[K12OSN] Some "community friendly" presentation ideas
"Terrell Prudé, Jr."
microman at cmosnetworks.com
Thu Sep 15 23:09:24 UTC 2005
1.) Print out this article.
2.) Address the higher-ups with it, using the "business goal" of
top-quality education.
http://searchenterpriselinux.techtarget.com/originalContent/0,289142,sid39_gci1124759,00.html
The speaker is John Terpstra of the Samba Foundation, and I think his
business logic makes a hell of a lot of sense.
--TP
Dan Hawkins wrote:
> Ohhh Shawn,
>
> I know just how you feel, and I'm sorry to hear that. A couple of
> years ago I did a workshop on Thin Client computing during a "Tech
> Show" at a major school district here in Idaho. It was an all day
> thing were administrators and teachers milled around and went to
> various workshops. I had a whole classroom set up and was planning
> the same type of thing. Granted I was using a Windows based Terminal
> Services solution, but the whole concept is the same. Not one person
> showed up, not even the tech people. Talk about disappointing.
>
> I guess that has been just one bit of fuel that pushes me further
> along to not only question every technology decision made in regards
> to spending, but to question publicly the whole concept of technology
> in K12 schools in general. It's really sad, there ARE a lot of people
> out there in the schools that REALLY do KNOW what they are doing. The
> people on this list are a shining example. I've been watching this
> list for a couple of years now. But what's so sad is for every one
> person who knows what they are doing there are 10 who don't have a
> clue, and what's really sad is that most of those 10 are either school
> administrators or the general public who "try to be helpful." In the
> state were I am from there has been over $400,000,000 sunk into
> technology over the past ten years, and the state of technology in
> this state is inadequate at best. At one time I had visited (either
> myself or a member of my team) almost every school in this! state and
> documented the level of technology and people supporting it, and for
> every one person like the people here we left thinking WOW, they are
> doing really good (still need some work here and there :-) ), there
> were 10 schools we left shaking our heads wondering where did the
> money go?
>
> I don't believe the problem is really an Open Sources -vs- Microsoft
> or Novell or whoever else is out there. I believe it is a fundamental
> problem with how K12 education is setup and administered at all
> levels. I believe it is a total lack of qualified leadership that
> focuses more on the politics of education instead of setting
> standards, making intelligent decisions, and following though with a
> sound plan. I personally think it's a miracle that kids even get an
> education and I truely believe it's because the teachers actually
> teach. From what I've seen, what we call the Education system should
> not work.
>
> Well enough of my soapbox, this sort of hit a nerve with me and I
> could go on for quite a bit. For anybody out here I may offended, I'm
> apologize, but just like many on this list, I've been in the trenches
> and seen the follys of others. Once again, I'm very impressed with
> the level of expertise on this list, and Shawn I am sorry to read that
> that happened, I've been there too.
>
> DanH
>
> */Shawn Powers <spowers at inlandlakes.org>/* wrote:
>
> On Sep 14, 2005, at 9:17 AM, JohnG wrote:
>
> > I'm curious, how did the presentation go? What was the reaction?
> > What worked and what didn't? Thanks!
> >
>
> Well, I had 32 computers that varied in brand and CPU booting to a
> newly installed 4.4.1 server. I had planned to have the whole group
> log in and "play" while I answered questions and talked a little
> about Linux and thin clients.
>
> I had 1 man show up. I was told to expect 30, and I had 1. He was
> already a Linux user, and came because, well, because if you see
> "Linux" in our local newspaper, it makes penguin lovers curious.
>
> So hardware-wise it went perfectly (never did solve the glx issue on
> the macs though) but I was lacking in attendance.
>
> Thanks for asking though,
> -Shawn
>
>
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