[K12OSN] My vision needs feedback.

[Rob Owens]

Hey, how's your vision coming along?  I haven't heard
any updates...

-Rob

--- Steve Hampton <wolfravenous at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi List,
> 
> I want to ask for some feedback on a vision (dream
> at this stage) that
> I have.  I need two types of feedback. First if
> anyone has the type of
> setup that I envision and would be willing to let me
> visit their site
> to document, take photos and notes it would greatly
> help me in my
> struggle to get my vision implemented.  Secondly, if
> the people on
> this list that know WAY MORE than me about linux and
> computer
> technology, know of any reason that what I am
> envisioning would not
> work please point out the errors in my thinking.  So
> here goes with my
> vision.
> 
> This is what I envision for the high school where I
> teach computer
> engineering. It is a small high school only about
> 550 students in a
> rural area.  I found out that some students were not
> able to take a
> pre-calculus course that is offered through the
> school collaborating
> with an online educational service because the
> students did not have
> computers at home and that really burned me up. 
> After all I have seen
> within the open source community about increasing
> access to technology
> I figure now is the time for me to start fighting
> that battle locally.
> 
> I loved a slide I saw in a presentation I downloaded
> from somewhere by
> David Trask that said something about access for
> everyone being more
> important than a few people being able to use reader
> rabbit and I
> apologize David if I twisted your words but I
> believe that was the
> general idea.  Ok, on with my vision.  I would like
> for our school to
> do the following:
> 
> 1.  I would like for them to abandon the proprietary
> software
> addiction (Paying more does NOT equal Getting more)
> 
> 2.  I would like for them to purchase laptops
> without OSes for every
> freshman when they enter high school. They would
> take them to every
> class, home and  then allowed to take them with them
> whenever they
> graduate.  The students would have more incentive to
> take care of
> something they knew would become theirs.
> 
> 3.  Since the laptops would be purchased without
> OSes I would like for
> them to all get K12LTSP installed and for them to be
> setup as Thick
> clients to authenticate to K12servers using
> Samba/Ldap throughout the
> school on a wireless network.
> 
> 4.  I would like it if the students laptops worked
> in this fashion. 
> When they took them home and turned them on they
> could log in as a
> local user and access their home folder and even
> save documents there.
> Then when they came into the school and logged into
> the network their
> home folder would be synchronized with their home
> folder on the k12
> file server(s).  This might be possible with an
> rsync configuration of
> some sort I am not sure.  This is the kind of
> convenience I have with
> OSX and iSync but I am trying to build a vision for
> my school based on
> inexpensive open source solutions.
> 
> I have crunched the numbers for the hardware and I
> know it would cost
> less to equip the incoming freshman each year with a
> new laptop fully
> loaded with k12ltsp than what the system currently
> spends on computer
> equipment and proprietary licenses.  Not to mention
> that since the
> students would be able to take their laptops to
> class the math
> teachers could stop paying thousands of dollars for
> graphing
> calculators and use the graphing tools included in
> the edutainment
> package of k12.
> 
> I know what we are doing now is very expensive and
> only provides
> computer labs that the students realistically only
> have access to
> maybe an average of 2 hours per day.  And the labs
> are setup so that
> they only have certain types of software depending
> on which lab it is.
> For example, the computers in the drafting classroom
> that COST 2000
> dollars for a 10 station AutoCAD license are
> worthless for chemistry
> students they need access to the Math and Science
> lab.  The great
> thing about k12 is that it is all there together,
> Qcad, Kalzium, and
> you know I could go on and on.  The thing is we
> can't keep doing what
> we are doing and expect to get better results, on
> test scores (which
> administration dwells on) or student knowledge and
> comprehension which
> is what is really important.  Changes need to be
> made.  Access to
> technology for everyone, and the right types of
> technology that help
> develop high level conceptualization and abstract
> thinking are vital.
> 
> My main concerns before I try to work up a proposal
> and then really
> work to push it hard is making sure what I want to
> do is possible.  I
> have a feeling that network administration would be
> easier since I
> know from administering the network in my classroom,
> with linux once
> you get all the configurations setup and working
> right you pretty much
> just set back and leave it alone and everything just
> seems to keep
> working right.
> 
> PLUS, PLEASE if anyone has .sxi presentations (or
> even .ppt) that they
> would be willing to share that they have used to
> successfully
> influence others I would love to receive links to
> them if you have
> them posted online.  Or if you have great articles,
> papers, any type
> of documentation that you think would be great in
> promoting the linux
> cause please spam me with them. You can send them to
> me off the list
> at steve_hampton28702 at yahoo.com.  I really do
> appreciate any help and
> feedback I can get in this. I think that promoting
> open source in the
> area in which I live has kinda become a passion in
> my life. GO
> PENGUINS, hehe
> 
> Steve Hampton
> Technology Instructor
> Swain County High School
> North Carolina, USA
> --
> Open Source, The Right Thing To Do!
> 
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