Re: [seul-edu] Call for help

[Guy <guycad@mindspring.com>]

On Wednesday 25 September 2002 12:36 pm, Doug Loss wrote:
> Folks, I need your help. 

Doug,

I can't make a commitment to assist in any of your listed efforts
at the present time. However, if I might be able
to make some sort of commitment in several months.

I'm deeply interested in getting Linux into educational settings
and this is something I really feel very strongly about.

I do read this list regularly even though I hardly ever post. So I'll 
to continue to keep an eye on what occurs. If I see a match between
myself and something I can commit to, I'll certainly pipe up about it.

In the meantime, I regularly recommend list to people and have
gotten very positive feedback from various educators. I also have
been contributing in a small way by helping a few educators get
comfortable with GNU/Linux.
 
BTW - I'm having more success with this 'educating the educators'
effort by guiding them and starting them off with Gentoo. It's a very
interesting learning experience for them because they get to put
together their own Linux system package by package as they begin
to understand the just what packages they might want. I.E. Having
them install Linux the Gentoo way breaks down the learning curve
into small, easy to manage portions.

I will make a commitment to provide a 'Newbies Guide to Installing
Gentoo GNU/Linux' before Christmas. If I can, I'll make a version
geared especially for educators learning Linux for the first time. The
document I'm currently writing is specifically for people who are
trying to learn Linux on their own. So this would probably be a good
supplemental resource to a site for schools to seek help from.

One thing that could assist me are suggestions of educational
packages which people on the list feel would be good for a teacher
who is learning Linux. I.E. to learn to install as part of that teacher's
learning process.

For example: Flashcard program XYZ at URL A would be good 
because it is a good example of a package a teacher might want to
install for a student. Grade book package RST would be good 
because it has all the basic functionalities a teacher might want for
a simple grade keeping program. And so forth.

I'm writing the Gentoo newbie guide because I find that most people
trying to teach themselves Linux for the first time are overwhelmed.
Comprehensive distributions where all the decisions are either
premade or the number of decisions the new learner has to make is
simply mind boggling.

On the other hand Linux From Scratch is too detailed and technical
for this purpose.

Best regards,
Guy

-- 
People whom think M$ software is mediocre don't know the half of it.