[seul-edu] [Fwd: Re: Question about STORM]

[Doug Loss <drloss@suscom.net>]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: Question about STORM
Date: Fri, 16 May 2003 07:59:53 -0400
From: David Harrison <harrison@physics.utoronto.ca>
Organization: Dept. of Physics, Univ. of Toronto
To: Doug Loss <drloss@suscom.net>
References: <1053036695.2218.42.camel@dloss>

Doug --

STORM is designed and used for large courses, although I use if for a
"small" course of 50 students that I teach. "Large" in this context is a
few hundred to over a thousand students.

I'm not sure that it would be the tool of choice for K12 schools.

Note, also, that it is no sense a courseware management system ala
Blackboard etc. It maintains records and marks only. For a K12 context a
spreadsheet probably would do as good a job.

Also, our distribution does not include a lengthy list of required
software. We've documented the install procedure pretty carefully, but
it is likely to require someone with some experience with Linux.

It is used at the University of Toronto for courses in Physics, Geology,
Philosophy, Biology, Botany, Statistics, and Environmental Studies. It
has been in use since about 1996, and in its current form since 1999.
Our users pay $50 per database and 5 cents per student; this pays for
the grad. student who does the actual work of loading, updating, and
archiving the databases.

I have not heard from anybody else using STORM, but that doesn't mean
that others have not grabbed it from SourceForge and are using it
without telling us.

In the past 12 months we have discovered no bugs, and have added only 5
enhancements. Thus, for our purposes it is very stable.

Finally, add it to your list if you wish.

-- David

Doug Loss wrote:
> David,
>
>    As you may know, we're working on an ISO of educational software 
> <http://www.seul.org/edu/iso.html> for Linux at the SEUL/edu project.
> Our main requirement for applications to be included on this ISO is that
> they be scholastically useful (we're focusing on K12 schools).  We've 
> been evaluating as many of the apps that we know about as we can, but 
> the effort is languishing as many volunteer projects do.  I've 
> determined that any app that is currently being used in one or more 
> schools has de facto demonstrated that it is scholastically useful and 
> has passed our Phase 2 evaluation.
>
>    That brings me to my question.  Is STORM currently in use in a
> school?  If so, I can put it on the Phase 2 list.  Thanks for your help!

--
+--------------------------------------------------+
|    David Harrison     | "Music is a hidden       |
|   Senior Lecturer     |  practice of the soul,   |
| Department of Physics |  which does not know it  |
| University of Toronto |  is doing mathematics."  |
|    (416) 978 2977     |          -- Leibniz      |
+--------------------------------------------------+
|    http://www.upscale.utoronto.ca/~harrison      |
+--------------------------------------------------+



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Doug Loss                 Courage is resistance to
Data Network Coordinator  fear, mastery of fear --
Bloomsburg University     not absence of fear.
dloss@bloomu.edu           Mark Twain