Re: [ubuntu-uk] Open Source Schools Project - literacy
hi sorry if this is out of line but: These guys came over to do a lecture at work: http://www.bloodhoundssc.com/ they are set to break yet again the land speed record for britain. 1000 mph i seem to recall. Why i think it's related? -They work with schools to inspire the next generation -They do everything open source they share all their information plus they provide ways for people to understand the data. - Lastly on a personal note: they are not a charity simply because they want to come across as a kick-ass company. i personally think this is great stuff. -- Sent from my Nokia N900 Please do not send me word documents plain txt or pdf are prefered. -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Open Source Schools Project - literacy
A small point but perhaps more important given that you are trying to impress teachers: its = the possessive form of it (i.e. belonging to it) it's = the abbreviation of 'it is'. John -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Open Source Schools Project - literacy
On 23 September 2011 09:35, ** johnbrid...@yahoo.com wrote: A small point but perhaps more important given that you are trying to impress teachers: its = the possessive form of it (i.e. belonging to it) it's = the abbreviation of 'it is'. :¬) WHS. Or the way I try to help people remember it... You wouldn't put an apostrophe in his, hers, theirs, ours or yours - so don't put it in its, either. -- Liam Proven • Info profile: http://www.google.com/profiles/lproven Email: lpro...@cix.co.uk • GMail/GoogleTalk/Orkut: lpro...@gmail.com Tel: +44 20-8685-0498 • Cell: +44 7939-087884 • Fax: + 44 870-9151419 AIM/Yahoo/Skype: liamproven • MSN: lpro...@hotmail.com • ICQ: 73187508 -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Open Source Schools Project - literacy
-Original Message- From: ubuntu-uk-boun...@lists.ubuntu.com [mailto:ubuntu-uk-boun...@lists.ubuntu.com] On Behalf Of Liam Proven Sent: 23 September 2011 15:04 To: **; UK Ubuntu Talk Subject: Re: [ubuntu-uk] Open Source Schools Project - literacy :¬) WHS. Or the way I try to help people remember it... You wouldn't put an apostrophe in his, hers, theirs, ours or yours - so don't put it in its, either. -- Liam Proven Info profile: http://www.google.com/profiles/lproven Email: lpro...@cix.co.uk GMail/GoogleTalk/Orkut: lpro...@gmail.com Tel: +44 20-8685-0498 Cell: +44 7939-087884 Fax: + 44 870-9151419 AIM/Yahoo/Skype: liamproven MSN: lpro...@hotmail.com ICQ: 73187508 -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/ Sorry, Can't resist: his, hers are equivalent to its, the rest could also be their, our or your. Joe -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Open Source Schools Project - literacy
On 23 September 2011 16:53, Joe joe.metca...@tiscali.co.uk wrote: Sorry, Can't resist: his, hers are equivalent to its, the rest could also be their, our or your. This example is your, not mine? Or this conversation is our, as it is between you and me? They couldn't also be - I think this is a case difference, same as he/him, she/her or who/whom. -- Liam Proven • Info profile: http://www.google.com/profiles/lproven Email: lpro...@cix.co.uk • GMail/GoogleTalk/Orkut: lpro...@gmail.com Tel: +44 20-8685-0498 • Cell: +44 7939-087884 • Fax: + 44 870-9151419 AIM/Yahoo/Skype: liamproven • MSN: lpro...@hotmail.com • ICQ: 73187508 -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
[ubuntu-uk] Open Source Schools Project - literacy
Hi feedback from teachers from the first school we visited as a part of our OSSP is that they really need good quality programs that address literacy not just letters and spelling but grammar, punctuation and sentence construction any thoughts? Sarah -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Open Source Schools Project - literacy
Did they have specific issues with the grammar checking in OOo? Bodsda Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device -Original Message- From: Sarah Chard sa...@streetentertainers.co.uk Sender: ubuntu-uk-boun...@lists.ubuntu.com Date: Wed, 21 Sep 2011 12:19:29 To: UK Ubuntu Talkubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com Reply-To: sa...@streetentertainers.co.uk, UK Ubuntu Talk ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com Subject: [ubuntu-uk] Open Source Schools Project - literacy -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/ -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Open Source Schools Project - literacy
-BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE- Hash: SHA1 On 21/09/11 12:19, Sarah Chard wrote: feedback from teachers from the first school we visited as a part of our OSSP is that they really need good quality programs that address literacy not just letters and spelling but grammar, punctuation and sentence construction any thoughts? Gcompris [0] may provide some of that. I have a vague recollection of my eldest son playing a game where he had to put the correct word in the sentence, but glancing over the website I don't recognise it. JT [0] http://gcompris.net/-On-one-page- - -- - ---+ James Tait, BSc|xmpp:jayte...@wyrddreams.org Programmer and Free Software advocate |Tel: +44 (0)870 490 2407 - ---+ -BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE- Version: GnuPG v1.4.11 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org/ iEYEARECAAYFAk55zNQACgkQyDo4xMNTLiba1gCfe0HVlcsFRcYPZ1YkOK/dAwIN rfgAn0aJHuH3ae0m2fndxJSAoS+A2HPY =XtMo -END PGP SIGNATURE- -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Open Source Schools Project - literacy
On 21/09/11 12:19, Sarah Chard wrote: Hi feedback from teachers from the first school we visited as a part of our OSSP is that they really need good quality programs that address literacy not just letters and spelling but grammar, punctuation and sentence construction any thoughts? Sarah At this rate we won't need teachers or schools as kids will be able to sit at home and learn, to me there is no substitute for a teacher look at the following. I parked the car over their. I am going to there house for lunch on Sunday. Libre office in 11.04 is fine with the above, We need contextual grammar checking which is far harder, and probably even harder when you have to deal with the English language and its rules and the odd exception where that rule does not apply. Paul -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Open Source Schools Project - literacy
O n Wed, 2011-09-21 at 11:27 +, bod...@googlemail.com wrote: Did they have specific issues with the grammar checking in OOo? On Wed, 2011-09-21 at 13:12 +0100, paul sutton wrote: We need contextual grammar checking which is far harder, and probably even harder when you have to deal with the English language and its rules and the odd exception where that rule does not apply. Paul we used the locked version to demonstrate at the school so haven't included an office suite as it's very lightweight - we are concentrating on primary schools this term but are giving the schools a larger installable version. At the minute for the installable primary version we have included ABI word and gnumeric I think what they want are fun programs like tuxmath etc that give the kids jumbled sentences so they have to unmix the words and correct the punctuation and grammar Please download a copy at http://www.tuxedu.org.uk/ test it out and give it to kids to test - it's a work in progress - ideally we would like both locked and installable versions to be based on lubuntu but Tony had problems locking the lubuntu so the locked version is debian. Also the locked version needed to fit onto a cd so anyone could run it. We want feedback please via the mailing list you can find at the site. Sarah -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Open Source Schools Project - literacy
O n Wed, 2011-09-21 at 12:39 +0100, James Tait wrote: Gcompris [0] may provide some of that. I have a vague recollection of my eldest son playing a game where he had to put the correct word in the sentence, but glancing over the website I don't recognise it. Hi James we have gcompris on there but its more single letter and single words which is good but they are looking for sentence construction activities one of the other problems is that some of the word games we have included such as khangman and kanagram which the kids really like as well as gcompris are very americanised ie 'Pants = trousers' or my favourite kanagram which had me and 6 year old tester stumped 'winter headgear = tobogan' (that was news to me) another example is in gcompris where in amongst words such as jump, dry and green they use Colorado not a word most under 10's in the UK are familiar with. UK teachers tend to frown on this - they want UK relevancy and the ability to fit it to the UK curriculum - it may be a narrow view but they will not take it up unless it works for them. Also some of the english explanations in games from non-english speaking countries have odd grammar or use unusual word order - we really need to adapt them for UK use as it's a hurdle for teachers. Sarah -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Open Source Schools Project - literacy
On 21/09/11 13:19, Sarah Chard wrote: feedback from teachers from the first school we visited as a part of our OSSP is that they really need good quality programs that address literacy not just letters and spelling but grammar, punctuation and sentence construction Maybe not trying to answer your specific question, my own pet hate is the insistence of teaching Microsoft Publisher in schools. I think we should challenge this on the grounds that MS Publisher does not conform to an open standard and is therefore going against the British Government call for open standards in all government IT. I'm not a desktop publisher user, but wonder how well something like Scribus would fill the bill for schools? Regards,Barry -- Barry Drake is a member of the the Ubuntu Advertising team. http://ubuntuadverts.org/ -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Open Source Schools Project - literacy
The difficulty is, you can't just replace one product. Publisher will probably be licensed with a volume software licensing agreement, along with front page, word, excel, outlook etc etc. - so they are just wasting a license by not using it. If you could replace all of the office suite, it will be much more appealing to the schools. Bodsda P.s: what call for open standards? My council clearly missed the memo --Original Message-- From: Barry Drake Sender: ubuntu-uk-boun...@lists.ubuntu.com To: Ubuntu-Uk ReplyTo: b.dr...@ntlworld.com ReplyTo: Ubuntu-Uk Subject: Re: [ubuntu-uk] Open Source Schools Project - literacy Sent: 21 Sep 2011 15:18 On 21/09/11 13:19, Sarah Chard wrote: feedback from teachers from the first school we visited as a part of our OSSP is that they really need good quality programs that address literacy not just letters and spelling but grammar, punctuation and sentence construction Maybe not trying to answer your specific question, my own pet hate is the insistence of teaching Microsoft Publisher in schools. I think we should challenge this on the grounds that MS Publisher does not conform to an open standard and is therefore going against the British Government call for open standards in all government IT. I'm not a desktop publisher user, but wonder how well something like Scribus would fill the bill for schools? Regards,Barry -- Barry Drake is a member of the the Ubuntu Advertising team. http://ubuntuadverts.org/ -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/ Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Open Source Schools Project - literacy
O n Wed, 2011-09-21 at 16:18 +0200, Barry Drake wrote: Maybe not trying to answer your specific question, my own pet hate is the insistence of teaching Microsoft Publisher in schools. I think we should challenge this on the grounds that MS Publisher does not conform to an open standard and is therefore going against the British Government call for open standards in all government IT. I'm not a desktop publisher user, but wonder how well something like Scribus would fill the bill for schools? On Wed, 2011-09-21 at 14:26 +, bod...@googlemail.com wrote: The difficulty is, you can't just replace one product. Publisher will probably be licensed with a volume software licensing agreement, along with front page, word, excel, outlook etc etc. - so they are just wasting a license by not using it. If you could replace all of the office suite, it will be much more appealing to the schools. This is exactly why we are running the project - we are going into schools with Tuxedu offering open source alternatives to the software they are currently using - its a complicated area because schools are locked into their MS licenses and we can't change that, so we have to think long term whilst meeting teachers short term concerns - the idea is that Tuxedu will be exciting and fun for the kids - the locked version means they can use it at home running live on family machines without their parents having to worry - and hopefully the schools will install it on their systems as a dual boot - we are talking to teachers and the school techs as we go. At the first school we visited the deputy head was asking me about alternative office suites - she runs XP at home and can't open .docx files which are sent to her by work colleagues so we had a brief chat about libre office and open formats. Feedback from kids is good so far but unless we persuade the schools and that means the ICT teaching staff and Head teachers to pick it up and also the tech staff to support it we will not succeed - so it has to be relevant to their teaching needs and that means the UK curriculum. Tony touched briefly on this in the ubuntu-uk podcast. Getting just a few schools in the county to seriously consider using a linux based system as part of their ICT resources would be fantastic so we are keen to make it as easy for teachers to accept and use as possible. so if anyone has any ideas for FOSS literacy software please let me know Sarah -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
