Re: First list of pointers and wishes

[Bruno Vernier <vernier@vc.bc.ca>]

On Fri, Nov 20, 1998 at 07:20:58PM -0400, Douglas Loss wrote:

> Bruno, how do you see us proceeding?  You have some code that should be
> considered in this project too, would you be willing to let it be worked on
> by this project?  Bruno and Justin Maurer, if the answers are yes your code
> will probably have to be modified to work with each other.  Any problems
> here?

Here is my roadmap:

Compiling an inventory of GPL-ish software (and wish-list) that does
something educational on linux is definitively a worthwhile activity, Doug.
Thanks. I hope it will be an ongoing FAQ.

I hope edulp will be the glue that binds all of the above inventoried
software:

- provide a menu of the above inventory - (one stop shopping)
- provide a single report of activities (successes, levels reached,
  in other words performance data) from these various programs
- provide a standard output (XML) as input to a gradebook, and other
  administrative software.

Once we had reached an agreement on tags for our XML, I was going to modify
(or indeed accept patches for) jaq and taq (2 of my programs) to not only
fit edulp but to input and output XML.  Then with jar (my report card
generator which I must rename because of a conflict with java), I will adapt
to use XML input from gradebook and edulp (as well as other sources such as
the commercial admin stuff that schools are currently using for attendance
etc...)

Based on this experience, I was hoping to co-develop a HOWTO guideline
for the linux doc project.  People would then know how to quickly integrate
their software into our unified collection.

This could then be packaged as a single "gnuedu" collection in rpm , debian
so all linux distributions can include it in their CDs and ftp sites.


My assumptions:

The education world is filled with standalone educational programs for
various operating systems.  We want to unify existing GPL programs and make
it easy and worthwhile (because more likely to be noticed) to contribute to
a single "gnuedu" K-12 curriculum project... (as well as simplify our lives
by integrating with the commercial software in our local sites)

Network literate teachers are swamped, overwhelmed and overloaded with
eclectic inventories, incompatible offerings and competing memes.  we need a
breath of fresh air; a hope that one day we can concentrate most of our
attention to helping learners prepare for their future (instead of mucking
around with configurations, conversions and budget battles). 


Bruno
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Veilleur Technologique         
vernier@vc.bc.ca