[Lancaster] Linux in (local) Education?

[Ken Hough]

Dave,

Like you I'm not a teacher and would like to see more 'open source' in 
the the field of education. It seems daft to introduce (brainwash?) kids 
only to the offerings of Microsoft.

 From various conversations which I've had in the past, I understand 
that there can be contractual problems in introducing 'open 
source'/Linux into existing computer systems and that this is a major 
reason for lack of progress.

I'm sure that there are others who know more about this and I'll be very 
happy to be corrected.

Ken Hough

Dave Smith wrote:
> Hi all
> 
> Just really a quick line on the above-mentioned topic.
> 
> Recently been catching up on my LinuxFormat (LXF74) that had been
> waiting on the doorstep for a while and was reading the article on Linux
> and Open Source in education when I got to wondering as to if anybody
> knows of any schools in our area that have made the switch to Linux? And
> if not, have many of them been given the opportunity to try it and see /
> weigh out the benefits and disadvantages of such a distribution?
> 
> I ask primarily out of curiosity. Obviously I'd heard of Edubuntu, which
> was covered in the article and looks to have some quite interesting
> planss, but the other options mentioned (Skolelinux is the other Distro
> mentioned, along with KDE Edutainment, Moodle, and Karoshi for useful
> bits and pieces) I hadn't really heard of before but sound like pretty
> useful items. Anybody have any experience with any of the above?
> 
> Obviously, I'm not a teacher, nor am I in the education system in any
> direct way, but is it not possible for the LUG to reach out to local
> schools and inform them of the possibilities that lie in Open Source,
> and, if interest is there, maybe put together a short talk /
> presentation in one of the LUG Meetings and give people the chance to
> see that Linux isn't nearly as complicated as they may think it is with
> a small hands-on session?
> Considering the amount of money even small rural schools must be
> spending on proprietary software this could be just the sort of thing
> they're looking for. After all, how many people are really aware that
> there is an alternative to using Windows?
> The relatively recent arrival and firming up of the Open Document format
> should, hopefully maken this progression / transition more feasible, not
> to mention the ability to give kids a LiveCD or installable version of
> what they're using at school without fees.
> 
> What are people's views on that? Has it been tried before locally
> without success? Does it appeal to anyone or is it not considered the
> LUG's place?
> 
> Like I said earlier, I've heard things like Edubuntu before, but not
> actually tried it out. So any real user feedback would be interesting.
> 
> All the best
> 
> Dave Smith
> 
> 
> 
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