December 2001 - openSUSE Edu - openSUSE Mailing Lists

Schoolforge
by Phil Driscoll 20 Dec '01

20 Dec '01

Take a look at http://www.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=01/12/19/229219&mode=thread and then http://www.schoolforge.net/ -- Phil Driscoll

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Re: [suse-linux-uk-schools] Typical uses of IT in schools
by Edgehill e-mail service 19 Dec '01

19 Dec '01

---------- > From: Matt Johnson <johnsonmlw(a)yahoo.com> > To: SuSe <suse-linux-uk-schools(a)suse.com> > Subject: Re: [suse-linux-uk-schools] Typical uses of IT in schools > Date: 18 December 2001 22:36 > > > --- Ian <ian.lynch2(a)ntlworld.com> wrote: > > On Monday 17 December 2001 16:27, Jonathan Bacon > > wrote: > > > > See above. Some might have a different point of view > > but in my experience > > children, even the youngest can use basic > > productivity tools with little > > modification. Mostly its the adults who transfer any > > prejudices they have to > > the children. > > > > I couldn't agree more. We taught Excel to Reception > classes in my last school - that's 5 year olds! It was > incredibly successful. And yes, it IS the adults who > transfer their prejudices (and worries). Of course a > bit of preparation is needed. I have had a template > file (read-only) on the desktop, and the children open > it up and fill in the data that we've collected, then > 'save as'. > > -- > Matt > AMEN. I have to say that I'm fed up with the attitude of "You've got to put this on the machines, they're too young to use XXXX" - and there they are, beavering away with XXXX, and getting good results too. Most of the 'this' is pretty naff content, too. Badly written and a security nightmare on any system, by default disregarding any of the limitations placed on system access, such as the /windows/ directory of the win95 workstations (why would ANYONE want to keep their work in their OS system directory? Why?) We use MSOffice - the only real concession we (I) make for ages 4 to 6 is larger buttons and a reduced toolset. <puts on asbestos lohng-johns> Unfortunately, many teachers of my acquaintance, have insufficient understanding &/or experience of computers to be confident with the software. Since it all seems complicated to them, then they believe that the system will be worse for the younger pupils. Pupils who have no real fear of breaking the machine, and will therefore attempt most things withot concern. Paul Paul P. Ellison ICT Manager Edhgehill College

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LTSP: buying bootable NICs
by Matt Johnson 19 Dec '01

19 Dec '01

I'm about to buy 7 Linksys NICs which aparently come PRE-configured for network booting. I plan to just bung these in an assortment of older machines and switch them on. (Please check my thinking while we're about it - I guess when they say they're preconfigured for network booting, that means they're ready for LTSP booting - right? I just bung them in?) My main query: They're $34.99 from disklessworkstations.com (or linuxcentral.com) and it looks like shipping will cost me upwards of $50. So, anyone know where I could buy them over here? I don't want to be fiddling with ROMs if I can help it, and it looks like floppies would be unreliable. Ta -- Matt __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Check out Yahoo! Shopping and Yahoo! Auctions for all of your unique holiday gifts! Buy at http://shopping.yahoo.com or bid at http://auctions.yahoo.com

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RE: [suse-linux-uk-schools] Typical uses of IT in schools
by Grainge, Derek 19 Dec '01

19 Dec '01

Hi Jono, > What does everyone on this list (and I know there are IT managers for > schools in here) typically identify a schools requirements for IT? Students certainly need to be exposed to 'productivity' software. I expect all students to be able to use office type applications with facility by the time they leave - to be able to produce essays, reports, presentations containing information from multiple sources. If you know anything about 'key skills' or qualifications like CLAIT, IMO they kill the process by teaching the process almost to the exclusion of the end result. CLAIT is all about being able to tick off lists of boxes, and Key Skills is meant to be about producing quality work - but isn't. The emphasis in most schools is on the R&D stages of the project, and it's certainly possible to get good marks despite work which is not intrinsically of a high standard. On to GCSE/AS: ICT courses are about practical skills. Right? Wrong: they teach students to become mini software engineers without giving them the depth or breadth to do that job successfully. I speak as a teacher who disapproves of these courses - they all seem to put the cart before the horse: exams require syllabuses, syllabuses need approval from external bodies, the content needs to relate to the 'industry' and we end up teaching things which are fine in themselves - but not for 15 year old students with limited experience. I await the inevitable flame war with interest. Head down! Pupils should use IT in the same way that people in business do - a tool for a job. Learning using IT is an interesting one. You will have seen guff in the press about Blair and the BBC, about online learning replacing books. AFAICS the more media we use to deliver information to pupils the bette the results will be: books, talk, drawings, demonstartions, research, online learning. Students need access to a range of CDs, to software which teaches them basic skills (there's a lot available for certain subjects, usually primary school level, and there's a definite lack of good material for GCSE and AS/A2 level. However these are used by teachers to reinforce knowledge and understanding, not as a replacement. More computers mean less books: Piffle. They also need access to the internet - the degree of supervision depending on age and maturity (and I don't mean access to porn, I mean that youngsters need help in doing research). Given this is a Linux-oriented group, it's in areas like CDs and teaching software that Windows is strong: almost all authors will write specifically to that market. Most CVDs won't run on Linux emulators. I guess you're trying to judge to what extent packages like Star OFfice could meet the requirement, so here are a few thoughts: Many years ago (windows 2.10 plus lots of dos-based apps) my school consulted teachers and parents. This was about 1990. If was *very* clear, that if parents had computers at home, they were PCs. i.e. not Acorn, not Apple. We moved from a BBC network to a PC/Novell one, and started with Wordstar and Supercalc. Subsequently, when Office 4 came out we looked again. The situation was even stronger. Where parents provided access to computers at home, that would probably be a PC running windows and it probably had office on it. Students like to take work home and bring it back. At the time it was a nightmare moving work between platforms, even between packages, and we suggested Office 4 precisely because business used it, and it was likely it would end up on machines at home as a result. We guessed right. Mine is not the average school I admit, but the logic applies today even more strongly. Almost all my pupils have access to a PC and windows at home; a significant proportion bring laptops or desktops to school. This is one reason why Linux will find it difficult to penetrate as a desktop in schools. Access to non-windows systems? This matters if you want to teach principles rather than worry about training on one package. I agree it shouldn't matter which platform/package we use. However I'm concerned in getting pupils to USE IT effectively, and that means I have taken a far more pragmatic approach, and that does mean building up skills. I see nothing wrong with that. I would like these skills to be transferrable, so for a few students only I have Macs and Linux machines for them to use. Unsurprisingly, they find the MacOs and KDE desktops easy to handle. Quite a lot of stuff here. Let's see what the group makes of it :-) -- ******************************************************************************** All mail sent and received may be examined to prevent transmission of inappropriate attachments and certain obscenities. Wellington College does not accept responsibility for email contents. Problems to postmaster(a)wellington-college.berks.sch.uk. ********************************************************************************

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Re: [suse-linux-uk-schools] Typical uses of IT in schools
by Edgehill e-mail service 19 Dec '01

19 Dec '01

Thank you all for this thread. I have been landed with running part of our January INSET, and you have given me a lot of material (and ammunition) to use then, and later. FYI (& amusement) the INSET is entitled "Computing for the Damned" - which probably sums up the feeling of most of our staff when faced with a room full of computers ;) In answer to the original question, however: We run Win '95 as workstation client on a TCP/IPX network, but only within the computing suite - most of the school is still uncomputerised. At the moment log-on is served via an NT4 server but file storage on a couple of upgraded PC's running SuSE 7.2 (ReiserFS - it makes sense with big drives and small files!) - I hope that next summer the netserver will be running SuSE as well. Intranet services are provided through one of these systems. Most of the software is office productivity (Office 97), but we have Star Office and AbiWord on some machines (for compatibility with our more advanced users' home systems). We have four dedicated image-editing workstations (two with scanners & standard editing SW, two with animation facilities). These are used largely by Art GCSE/A students. We have drafting software and CAD/CAM software available on most systems, as well as basic graphics. Most of our reference material is single-workstation licence, so that will be coming off of the majority of systems, and will be accessed through a single, dedicated system (specialist log-on and access software underway) We still run some DOS software, which is on a couple of 486 museum-pieces kept for the purpose. We are (currently) locked into Windows for the forseeable future, but are unlikely to migrate toward XP. We provide the central computer teaching resource for the whole school, covering the age-range from 4 to 18+ Hope this helps, Paul Paul P. Ellison ICT Manager Edgehill College Bideford -------------------------------------------------------------- Legal Advisory: Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, 2000. --------------------------------------------- You are warned that all electronic communications are subject to interception for regulatory, quality control and crime detection purposes. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Edgehill IT Department Email Service. Please check sender's address from body of Message for return address. Find us at: www.edgecoll.clara.net ------------------------------------------------------------------------

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LTSP
by Matt Johnson 18 Dec '01

18 Dec '01

I'm planning on embarking on a bit of a LTSP adventure. Initially I want to set up maybe 7 clients and a server (I was planning to have the server be used as a workstation in the same room - is that okay?). My questions are: Is it _worth_ me buying 7 cheap NICs (�11) and 7 cheap (4mb or 8mb) pci graphics cards (�25???) to make configuration a dream. I plan to just bung the two componants into an eclectiv mix of P60s - P120s and bung in the floppy. The auto detection of chipset that LTSP now does sound fantastic. I could then run off 7 identical floppies and boot from them. Could it really be that easy? (except for identifying the MAC addresses in the dhcpd.conf file on the server). Does anyone know of an easy to use _cheap_ NIC with boot rom (just curious - I was planning to use floppies with a non boot rom card to keep it simple and cheap). Most importantly - what graphics card should I buy? What's the cheapest 4mb card available that works with this project? On a tangent - does anyone know where I could buy some cheap, attractive (!) thin clients that would boot from an LTSP server. I can find some US sites, but not here in the UK. Thanks in advance -- Matt __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Check out Yahoo! Shopping and Yahoo! Auctions for all of your unique holiday gifts! Buy at http://shopping.yahoo.com or bid at http://auctions.yahoo.com

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RE: Fw: [suse-linux-uk-schools] Typical uses of IT in schools
by Jonathan Bacon 18 Dec '01

18 Dec '01

Hi all, Thanks for the feedback. what I am interested in knowing is the typical uses of IT that a school has. When I say custom software I think I was a little too unspecific - what I was trying to get at was is there any software which is used for non productivity work which is only available on one OS or varient of the OS. I am interested in learning how much schools are 'locked in' to an OS due to the inavailability of the software for an alternative OS. I am also interested to see if this non-productivity software (ie educational software) is actually used and what proportion of use compared to productivity tools. Jono

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Fw: [suse-linux-uk-schools] Typical uses of IT in schools
by Robb Bloomfield 18 Dec '01

18 Dec '01

> There arn't even alternatives which work with Windows, so far > as I know. Was that sarcasm, as we run all perfectly well on our NT clients.... > What's a 6th form? None of the schools in Exeter have them, >> nor are they exactly common in the rest of Devon. Years 12 & 13. Post GCSE. A/S & A level/GNVQ students. Don't know why it's called that....

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Festive Season Alert!
by Frank Shute 17 Dec '01

17 Dec '01

It's come to my attention that Christmas is almost upon us & as such all self-respecting Linux users should be running the following: $ xsetroot -solid black $ xsnow -santa 2 -nowind -slc sienna4 & preferably form .xinitrc Merry Xmas! -- Frank *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* Boroughbridge. Tel: 01423 323019 --------- PGP keyID: 0xC0B341A3 *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* http://www.esperance-linux.co.uk/ "Pull the wool over your own eyes!" -- J.R. "Bob" Dobbs

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Re: Typical uses of IT in schools
by Paul Munro 17 Dec '01

17 Dec '01

When I worked as a technician in the local college (secondary school that calls itself a technical college anyway ;-) they generally used Office for almost everything to do with "ICT" education. There were no customised projects, applications, or any intention of having them. ICT stopped at running Office, the internet (through IE5) and some "educational" titles like Encarta. As far as "requirements" for ICT go--I'm not sure what you're asking here. Are you asking us what applications (custom or otherwise) we think schools need to run? If so, they "need" to run word processors, databases, spreadsheet applications and multimedia items like encarta (though not necessarily that particular one). When I say "word processor", I don't mean it should have to be Word! They "should" be running compilers and IDEs (simple ones) that can meet targets for giving kids some kind of overview of programming languages--a real look at IT and not a Redmond slant on it....I'll stop there ;-) As for customised software--unless supplied by third-parties, I don't know of any schools that have the in-house technical ability to use their own developed/customised software. Most network managers in schools think "customised" software means using the IEAK!!! Paul

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