Mailinglist Archive: opensuse-edu (31 mails)

[James Tremblay <jamesat@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

 In sales parlance, a vertical solution is one that covers all the
components needed (application set\Hardware set) to perform a business
task, i.e. HP has a vertical business solution, it sells: PC's,
printers, switches, servers and software.
 In education a "vertical solution" could be defined as a set of
software pieces that encompass all of the tasks an Educator is
confronted with daily, i.e. a teacher needs an attendance module,
grading module, course management, reference materials management and
reporting\assessment module, etc. A school needs a desktop OS, server
OS, web applications, e-mail, firewall, etc. With SLE, openSUSE  and the
EDU-CD we can provide all of the above and more. The EDU-CD adds to the
standard business solution provided by Novell those tools necessary by
compiling the various open source components like : Centre\SIS, Moodle
and openbiblio and more onto one OS and makes them easy to install and
configure, thus creating a "vertical solution".

I would like to see programming enhancements to these offerings which
make them more compatible with "No Child Left Behind" and those similar
standards\requirements across the globe as we move forward. I think that
we could entice the programmers involved in the different OSS projects
for schools to combine their talents here and make these programs and
the EDU-CD a standard for world wide educational environments. Think
about the promise of an Open Source project that helps educators
evaluate the progress of students and the effectiveness of their
curriculum as compared to achievements and curricula of other students
and schools on an international scale. With Moodle as the core curricula
management tool, courses\assignments are internationalized simply by
sharing them as modules in the Moodle forum, enhanced locally and
returned back to the community in the epitome of open source.
 I believe that great teaching exists all over the world but the ability
of the best teachers to effect the largest group of students is stifled
by the boundaries of the physical classroom. We, the technical support
group of those teachers and school administrators, can and should do
everything in our power to tare down those walls as has been done by the
technical support groups of the international business world.
-- 
James Tremblay
Director of Technology
Newmarket School District
Newmarket,NH
http://en.opensuse.org/Education
"let's make a difference"

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