffical student-run linux servers setup on a school network are likely
(unfortunately) to become a security concern, especially if the school
network is on the internet without a firewall (which most are).  I usually
try to make sure that student "demo/learning" machines are on a seperate
private network, and usable only at school.  

Configuration guides: Yes! -- this is definately the sort of thing needed
(IMHO) to help push linux into education.  As your Freshmeat article
stated so well, Linux is totally ready for a backroom role as a server at
the very least.  While there are lots of information around these days on
how to setup linux or a Samba server, I don't see much of it that is
written in a way to engage educators.

I guess we need to hear more from teachers and technology coordinators
about what sort of tools/help/information they need.  For example, maybe a
cookbook and tools on how to dump student records data out of their
existing SASIxp/MMS/MacSchool or other student records systems and create
student accounts under linux in an automated would help (especially if
also integrated into K12ADMIN and/or AUC).


-- 
James Troutman, Troutman & Associates - telecommunications consulting
93 Main Street, Waterville, Maine 04901 - 207-861-7067