Re: [seul-edu] Young Linuxers in school

[Jon Stanley <jstanley@rmrf.net>]

I am in a highly interesting posistion with regard to this list.  I am 21
years old, and have been employed by the school district that I graduated
from ever since I graduated in a technical capacity.  Despartley looking
for other employment, however (not that I don't like working in
education, simply that there is no way they could pay me enough money for
my skills.  I'm beginning to painfully realize this.).  Anyhow, I would
like to play around with Linux at work, and I know several students who
also would.  However, the problem that I have is the lack of hardware and
also the lack of administrative support.  I can't even come up with
hardware to help me run my lab effeciently (which BTW, with Linux,
netatalk, and RevRDist is a breeze I hear for Mac management), let alone
hardware for students to experiment on.  I would also like to start a
Cisco Networking Academy, but the problem would be to find a qualified
instructor.  The instructor must be a CCNA, the problem is that because I
am not a certified teacher, I can't teach!  And finding someone who IS a
certiifed teacher who is willing and technically inclined enough to go get
a CCNA would be next to impossible.  Anyhow, enough with my ranting at
the state of education today, does anyone have any solutions to my
numerous problems?

kernel panic:  cannot read from /dev/caffeine.

"As if you could kill time without injuring eternity"
  -- Henry David Thoereau

On Mon, 20 Mar 2000, Jim Troutman wrote:

> > 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
>