On Thursday 11 April 2002 01:30 am, Lance Lane wrote:

I am a teacher on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona. We have the same story in that most of our teachers are scared of computers and can't work them accept to use MS Word and Outlook. I think that Linux would be ideal to use in the classroom. What many teachers are looking for are programs that can help them:

1. Grade - Standards Based 2. Lesson Planning. 3. Communicating with Parents. 4. Making our life easier.

Students need programs: 1. Programming environments. 2. Subject area programs for thinking skills. 3. Programs that cover standards for different subjects.

I thought it was time for a new Subject line. :-) Desktop Apps on Linux This seems to go back to the old line of Linux makes a great server, but what else can it do? KDE and GNOME have made some pretty impressive strides, but both lack the apps you're talking about(specifically school oriented. KDE's Edutainment stuff is pretty darned nifty though. I don't believe GNOME has an equivalent (I could be wrong, please don't flame me! :-) The page www.edu.kde.org has the info from the world according to K. Questions 1. What would Standards based grading be exactly? Are you referring to a standardized method for calculating grades? We could address this with templates for KOffice and Open Office. What would these standards be? 2. Lesson Planning. There are some project management tools for GNOME, but I don't know of any true lesson plan apps. If one is developed it should be able to output to HTML. 3. I'm not sure computers will help teachers communicate with parents unless they have computers and can get e-mail. :-) What language would be ideal for use in schools? At Georgia Tech they use a non-language nicknamed Russ-cal after the guy who "invented" it. Although, there are a couple of compilers out there now I think. Anywho, what language should be taught in school. Russ-cal is very simplistic (read: unlike C). I think an interpreted language like Python on Perl would be best. But, that's just my opinion. On the edu.kde.org site there are links to topic based programs. What do you think is missing? Oh yeah, if you don't have it, download KDE 3. I finally got around to it last night and it rocks! Peace --andy

On Thursday 11 April 2002 08:53 am, you wrote:

On Thursday 11 April 2002 01:30 am, Lance Lane wrote:

...

I am a teacher on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona. We have the same story in that most of our teachers are scared of computers and can't work

Desktop Apps on Linux This seems to go back to the old line of Linux makes a great server, but what else can it do? KDE and GNOME have made some pretty impressive strides, but both lack the apps you're talking about(specifically school oriented. KDE's Edutainment stuff is pretty darned nifty though. I don't believe GNOME has an equivalent (I could be wrong, please don't flame me! :-) The page www.edu.kde.org has the info from the world according to K.

Andrew I will answer your questions line by line:

Questions 1. What would Standards based grading be exactly? Are you referring to a standardized method for calculating grades? We could address this with templates for KOffice and Open Office. What would these standards be?

AN: I am referring to Academic State Standards per Subject. The ability to import your state standards into the gradebook and produce a rubric to be graded for each standard. www.media-x.com produces a gradebook that can transfer information to a palm using a desktop base program (Based in Filemaker Pro)

2. Lesson Planning. There are some project management tools for GNOME, but I don't know of any true lesson plan apps. If one is developed it should be able to output to HTML. 3. I'm not sure computers will help teachers communicate with parents unless they have computers and can get e-mail. :-)

AN: Actually I am talking about a program that can produce forms from information from the gradebook on whether or not their student is meeting the state standard in a subject. A Progress report. However, some parent's do want e-mail notification on their childs progress. Part of our school is a boarding school and many parents work hundreds of miles away and we can communitcate by e-mail.

What language would be ideal for use in schools? At Georgia Tech they use a non-language nicknamed Russ-cal after the guy who "invented" it. Although, there are a couple of compilers out there now I think. Anywho, what language should be taught in school. Russ-cal is very simplistic (read: unlike C). I think an interpreted language like Python on Perl would be best. But, that's just my opinion.

AN: Me too.

On the edu.kde.org site there are links to topic based programs. What do you think is missing?

I think what I am looking for in particular is "decision making software". I have used AGE OF EMPIRES and Civilization in class. What I would like personally would be a program that puts students into historical situations and roles and let them try to make alternative choices: Example: Decision for Truman - Do we drop the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. What alternatives do we have?

Oh yeah, if you don't have it, download KDE 3. I finally got around to it last night and it rocks!

Peace --andy

How did your school obtain funding for the computers and what not? Where did this idea originate from? One problem I've noticed is getting the hardware. Does your school put computers in the classroom or in labs? What do people think about the pros/cons of dedicated computer labs versus computers in every classroom? With either solution what ratios of computers to students have schools managed to achieve? SuSE and Linux can handle the software side. That www.seul.org page is awesome. So, having said that, perhaps some brainstorming on ways to obtain hardware would be constructive. I've been thinking about the idea of approaching local businesses. Going door to door however doesn't seem very constructive. Thus, I came up with a couple of alternatives. People listen to the radio. Radios like doing community organized projects because it makes them look good. Perhaps they could help get the word out. I've got another idea, but I'm waiting for more information to see if it seems feasible. Anyone else have ideas along thes lines? On Thursday 11 April 2002 01:30 am, Lance Lane wrote:

I am a teacher on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona. We have the same story in that most of our teachers are scared of computers and can't work them accept to use MS Word and Outlook. I think that Linux would be ideal to use in the classroom. What many teachers are looking for are programs that can help them:

1. Grade - Standards Based 2. Lesson Planning. 3. Communicating with Parents. 4. Making our life easier.

Students need programs: 1. Programming environments. 2. Subject area programs for thinking skills. 3. Programs that cover standards for different subjects.

On Thursday 11 April 2002 02:51 am, Robert Mulder wrote:

...

Hi all,

Government offices in Europe already have detailed plans to move substantial parts of their (office) IT platforms from Windows to Linux, or already did this. The Bundestag, which is the German parliament, is a good example; they already moved their servers to Linux, and are now working on their desktops to move these too. I thought some other European countries also had plan, including my country.

Schools are a different story. Here in the Netherlands, where I come from, most teachers in primary and secondary education are computer illiterates. They weren't trained to use computers in their daily practice, and most of them hardly know how to work with Windows, left alone Linux. The younger generation of teachers start using computers as a new method of teaching children. But it still is more for fun than it adds up to their knowledge.

Hope this respons give you people in the US (and elsewhere on this globe) an idea of what's happening here in Europe.

Robert Mulder.

From: Andrew Choens

...

To: suse-schools-usa@suse.com Subject: [suse-schools-usa] Whoa Date: Wed, 10 Apr 2002 21:30:10 -0400

Very interesting. I signed up for this several months back and forgot all about it. This is definitely one low traffic list.

However, there seem to be people on the silly thing. Perhaps we should actually do something and then we could talk about it. (Forgive me, I'm a community organizer, this is what I do.) I signed up for this list thinking I could hear about the efforts to move Linux into schools. It is my rarely humble opinion, that in order for Linux to become accepted, there must be a broad user base that is MORE comfortable with Linux and it's inherent strength/flexibility that with Windows. Schools seem to be an ideal tool to reach this end.

I'm also interested in the idea of moving Linux into the non-profit sector. These seem to be two sectors of our society that are traditionally strapped for cash that could really benefit from this OS.

So, having said all of this to the choir, does anyone know about any ongoing efforts to do any of this? I would be very interested in hearing about this.

Peace --andy

On Wed, 10 Apr 2002 17:03:48 -0500

"Daniel Geldres Castro" wrote:

...

=============================== Saludos, Daniel Geldres Castro mail: dgeldres@pcprices.com.pe Telf Trab.: 511-447-7600 Telf Casa.: 511-251-3584 ICQ 72211218 MSN daniel_geldres@hotmail.com Yahoo ID danielgeldres =============================== SuSE Linux fácil, independiente, estable, seguro!

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