Comments for Educating Tux: case studies of Linux deployments in high schools around the world at http://www.itwire.com , comment 1 to 21 out of 20 comments http://www.itwire.com Fri, 05 Dec 2008 01:23:47 -0600 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://www.itwire.com/content/view/16984/1141/#comment-6988 Our middle school has used thin-client technology, and Linux (Red Hat, then Fedora) since 2003. While there are MANY good things about it, I have been frustrated at times. Sound issues, especially with software that we must run using the Windows Terminal software, have constantly plagued us. We have daily trouble with authentication of users, especially at the beginning of class, when 30 kids are all logging in. Audacity may run well on stand-alone machines running Linux, but we have been unable to use it to create podcasts over the network. So far I have been unable to do video editing and movie creation using Open source solutions on the network. We have also been using the latest versions of Open Office and Star Office. While the word processing and spreadsheet apps are fine, the presentation package is nowhere near as good as PowerPoint. While I can save my Open Office/Star Office files in a format Microsoft or Apple can read, there are frequently issues with lost formatting. There are some document files I can only work on at school, because I lose formatting when I save it as .doc or .ppt files. This is especially true of presentations. I encourage my students to work in Google Docs, so they have no compatibility issues between school and home, but they are NOT full-featured programs and have serious limitations. I think the future is in Open Source software, and I look forward to more people getting “on the Open Source bandwagon”. I think that as the community grows, the software will improve, but sometimes I am really frustrated. My school is saving a lot of money, but my job as a Computer Applications teacher is harder because of it. - Middle School Tech Teacher Fri, 14 Mar 2008 12:03:10 -0600 http://www.itwire.com/content/view/16984/1141/#comment-6863 We have implemented Edubuntu PC's for community access in our country(South Africa).Previous implementations involved MS environments where it was easy to infect the pc's with virri because of public access and no easy means of updating virus software.User's are happily using the pc's for general and educational use for over a year now.Recently we got introduced to a distribution prepackaged with more educational goodies and material - http://www.meraka.org.za/digitalDoorway.htm. I'm personally impressed with what's being offered and believe children and general users would benefit far more from using this platform than a stock stand PC bought off the shelves. Now its just a matter of marketing and introducing people to this phenomenon.... - Dhashen Naicker Tue, 11 Mar 2008 18:27:23 -0600 http://www.itwire.com/content/view/16984/1141/#comment-6843 This is my tenth year using Linux in the classroom. This year I took a new job and get to teach high school computer animation, desktop publishing, webmastering, and multimedia. I use Ubuntu Studio on the desktop and the Musix live CD for multimedia class. The software packages we use are the Gimp, Blender 3D, Cinelerra, Rosegarden, Audacity, Hydrogen, Scribus, Drupal, Kate, GEdit, OpenOffice, AbiWord, LyX, K3B, Grip, Ardour, Firefox, Balsa, Terminal, Solfege, KColorChooser, KSnapshot . . . hmmmm . . . I think that is it. What a wonderful thing! The kids can put them on their computers at home at no cost. I am in Texas. - Marilyn Hagle Tue, 11 Mar 2008 13:34:00 -0600 http://www.itwire.com/content/view/16984/1141/#comment-6842 re: Fat's comment "..think computer=windows" That's true - however here is the catch. If they think "computer=windows", they dont make the distinction between computer and windows, ie all computers are the same. So if you carefully craft a Linux to look and behave like windows for their *most used applications*, put it in front of them, tell them its just an upgrade (if they ask), **don't** mention its Linux, good chance they will not think its something *not Windows*. By the time they notice, they will have liked it so much that chances are that it wont make any difference anyway. - Dany J Tue, 11 Mar 2008 13:29:20 -0600 http://www.itwire.com/content/view/16984/1141/#comment-6841 I've been using Linux for 4 years now. I am 17 years old. When I was 13, someone told me about Linux. I immediately started googling around trying to figure out what this free software was exactly. Since then, I've removed Windows off any computer I own, and used various distros of Linux. I am pretty handy with computers, but I don't even remember those little "problems" and "tweeks" that I'd regularly have to deal with in Windows. Linux is the best thing choice I've ever made. I'm trying to encourage Linux adoption in my school @ least for the Internet lab - a room where students go to type up some papers and browse the net for a while - the hardware's getting dated and slowing down. However our Sys Admin doesn't want to hear of it.... (stubborn and old!) - kwojo Tue, 11 Mar 2008 13:24:34 -0600 http://www.itwire.com/content/view/16984/1141/#comment-6826 ...Not only that point above about currency, but another about grammar. A school "were"??? The Kid can't even write. Also, when did "Christian" and "Baptist" "schools" become relevant ? - c. roast Tue, 11 Mar 2008 10:10:42 -0600 http://www.itwire.com/content/view/16984/1141/#comment-6818 further to sgtrock's comment, we shouldn't forget the Indian province of Kerala, pop. 31 million, whose entire educational infrastructure (indeed, entire government computing infrastructure) is moving to Linux. - Rufus Polson Tue, 11 Mar 2008 03:57:55 -0600 http://www.itwire.com/content/view/16984/1141/#comment-6816 I deployed edubuntu in a small school over a year ago. The article is right that the greatest resistance is the staff and teachers most of whom have no idea or knowledge of computers or software only that it isn't Microsoft. The kids have problem with whatever is put on the computers. - bp Tue, 11 Mar 2008 02:11:43 -0600 http://www.itwire.com/content/view/16984/1141/#comment-6808 Open Source in Schools? Look at http://www.laptop.org - stwg129 Mon, 10 Mar 2008 21:33:26 -0600 http://www.itwire.com/content/view/16984/1141/#comment-6784 Unfortunately this article deals with old (sic) information. If the author wants to present something temporaly relevant, then he needs to do a bit more research then just using Google to find his talking points. - AC Mon, 10 Mar 2008 13:53:24 -0600 http://www.itwire.com/content/view/16984/1141/#comment-6777 I believe the problem to getting Open Source across, is resistance to change. Like as mentioned in other articles. Get Open Source in Schools and the students will pass it on as they get older. I'm 65 and use Linux, and enjoy learning and using it. I am using it to write this comment. Business is also locked in to MS , but some digital copiers use Linux as the operating system , actually a very big Corporation uses Linux in their Copiers, and printers. So it is making inroads into the business world. - Terry Mon, 10 Mar 2008 12:21:37 -0600 http://www.itwire.com/content/view/16984/1141/#comment-6771 How on earth can you do a story on Linux in use in high schools and miss the biggest stories? Where's Extremadura's decision several years ago to deploy FOSS to all schools and government desktops? (see http://www.osnews.com/story/12611 for a summary.) Where's Indiana's program to create a one for one desktop to student ratio using FOSS? (see http://www.doe.in.gov/inaccess/) That's where the _real_ success stories are. - sgtrock Mon, 10 Mar 2008 10:46:58 -0600 http://www.itwire.com/content/view/16984/1141/#comment-6765 Open source is being rolled out in NZ public schools with great success as well! Many hundreds of schools have, at the hearts of their networks, a Linux server provided by Smartcom: http://www.smartcom.co.nz/ Hagley College in Christchurch is shifting its infrastructure to open source, and already makes extensive use of Linux in its school of computing. See http://computing.hagley.school.nz/about ... Also, the astute reader will also recognise that both the computing college and main school site (http://www.hagley.school.nz) are built on Drupal, an open source web application framework. Dave - Dave Lane Mon, 10 Mar 2008 07:48:50 -0600 http://www.itwire.com/content/view/16984/1141/#comment-6757 Hello All, Here is an link to an open source project in the Kamloops school district. http://www.sd73.bc.ca/district-operations.php/page/linux-in-education/ - Storyteller Mon, 10 Mar 2008 04:47:09 -0600 http://www.itwire.com/content/view/16984/1141/#comment-6755 Having been a parent on the front lines of computer technology in schools, I think your last paragraph should have been the headline. The best technological solutions will not stand a chance when faced with resistance from administration and staff. It is therefore important that FOSS evangelism continue at a constant pace. As is evident from the article, students are very adaptable, it is teachers and parents that need to be convinced. In some ways, this is good because broader arguments based on cost, security, and other long-term advantages can be used. I would add that the educational value of source code that can be examined is another important point. With that in mind, I encourage LUGs to gear up more installfests, but try to get permission to hold them at schools, preferably during the week when students and teachers are there. Later . . . Jim - JJS Mon, 10 Mar 2008 04:09:50 -0600 http://www.itwire.com/content/view/16984/1141/#comment-6754 Cost is very important for GNU/Linux in schools but flexibility and ease of management are right next to cost in importance. My school does not have in-house IT support except the computer teacher who has a day job, teaching. I can sit at my desk and install software, manage accounts, maintain the web server, everywhere on the system. I do not need to worry about updates, re-re-reboots and keeping track of licences. Any school that considers GNU/Linux and that other OS should consider whether they want to cut costs or double the number of seats with the same money. It's a no-brainer. Do the maths. Thin clients are the least expensive option and the easiest to maintain, especially if they are fanless. - Robert Pogson Mon, 10 Mar 2008 03:18:48 -0600 http://www.itwire.com/content/view/16984/1141/#comment-6720 Articles like this are okay, but they miss the whole point!!! I have been working on getting my school district to switch to GNU/Linux for a while. It is probably just because I am from a larger school district, but cost is the last thing on the administrators' minds. Windows is sold to schools for dirt cheap. In my school district, the main reasons GNU/Linux isn't used (yet) are: A) Staff don't want to switch to anything new. I like Fat Client's quote about how they think "computer=windows". This is the same reason why most teachers encourage "emailing assignments home" instead of using a service like Google Docs or Zoho, even though these services have been introduced to the teachers. B) GNU/Linux isn't trusted completely. If it's free, how can it be any good? C) Windows is still the standard in the business world. How can we prepare our learners for the "real world" if they use GNU/Linux? (Statistics about jobs that require GNU/Linux experience didn't do anything) D) Despite all of these case studies about saving money by moving to GNU/Linux, it is still really expensive to change operating systems in a environment of this magnitude. I really think there are more important things about GNU/Linux than it's cost. Why don't they adopt it for flexibility, speed, or the availability of applications? - _Max_ Sat, 08 Mar 2008 10:20:16 -0600 http://www.itwire.com/content/view/16984/1141/#comment-6679 Most users, and especially almost all adult users, think computer=windows and will reject any requirement to learn even a slightly new environment, or the same environment using new labels on the familiar buttons and menus. That's why getting linux into schools is both very important, and also hard to achieve, since it will usually be the teachers who have painfully struggled to master one or two windows applications (eg Word or PhotoShop) and refuse to learn a different application set. Kids are much more ready to take up something new - Fat Client Fri, 07 Mar 2008 10:20:19 -0600 http://www.itwire.com/content/view/16984/1141/#comment-6653 I have installed and configured various flavors of Linux on many occasions for family and friends and would have to say that modern desktop focused distributions require little to no training once setup and configured properly. I'm sorry to disagree but I can't buy the training argument anymore as in 2008 it holds no water, no one whom I have installed Linux for seems to have any trouble at all, in fact in most cases it has solved more problems for them than it ever creates. - Mark Thu, 06 Mar 2008 15:52:08 -0600 http://www.itwire.com/content/view/16984/1141/#comment-6645 A couple of years ago, I was the President of a small, volunteer group in regional NSW that received computer parts, built computers and donated them to families in need and volunteer groups. We even donated one group of computers to a small, independent school. Naturally, we installed Linux on those computers. As much as we could build those computers, and they worked very well, we had no-one to train recipients in their use. We did our best, but found-out that most recipients were removing Linux and having Windows installed. The group has now moved to installing MS Windows. I love Linux, but if you do not have the resources to train people in its use, then what's the point . . . - Peter T. Thu, 06 Mar 2008 13:27:56 -0600