Re: [seul-edu] App idea: classroom permissions manager

[Tom Hoffman <rid00654@ride.ri.net>]

Gail,
> 
> Tom,
> The student management system that you are describing is exactly
> what I would like.  We have a new Linux lab.  Our lab last year was a
> Mac lab of 5200's OS7.6.  We managed them with At Ease.  The program
> did everything you laid out.  I keep hoping that something similiar
> will be available in Linux.  My At Ease years were the easiest
> management years I had in a computer lab.  Students could change and
> access only the applications that I chose for them.  I could place
> their names on and off a list in seconds.

As much as I am a linux advocate, as a teacher I can see that it would be a
nightmare for a teacher to have linux imposed on him or her, and it sounds
like that is your situation.  Especially if you were comfortable with the
old system and if the administration doesn't take responsibility for
properly setting up the network.  If you are a teacher and not a sys admin,
it just isn't your job.  Once they (or you) set up a NIS/NFS server, you'll
start to take advantage of having a true multiuser system, but until then,
you have taken a step backwards from your Macs.

The good news is that that once NIS/NFS is set up (and I'll be able to tell
you how hard it really is in about a month) it will be more clear that linux
can serve your needs.  Since all files and directories under linux have
permissions, you can control who has access to what under linux.  While I
don't think that in a month I'll have an perfect graphical solution for
changing permissions during a class, it should be possible to enter the
command line codes and have the students log out and in to reset their
groups.

It is also possible to configure which programs will appear on the desktop
or menus of students, more or less as you did with At Ease.  You'll have to
get up close and personal with the configuration scripts of your window
manager or desktop environment, however.

> Also:  We are trying to use StarOffice5.2 with our students.  We are
> experiencing some frustration with the program locking-up and not
> displaying the graphics inserted into a new text document.  I would
> like to know if any of you are more familiar with StarOffice5.2 and
> would mentor me through the learning process or recommend some books
> that teach StarOffice5.2 to me so I can teach my students.
> Thanks.

I have been testing configurations for word processing on linux.  StarOffice
seems unnecessarily huge and unwieldy for classroom use.  You should check
and see if Abiword can suit your needs.  So far it seems very light and
stable, and it should do almost everything my 7th graders will need to do.
During the course of this school year, KOffice may come into its own.  KWord
is designed to have strong desktop publishing features, but it is still in
active development.  You should definitely check out the current version,
though.

If you and your kids are going to have fun using linux, you're both going to
have to adjust to experimenting.  With open source, you don't have to fill
out a purchase order and wait 3 months for abiword or kword to arrive.
Download it and try it for a week.  When you're done, if it is lacking some
features or has some bugs, have the students write up their comments and
send them to the developers.

--Tom