[clug] Linux in education

[Robert Edwards]

Andrew Bartlett (who may be lurking on the list somewhere) set up
some Samba and Linux stuff at Hawker College many years ago and kept
on as a sort of consultant for several years after he left. Don't know
if the Samba server is still running there - the head teacher is/was
Dave Day.

My eldest daughter will be starting at Lyneham High next year so I'll
be interested in what Linux activity is going on there.

The main issue is curriculum. The teachers aren't really going to want
to spend time using Linux unless it fits in with the IT curriculum,
which can be somewhat tightly controlled by the Department. When M$
provide shrink-wrapped courses for their various offerings, it is a
no-brainer for the teachers (and the Dept. technocrats) to simply hand
over the money and run with those courses instead of trying to actually
teach the kids about computers and IT. M$ know this and have the entire
industry wrapped up because they can get their stuff into the schools
and the teachers don't resist (indeed, many of the teachers I deal with
see the M$ approach as a very good thing!).

If we really want to see Linux (or other non-M$ offerings) take a hold,
we need to address this M$ brainwashing exercise with our kids.

Cheers,

Bob Edwards.

Pilcher, Fred wrote:
> As I drove in to work today I was musing about what kind of penetration
> Linux might have in ACT classrooms.
> 
> In a previous life I worked in ACT Education and in those days it was
> half Apple, half MS. These days I suspect Apple would be a rarity and
> Linux is probably nonexistant. My eldest graduated from Dickson College
> last year and my youngest is at Lyneham High. They use Linux at home of
> course, but never saw or heard of it at school. If my suspicions are
> correct, what an incredible waste of resources must be going on, not
> just in the cost of buying software but also in supporting it and
> keeping it running and relatively secure; how much valuable teacher time
> and money could be saved, and how much more creative could the kids be,
> if they moved to a FOSS environment?
> 
> Fred 
>   
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> This email, and any attachments, may be confidential and also privileged. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender and delete all copies of this transmission along with any attachments immediately. You should not copy or use it for any purpose, nor disclose its contents to any other person.
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------