I hope there are any number of people on this list, who, unlike myself are suitably qualified and experienced to contribute directly to this. Hopefully on SchoolForge-UK (open development as well as open source) or strongly linked. Where I can help, I'm willing to do so. Regards Chris -----Original Message----- From: David Bowles [mailto:dbowles@educationsupport.fsnet.co.uk] Sent: 02 December 2003 09:05 To: suse-linux-uk-schools@suse.com Subject: Re: [suse-linux-uk-schools] Re: Re: An Open Source National curriculum Why...?

does [it] not give staff more freedonm as they will struggle to use the open source applications.

I agree that many teachers of ICT (and hence their students) would have considerable difficulty transferring their existing ICT skills to alternative open-source applications. But why? Is this an immutable fundamental characteristic of the learning process involved in mastering new applications? I think not. Rather the non-portability of ICT skills as taught in schools and elsewhere simply reflects the comparative immaturity of today's ICT curriculum. Let me explain why: To begin with some people (mostly those who work in commerce) do make the transfer to open-source applications with comparatively ease. Furthermore long time IT pros' like myself can usually master the basics of almost any applications that's thrown at us within just a few short minutes. Therefore in theory it must be possible to switch to alternative applications with comparative ease, if the original application has been taught in the right way. So what is it that IT pro's possess that school teachers and their students don't have? The answer is fluency in ICT as a living generic foreign language. But surely this takes years to develop, doesn't it? Well yes, at present it does... but it doesn't have to. That's because no one has bothered to prioritise the learning of basic ICT skills that have a strong commonality of function across a wide range of applications. Let me give you a concrete example. When teachers demonstrate to their students (or indeed their colleagues) how to use standard software applications, most tend to invoke functions by clicking on their icons displayed on a tool-bar or a pallet. Now on the surface this might appear to be the easiest and therefore the best option ...echoing how they themselves were taught. However tool-bars, pallets and even the images within icons tend to be unique to each individual application. Furthermore, tool-bars can be edited and pallets moved or even hidden. This serves to make common or standard functions non-transferable across applications. Independent use of a particular application may also become dependent upon how this has been configured within a particular school or even how this has been set-up on a particular PC. Teaching ICT in this restrictive way is somewhat akin to teaching what is claimed to be a modern foreign language, but in practice is no more than a miss-mash of slang, colloquialisms plus a selection of phrases from a highly localised dialect. What's a better approach? Well, almost every function within an application is readily accessible through the ubiquitous drop-down menu system. Furthermore most drop-down menu systems have an application-independent standard structure that's both consistent and highly logical -- 'File'; 'Edit'; 'Insert'; 'etc...'; '...Help'. Hence once a student has learned how to access a particular function via the drop-down menu system, this skill is immediately transferable to almost any other software application that utilises the same or a similar function. IT pros' such as myself instinctively tend to use the menu system, rather than pallets and tool-bars, when accessing anything other than the most obvious functionality. This makes perfect sense, given the menu system tends to closely reflects the functionality of the API (applications programming interface) used by the designer who constructed the application. In fact when adding functionality to an application, usually one links this first to the standard menu system. Linking to pallets, tool-bars and icons usually comes much much later. Now imagine what would happen if the writing of English prose was taught in schools without first teaching or making any reference to 'the ABC', part of speech (nouns, vowels, adjectives, etc), punctuation and sentence construction. Yet that's exactly how we currently set about teaching ICT in our schools! In conclusion; what's needed is a clear focus on teaching ICT from the perspective of a 'modern foreign language', rather that simply encouraging students to memorise and then parrot selected extracts from 'XYZ' School's '3rd-floor-ICT-suite' machine specific configuration of the 'MS-Word Phrase-Book'. ...and that's what I have been working on for some time now -- portable teaching skills that are fundamental to a far more mature future ICT curriculum. Furthermore it's also my intention to both develop and publish a sample 'ICT fundamentals' curriculum for use in schools on an open-source basis. This will feature teacher-friendly schemas, comprehensive lesson plans, teaching guides and support materials. Will this be fully compatible with the current statutory ICT National Curriculum? Yes it will. For I see no conflict whatsoever with the current NC including the standard 'Levels of Attainment'. In fact approaching ICT in manner similar to how a modern foreign language is taught will help to make the ICT NC a lot easier to implement in a meaningful way. Now if anyone on this list is interested in joining me in this venture then do please let me know. David Bowles TeacherLab / Education-Support db@educationsupport.fsnet.co.uk

Installing them as well as learning to use them. Adults find it harder to transfer skills. Those that can cope and don't mind changing (they enjoy using their free time this way) probably will anyway.

...

The present National Curriculum for ICT is limited in its content.

No its not. Have you been right through the KS3 Strategy materials? Its content is not defined in the statutory documents because it needs

to be flexible enough to change with the development of ICT. Take for

example the day we discover how to store graphics in a format that has

the advantages of vector and bitmap.

...

...

It was sensible for the KS3 streategy materials to be produced in MS office format (and pdf BTW)

Yes but is PDF open source and can you manipulate it as is required by the strategy?

I wasn't suggesting it was, simply making sure I wasn't just in an anti-microsoft debate ;-). You can manipulate it if you have acrobat or the skills to use the reader to export the data.

I am beginning to more fully understand the debate now. I think there

will be huge resistance to changing. Microsoft are so good at adding easily accessible function to their applications that excite people. Time is short for teachers. Having to spend too much of your free time to adapt and work around software to come up with the excitement is a block to changing to open source.

...

as they are the most common format in use in

...

schools AND Oo etc can read them. As I understand it the materials

...

...

for special schools will use Macromedia Flash instead of Excel.

Flash is now a spreadsheet?

Whoa there... We don't teach spreadsheets in the NC we teach modelling. Special school pupils cannot handle spreadsheets for modelling so people are developing flash models because of the ease of

doing this and because you can make it fun to use.

...

There are

...

one or two other examples of none MS products that are suggested for use especially for sound/video and database work.

Only because there are now MS versions that are free to use (Audacity?)

I think you missed out the word "none"?. But OK I no realise this is not simply an anti-MS debate.

<snip>

...

...

Now if you mean produce materials and sample teaching units that use open source applications then fine. Good idea and I hope the emphasis is on K+U for ICT capability and not on skills in any particular Oo or open source application.

I'd be happy to lend my time to creating an alternative set of sample teaching units using open source file formats and applications.

...

...

If anyone has info on a decent easy to use open source educational programming tool that can be understood by weaker visual learners (eg. similar to Flowol) then let me know where it is.

Similiarly we also need an open source gateway/portal product that uses decent encryption for schools to use as their communication and MLE tool. I have looked at Moodle but it has to integrate with the normal authentication methods. One login for everything.

...

...

I'm obviously not an expert in these things but I need information to help me consider the options. Part of my work is in piloting the Microsoft Learning Gateway for schools (Basically a combination

...

...

of Sharepoint and Class server). I'd love to have a better, faster open source alternative that integrated well.

try Plone regards garry

OK I'll have a look.

-- Colin McQueen

-- To unsubscribe, e-mail: suse-linux-uk-schools-unsubscribe@suse.com For additional commands, e-mail: suse-linux-uk-schools-help@suse.com This message may contain information and/or data that is confidential and legally privileged. It is intended solely for the addressee(s) only. If you are not the intended recipient you are notified that any use, publication, reproduction or dissemination is strictly prohibited and may violate certain laws. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by return e-mail and destroy this and all copies of this message and/or data. The content of this message has been scanned by MailPatrol for unacceptable language and inappropriate content. European Electronique limited thanks you in anticipation of your co-operation. MailPatrol is a fully managed service that offers your organisation the ability to monitor and enforce your Acceptable Usage Policy. For further information regarding the MailPatrol services contact the European Electronique Sales Enquiry line on 0845 345 8340 (local rate) or email sales@euroele.com