[seul-edu] [follow-up] community: bkgd info on K-12 dot-com company

[Karl <karl@tux.org>]

These are my notes from the call, with premiereschool.com.

It looks like they develop on UNIX, but the HR Manager I interrogated
told me that one the network technicians wrote a book on Linux. What does
that mean to me?

It sounds like they do not incorporate GNU/Linux at all into their 
internal, nor their external, technologies. That is too bad, but I have a 
little more probing to do before being absolutely certain.

I will pass by their headhunter-fest tomorrow to ask their tech-managers
more questions, and to see if there is any chance to get a  
community-minded foot in their commercial-minded door that is
supposedly aimed at "developing" education by integrating it with
technology.

I will not be surprised at all if they don't even have one GNU/linux box
in their shop, as much as I will wish they were based on FS and sharing.


thanks for the kilobytes,
-Karl


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HR Manager
Heather

developing curriculum for K-12, to distribute through the internet
marketted to home-schoolers, charter-schools,
and virtual-charter schools (community group school systems, that get
state-fundung 'charters')

I asked: What do you develop?
They have a set curriculum, and are basing lesson plans based on that
curriculum (math, science, english, history, music, art)

working with publishers to send out texts, games, tools and materials that
can be used, not marketting to pub/private schools, aiming at
provide suport, testing, and assesment, testing, provide the whole kit and
kaboodle

people subscribe to their service, and they send them the tools
usability
how computers and people interact
interactive componenets
accessibility


Technology used:
oracle database
using a unix platform
developing in JAVA and EJB

2 main parts of their IT work:
how subscribers access their info/resources through the web
internal IT/workstations, etc

60 employees
hiring another 100 within next 6 months
company started in Nov 1999, located at Tysons since May 2000

premierschool funded by "Knowledge Universe"
progressive philosophy
adult training
child education
finded by larry elliston (oracle) and others

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