Re: [seul-edu] [Fwd: Computers in the classroom]

[Chris Edwards <cedwards@wcs.k12.va.us>]

On Fri, 22 Sep 2000, you wrote:

I just wanted to respond to a few of these.  All of them were great 
questions, but I only felt qualified to answer a few.

> > > 2) Have you contacted the National PTA and/or the teacher's unions?  If
> > > you can get a support from one or more of these organizations, you will
> > > be noticed by local school systems.  Send them several copies of your
> > > printed literature.

Getting hard copied literature here is important.  Unfortunately, though I 
don't want to sound pesimistic, it's similar to the school administration 
sydrome:  We could care less about technology.  At least that is the signal 
that I receive a lot from many of the powers that be in many school districts 
in my area.

> > > 3) One of the groups I volunteered for was the Technology Club, where
> > > we helped 5th graders build robots using the Legos Mindstorms kits. 
> > > While the OSS alternatives for these kits is too advanced for
> > > elementary and probably middle school students, I would think that the
> > > growing interest in robotics would be a good opportunity for some
> > > visibility.
>
> We haven't talked at all about this.  I know there are Linux-based
> applications that work with these kits along with other robotic systems. 
> For us it would probably be most useful to try them out and develop lesson
> plans to use them.  Are there any computer science instructors here who'd
> like to take a crack at that?

I think that both the kids and the teachers would love to do this.  I am 
going to get some information to the appropriate teachers in my own district 
on this idea.  Makes me almost wish that I could go back a few years....

> > > 6) I have thought that what would really kick-start the Linux in the
> > > schools effort would be if there were a "School Distribution".  If you
> > > could get one or more of the major distributors to supply a school
> > > configuration, alongside of their server and workstation
> > > configurations, then it would eliminate the need for piecing it
> > > together.  Since this would be good PR, I wouldn't expect that it would
> > > be hard to convince at least a few of them to do so.  I would think
> > > that Mandrake would be a good place to start.
>
> Well, if you speak German, kmLinux is pretty close to this.  I'm not sure,
> but I think Pingoo does some of it in French.  Eugene, would Mandrake be
> interested in a similar tailoring of their Linux to meet
> specifically-stated educational needs?

Okay, here's a plug for my favorite disttibution:  Debian is also working on 
integrating seul-edu's and other's work into a customized Debian System 
designed to work in a home and an educational environment.  Sometimes the 
Debian Team just amazes me. :) Here's the link: 
http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-jr/

-- 
Chris Edwards
Computer/Network Technician
Washington County Virginia Public Schools
http://www.wcs.k12.va.us