Re: [seul-edu] Linux in schools

[Ray Olszewski <ray@comarre.com>]

At 09:15 PM 9/2/00 -0500, gringey@sendit.sendit.nodak.edu wrote:
>I am an 8th grade teacher at a small middle school in Fargo, ND.  We 
>have purchases a new lab with 30 machines that are using Linux. I 
>feel very lost. I have run an Apple lab for 12 years.

Understandably, but here is a good place to get some of your questions
answered. If you aren't generally familiar with the range of online
resources available for Linux, take a look at www.linuxdoc.org - it's not
the only resource site for Linux (not by fat) but it does have most of the
fundamental information. As other questions come up, I or others will
mention other useful sites as well.
  
Adjusting from Macs is a bit tough. Linux will make some things easier,
others harder.

> I would like to find a management program for my computer lab. I ran 
>At Ease on my Macs and loved how students could login from any 
>computer and saved their work on the server.  Does Linux have a 
>program that is similiar?  

Not as such -- there isn't the same sort of access control program, that is.
But Linux is built on the standard userid/password model of Unix, so access
controls are part of the basic functionality. If your server and LAN are up
to it, it is easy to provide shared directories in several ways -- running
the workstations as XTerminals, NFS mounting home and using NIS for password
maintenance, and having subsidiary directories on the server are three that
come quickly to mind. WHich is best in your situation depends a lot on the
details of your setup -- server and workstation equipment, uses of the lab,
ages of the kids, speed of your LAN, etc.

>I need a keyboarding program appropriate 
>for 6-8 graders and any other software that is available that would 
>be good for middle school use. We will be using StarOffice5.2.

Others can respond here better than I, as I'm one of the list's techie
members, not one of its teacher members. Some might find it helpful to know,
at least in general terms, about your curriculum, your instrictional
philosophy, how much access the kids will have to the lab, whether you
expect lab sessions to be structured classes or sessions where they can work
on projects ... the usual sorts of things that vary from school to school.

> Are we premature in establishing a lab in Linux?  I do not want to 
>have a lab that the average teacher is afraid to bring a class to to 
>work or research.

Well if you are, you certainly won't hear about it here! Seriously, the
choice of lab setup (or to use computers in a lab setting rather than one of
the other approaches) depends on your educational philosophy and
instructional goals. Linux labs are good a this point if you want the lab to
provide a basic resource, supporting e-mail, Web access for online research,
writing, the sorts of math skills that go with using spreadsheets, and some
introductory stuff in computer science and programming. There are some
specific educational apps around, and our Web site is one good place to
start on building a list of them. 

Beyond that, the same thing is true of Linux as of Windows or MacOS -- it's
an operating system, a tool for running applications. If there are specific,
"name brand" apps you need to run, you don't pick an OS and see what is
available for it. You pick the apps and see what OS they need, then obey
orders (assuming the apps are really important). 

>Thanks for any encouragement you can offer.  I am in over my head!!!
>
In which case, we look forward to hearing more from you. Good luck.


--
------------------------------------"Never tell me the odds!"---
Ray Olszewski                                        -- Han Solo
Palo Alto, CA           	 	         ray@comarre.com        
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