[Gllug] OSS in schools

[Simon Morris]

Forwarded on from the LUGMasters mailing list.

Thanks

~sm
> 
> 
> Hello,
> 
> I'm a member of the North Wales LUG with an appeal to users right
> across the
> UK.
> 
> Here in Wales the Assembly Government (WAG) is setting up a schools
> ICT
> Strategy group to produce a draft consultation paper. OSS is part of
> the
> remit, and as a result of some lobbying I've been invited to meet one
> of the
> group. Hopefully once I've got that far I can get to meet the rest.
> 
> The meeting is not for about 3 weeks, but I don't want to go off
> half-cocked
> so I'm doing some research and collecting opinions.
> 
> My starting point was to suggest that WAG (Specifically Jane
> Davidson's
> Education Department) look at the example of Extremadura in Spain and
> consider
> using/developing a distro for Wales. I got a bland civil service
> 'thank you
> for your suggestion' letter back. So I pursued it and was told there
> would
> be 'consultation'.  
> 
> I pointed out that 'consultation' usually means civil servants and
> ministers
> chatting amongst themselves, and that during many years as a teacher
> I've
> been told that as a result of consultation we've decided this, that or
> the
> other (or frequently this this year, that next year and the other
> after the
> next re-shuffle) but I've never met a teacher who was actually
> consulted.
> Result, they are calling my bluff and consulting me.
> 
> I still think Extremadura is a good example, after all it's a
> semi-autonmous
> region with it's own language. It's bigger than Wales but has a
> similar size
> population. It's largely rural mountainous and wet.  It exports food
> and
> water to the rest of Spain. It's IT industry was small and backward,
> but is
> gaining ground. WIth free software for the entire population IT usage
> is
> creeping up, benefitting employment and keeping rural areas in touch
> with the
> 21st century.
> 
> OSS aside, there are other problems in schools IT. I spent eight years
> doing
> tech support for TechSoft. They supply CAD/CAM software for schools
> and
> colleges right across the UK. There are a handful of schools with
> excellent
> equipment and more importantly well trained staff, but most are
> frankly poor.
> My recent experience at schools around here shows them to be pretty
> average.
> 
> Fundamental problem I see is that the kids (and staff) have a
> superficial
> understanding of MS Office, Paint and IE6. They grab a picture and
> some words
> off the web, paste them into Word and think they've done IT. Few
> understand
> anything about image resolution and just shrug when the image comes
> out with
> 2mm square pixels. No-one edits the words or uses what they've found
> to
> illustrate their own thoughts on the matter. No-one attributes
> anything.
> 
> At an actual IT level, it's even worse. The syllabusses avoid mention
> of a
> particular OS or specific software, but in practice almost every
> school
> teaches basic Windows. WIndows is THE OS, Word is THE word processor,
> Access
> is THE database etc etc. To make life simple for the admins (who are
> usually
> over worked teachers with little IT training) the system is locked
> down
> tight, consequently the kids can't even see things like Control Panel,
> they
> certainly aren't going to learn about hardware, drivers,
> installing/removing
> software. Even screen res is usually set to the lowest common
> denominator
> 800x600 because it 'confuses the desktop' if the same user logs on to
> different size screens. Why not allow user access to 'Configure the
> Desktop'? - Too tricky.
> 
> Please email suggestions, examples, links, published research etc.
> 
> If we can make progress in Wales, maybe we'll let the rest of you join
> in
> later!
> 
> BTW, for more info about me, see my website, url below.
> 
> --
> Regards
> Phil Thane
> 
> Bryn Villa
> Penycoed Road (off Brook St)
> Llangollen
> LL20 8LR
> 
> 01978 861677
> 07971 987623
> 
> phil at brynvilla.llangollen.co.uk
> www.brynvilla.llangollen.co.uk
> 
> 
> 

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