Re: [seul-edu] lessonstop.org

[linuxkernel@newmail.net]

Thank you, Mr. Gonzalez, for your excellent points. I hope that people of this
list [Seul-Edu] can take on you idea and work on it. It will undoubtly benefit
every segments of the teaching-"chain", with the ultimate beneficiaries be the
young students.

I hope that Mr. Loss would go ahead and contact the people behind
lessonstop.org, and I also hope that Mr. Loss would contact not only the
lessonstop.org people, but those [the professionals] who specialize on producing
workable and effective lesson-plans.

There are lots of links available on the lessonstop.org site, and I think there
_must_ be someone, among all those links, who would be interested to work, - and
also coordinate - with the people of Seul-Edu in producing an outstanding
combination of superb-quality open-sourced educational softwares that are
congruent with the lesson-plans that make vital use of the softwares produced by
people of Seul-Edu (and other open-sourced groups).

One advantage of the open-source movement is the availability of the
source-codes, and we can make use of this particular advantage and make it a
point of _flexibility_ in that unlike the canned commercial apps. that may have
to take eons to change, open-sourced apps can be changed to suit whatever new
requirements demanded by any curricula, which can be used (and produced) by any
segment of the teaching profession.

Thus, to summarize my points:

	There exists a gap between the
	educational software producers and
	the "frontline" members of the
	teaching profession.

	The gap can be bridged if there is
	a coordinated effort by both parties,
	- the software developers and the
	people involved in all segments of
	the teaching profession - and if an
	understanding can be make between the
	two parties, the resulted products
	would then be extremely useful and
	productive since both the lesson-plans
	and the educational softwares can
	enjoy a symbiotic relationship, and
	mutually aiding one another to become
	much more effective while retains the
	flexibility to cope with the changing
	teaching/learning environment.

Thank you again, Mr. Gonzalez, and thanks to all the people who have worked so
tirelessly in producing quality educational open-sourced softwares.

Have a nice weekend !


Gratefully,
Sean
linuxkernel@newmail.net




Resmon Gonzalez <lares@mindgate.net> mentioned :
>
>linuxkernel@newmail.net wrote:
>[edited] 

>> Why not SEUL-EDU organizes a plan to
>> work with people from other 
>> segments of the teaching profession?
>
>
>This is a must.
>
>A lot of app. specific usability issues were discussed in this mailing
>list but I seem to have missed any discussion about designing Linux apps
>based on professional education standards/issues from educational>
>technology research.
>
>
>Most k-12 schools' idea (at least in the Philippines) of computer
>education is learning how to use popular commercial apps.  While this>
>make k-12 students immediately attractive to employers and makes the>
>job of teachers easier because of readily available curriculum/materials>
>from the companies of these products (or third parties), they tend to
>miss out on the bigger picture of information literacy goals.  Drafting
>generic curriculum/lesson plans from scratch for computer classes is
>a lot of work for teachers as compared to patronizing readily available
>commercial solutions which emphasizes more on product usage.  That's a
>significant reason for the adoption of Microsoft, Adobe, Apple solutions
>in education.
>
>
>I'm not saying that commercial solutions to curriculum content should
>not be patronized but rather that k-12 IT. curriculums should lessen
>the focus on commercial app. specific features and increase attention to
>using apps. to promote cognitive learning and improve student
>achievement.
>
>
>Now here's my take on "linuxkernel's" suggestion.  If Seul-Edu can
>convince educators that the Linux apps. it promotes is designed based
>on the latest research on educational technology, and it supports
>high profile lesson plan content providers on the web by providing
>Linux apps. that integrate with the objectives and activities of its
>curriculum/lesson plans, we have Linux based educational applications
>with readily available lesson plans and other complementary materials
>for classroom use and individual research.  Readily available
>curriculum and lesson plans about the broader goals of information
>literacy along with increasing ease of use of Linux educational apps. 
>make for significant reasons for educators to make the switch.