Hi Andy, All,
I agree.
But, not only do we need apps, but also the material to teach the apps to the
children.
eg. we have OpenICDL, but that is for adults, what we need is an OpenICDL for
children, possibly one for junior school and one for high school.
Here is the OpenICDL material
http://www.go-opensource.org/freedom/icdl/mod01.pdf (713kb)
http://www.go-opensource.org/freedom/icdl/mod02_ubuntu510.pdf (2.4MB)
http://www.go-opensource.org/freedom/icdl/mod02_winxp.pdf (3.9MB)
http://www.go-opensource.org/freedom/icdl/mod03_writer2.pdf (1.9MB)
http://www.go-opensource.org/freedom/icdl/mod04_calc2.pdf (2.2MB)
http://www.go-opensource.org/freedom/icdl/mod05_base2.pdf (1.8MB)
http://www.go-opensource.org/freedom/icdl/mod06_impress2.pdf (2.6MB)
http://www.go-opensource.org/freedom/icdl/mod07_firfox_thunderbird.pdf (7.0MB)
William
>>> Andy Trevor <andy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> 10/10/06 9:39 PM >>>
Dom,
lets go back to your original question.
"establishing Linux as a superior platform to deliver IT to education"
Currently Linux is an inferior platform to deliver IT in UK education.
A bold statement from someone who makes a living from deploying Linux
for UK education. Let me expand.
It is inferior for a number of reasons, little of which has to do with
Linux itself.
The biggest one of all is lack of good quality curriculum specific
education applications. The UK schools have become heavily reliant on
software bought by ELCs. Most of the packages are baby sitting rubbish
but some do have real value. Until this is addressed by ISVs 99.9% of
these apps will stay windows only. The trouble is they see little
market for converting them to Linux due to the small numbers of schools
using it as their primary delivery platform. Schools will not deploy
Linux due to the lack of apps. Chicken and egg.......................
Secondly, there seems to be a lack of political will to push OSS
forward in education. Ourselves and colleagues speak to Becta via
various channels and get mixed responses. The introduction of KS3
online (term used loosely) testing has proven to be a stumbling block
for us in a couple of schools. It is heavily geared to MS products,
making OS platforms especially thin client a real issue. Same applies
for Mac based schools.
Thirdly is the lack of will of current educators to think outside the
box and accept change. There are those out there who can and do, but
they are a minority.
Linux as the main delivery platform especially thin client is a
financial and management no brainer. It works and saves money. The
issue lies with the above and will continue to do so for a while yet.
Linux installs will be the exception rather than the rule for the
foreseeable future.
The quickest way in my opinion to change this is to provide good quality
"CROSS PLATFORM" education related apps. These will need to be
curriculum specific in a lot of cases making a world wide suite a little
tricky.
Cross platform is the key. Take away the need for a specific platform
and people we go for the cheapest most stable and easy to manage system
(Linux thin client)
Soapbox going away now
--
Regards
Andy Trevor
Technical Director
Cutter Project Limited
http://www.cutterproject.co.uk
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