[seul-edu] Resources, Resources

[Les Richardson <richl@mail.tfsd.sk.ca>]

Hmm...reflecting on resources. (late night brainstorms...be gentle<grin>)

How can we help teachers and schools with educational software?...


Resources are:

1) Software - software programs perform certain tasks in either:
a) providing infrastructure for educational institutions. - server
software of various sorts including O/S's, web servers, firewalls, etc.
b) direct instruction or teacher assistance- typing programs, math
programs, or grade programs, online testing, etc.

2) Textual - 
a) the large variety of text dealing directly with explaining category
one, software broken down into infrastructure (that all organizations may
need) and educationally specific software.
b) metadata - pointing to the locations of the large amounts of textual
data.  

3) Personal - 
 a) Individuals in given geographic locations that can help particular
teachers and schools.
 b) Organizational - groups of individuals who can create, foster and
direct resources of all 3 basic types and over large geographic regions.


Now how can we help teachers coming to Schoolforge solve particular
problems? For example,

How can I...
1) Connect my school's computers to the internet in a secure way?

2) How can I share drive space and printers over a network?

3) How can connect Mac's and PC's together?

4) How can I construct a small web server for the inside of my school?

5) How can I create links for all my students to educationally appropriate
sites?

6) How can I improve the performance of my internet service?

7) How can I teach my students about Linux and important unix ideas and
software?

8) How can I teach graphics software on limited hardware and software?


The solutions to these problems, and lots of others, demands the use of
all forms of resources, as listed above. However, they are "clustered"
differently since they are arrayed and prioritized according the needs of
particular problem.

I would suggest that we organize some of the site, with an eye to:

1) Problem Identification - in specific terms like in 1-8 above.
2) Optimum Solutions - how can free, open source, software solve these
problems in the best possible way. The solution(s) must list, review, and
rank all resources available to address the problem.

My 2 cents USD (1 cent Canadian)


Les Richardson
53rd Parallel.