RE: [seul-edu] Preliminary thoughts on a Linux in education promotion

["Jason Mellen" <jmellen@cfl.rr.com>]

I totally agree with what is said here. Just last week I was asked for
information regarding installing Linux into our school system. Our tech
coordinator is preparing a proposal for the superintendent and asked the
same questions that have been brought up many times before: How much, What
does it offer, and how can we support it? Although I was able to find plenty
of research (via seul), I see the need to a pre-developed package that can
be given to administrators.

This is certainly a great opportunity to work with commercial Linux
distributors to develop an Education Coalition. I have found that proving
the benefits of such a system to administrators is only the first half of
the battle. Teachers are reluctant to try anything new and there is a great
need for a system that is easy to learn and use.

Many of the tasks listed can be considered monumental for many volunteers
despite enthusiasm for the project. Perhaps the best course of action would
be to break the three steps into small manageable tasks that can all be done
without a major commitment. I agree that we need to move on this and find
away to get Linux into more schools. Count me in for the long haul.

jmellen

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Jason Mellen
Palm Bay High School
Webmaster / TSA / PTV / NHS
Department Assistant - Vocational Education


> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-seul-edu@seul.org [mailto:owner-seul-edu@seul.org]On Behalf
> Of Doug Loss
> Sent: Saturday, November 24, 2001 11:54 AM
> To: rsevenic@netscape.net; rmorley@core.com; ozymandias@scrserv.com;
> morganek@erols.com; rstaff@sprynet.com; Michael Tiemann; Karsten M.
> Self; seul-edu@seul.org
> Subject: [seul-edu] Preliminary thoughts on a Linux in education
> promotion
>
>
> I'm sending this to both the seul-edu mailing list and to various other
> interested people I've come across since RedHat's counter-proposal to
> Microsoft's self-serving settlement proposal of its third-party,
> class-action antitrust suit was made public.  (Boy, try and parse _that_
> sentence!)  These are just some preliminary thoughts of mine and should
> not be taken as anything approaching an implementable plan.  By the way,
> thanks to Karsten Self for contacting Michael Tiemann at RedHat about
> this.  Mr. Tiemann, I hope this won't be bothersome to you; if it is let
> me know and I'll make sure we remove you from the address list.
>
> As I've stated previously, I think the RedHat counter-proposal may be
> just the thing to catalyze a focused action toward getting Linux and
> free/open source software generally more noticed and accepted in
> schools.  The counter-proposal has got the notice of some of the
> mainstream media, which is a good first step for what I see as a three
> part effort.
>
> What are those three parts, you may ask?  Before I get to that, I want
> to say that we can't just walk up to the schools and say, "you really
> ought to try using Linux instead of Microsoft; it's much better."  That
> will get exactly nowhere.  Instead, we need to have good ideas of just
> how Linux can be used educationally, with examples of schools that have
> done so successfully.  We need to have guides to how to install and
> configure Linux, and on how to use various programs in an educational
> environment.  We need to have ready answers to the most frequently-asked
> questions, whatever they may be.  In short, we need to be prepared.
>
> Now, to those three parts.  First, we need to let the school
> administrators, teachers, parents, etc., know that we (the Linux in
> education effort) exist.  This will be fundamentally a publicity effort,
> and is where the RedHat announcement provides a good starting point.
>
> Second, we need to be successful advocates to those people who show an
> interest in what we have to offer.  This is "setting the hook," as any
> fishermen out there will understand.  We need to be able to explain why
> we think we have a better way of using computers in education than what
> they're doing now, and to show why we believe this.  We need to be able
> to address their concerns, since we'll be asking them to make a major
> change in direction from whatever they're currently doing.  We need to
> be able to assuage their understandable fears of the unknown.
>
> Third, we need to be able to support them in their efforts to move to
> Linux.  This will undoubtedly involve a good deal of on-line support,
> but I think it will definitely require a local, face-to-face contact in
> most cases at least until the various schools develop their own
> expertise.
>
> So, how do we get from now to then?  I think the very first thing we
> need to do is get hard committments from people and organizations to
> carry this through.  Otherwise, it will just peter out as people get
> tired or their interest flags.  Since RedHat has broached the subject,
> perhaps seeking some sponsorship from them might be a place to start.
> Alternatively (if RedHat doesn't want to do this alone), we might
> approach some of the other major Linux distributions to create a Linux
> educational coalition.  I know that both Mandrake and SuSE are
> interested in educational uses for Linux; Debian has the Debian-jr
> project that is intended to address this area; and there are some
> smaller distros aimed directly at the educational sector.  Let's see if
> we can bring them together on this.  Mr. Tiemann, since RedHat is the
> initial catalyst on this we'll wait to hear from you.  If things don't
> work out for a single sponsor system, we'll contact Mandrake, SuSE, and
> Debian (I'm sure there are people on the seul-edu mailing list with
> contacts in each group) and see about creating a broad-based coalition.
>
> Then we need to determine just what materials we need to prepare.  This
> is where the seul-edu mailing list can come in very handy.  List
> members, if you've put Linux in place at your schools could you post
> messages telling us why you decided to try Linux, what difficulties you
> had in getting it approved, how you got around those difficulties, the
> same thing for getting it installed, and what your impressions of Linux
> in education are now that you've used it for a while.  (Incidentally,
> this is what our Linux in education case studies are for, too.  If you
> send a message to the list about this, go fill out a case study
> <http://richtech.ca/seul/casestudy.html> too, OK?)  This will give us
> material to develop promotional literature from, along with helping us
> come up with a Frequently Asked Questions list.  In addition, it will
> probably give us a good idea of just what guides we need to develop to
> ease the installation, configuration, and use (ICU, for a shorthand) of
> Linux in the schools.
>
> The last bit of preparation (I think) will be developing materials for
> LUGs to use as local school support teams.  We'll need to lobby the LUGs
> to take on school support as an on-going project, and to provide them
> with assistance in approaching the schools and dealing with the
> administrative and academic culture.  I'll admit to not having thought
> this bit through completely just yet.
>
> SEUL/edu has nascent subprojects planned for developing the ICU guides
> and for designing the LUG school support teams, but we haven't done any
> substantive work on them.  We have a few other nascent subprojects that
> might be useful here too, but I don't want to get ahead of things too
> much.  But when we're ready to get things moving, we do have some
> support structure already in place and can put more up fairly quickly.
>
> As I said at the beginning, this is in no way a comprehensive plan.  But
> I think I've come up with some good discussion points.  We have an
> opportunity to put together a great effort to extend Linux into the
> schools in a big way--let's not let it drop.  Let's talk about this and
> come up with some concrete plans, and then let's MOVE!
>
> Doug Loss
> drloss@home.com
> (570) 326-3987