[Lancaster] Linux in (local) Education?

[Taylor Nuttall]

Hi Ken

Good to see open source packages being used in the schools we've been
working in recently. It seems to depend on the awareness of staff and
their access to IT infrastructure.

However, OS is still WinXP or variations of, with most vendor supported
interactive software packages supplied in Macromedia or WIN only
formats.

Most schools are also heavily supported by the HE infrastructure which
is largely Windows dependent so it seems to me the change has to happen
at that level first.

Taylor

-----Original Message-----
From: lancaster-bounces at mailman.lug.org.uk
[mailto:lancaster-bounces at mailman.lug.org.uk] On Behalf Of Ken Hough
Sent: 24 February 2006 15:16
To: lancaster at mailman.lug.org.uk
Subject: Re: [Lancaster] Linux in (local) Education?

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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> Lancaster at mailman.lug.org.uk
> http://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/lancaster
> 
> 


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