I'll add my bit here to fill in peoples gaps
----- Original Message -----
From: Terry Collins <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Cc: Heracles <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; Trevor Gunter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Thursday, February 03, 2000 9:24 PM
Subject: Re: [SLUG] What do public Primary Schools do with computers?
> >
> > As a general rule, for children's use, computers in primary schools are
> > used for:
> > Word Processing
> > Desktop Publishing
> > Educational Games and
>
> These three above are what I would have expected.
>
> > Accessing the Internet (email etc).
>
> I wonder how much of this they really do and whether it is more a
> special case/special project. Pine?
> >
> > For Teachers' use they are used as above with the addition of assessment
> > and reporting.
The above is about correct. There is from my knowledge a real hunger for
using computers in the primary schools. Certainly some teachers have a good
bit of knowledge when it comes to individual programs and the net is
generally well used. Again there is no consistency between primary schools,
some have fantastic networks with excellent intranets and the kids all
constructing web pages to demonstrate their work. Bellingen Primary is
regarded as probably the best in the state in this regard but its mainly due
to the expertise of a couple of teachers.
Other primaries utilise parents with expertise. But again the problem is
even though all primary schools have the net, for many its still a single
computer. The technology advisors who are based at a district office are
often the ones to visit the schools and help them set up their networking or
Intranet but again with one advisor having to help out maybe 30 or so
primary schools in a district (not counting central and highs) and the fact
that they are often widely dispersed (eg in the Bathurst district schools
are dispersed from Gulgong to Trunkey Creek about 180 kms I think.), the TA
has a lot of travelling to do and its inevitable that unless there is local
expertise they are on their own to some extent.
> >
> > For clerical staff there is OASIS on the novel network and OASIS Library
> > for the Librarian.
>
> Obviously this is something I would not touch.
Generally speaking OASIS works and recently all schools got a new server
(Y2K complient) and Oasis Admin and Oasis Library now reside on the one
server. The TA's were also responsible for managing this rollout.
>
> The librarian wants a WWW interface to his book cataloge. Needs linux
> software to do this (apache,perl/php, mysql). Does anyone know of
> anything that runs on linux.
> >
> > The teachers should all have completed the TILT course.
Not quite. As of last year so the blurb goes about 15,000 teachers have
completed the TILT (Technology in Learning and Teaching) course. This is
only about one quarter of the teachers in the state. I didn't do it but the
focus was not on teachers who have some knowledge it was for those who had
little. Needless to say there is still along way to go.
>
> Which was described as a course on the WWW, not a how to use computers
> course, which seems to be what they needed.
TILT covered different software packages and a bit on email and the web.
>
> The bottom line that I'm trying to work out is how much of this is
> going to be win9x locked and where can linux fit in.
I don't know about win locked. Most primary schools are still Mac oriented.
Some are half/ half. A few are all Win. I'll be helping a number of our
feeder primary schools with their computing needs over the year. I know this
is off the Slug area of interest but many primary schools use an Appleshare
network. I know a bit about Novell but if any can point me to any info about
apple share I'd appreciate it. I'm sure I'll get the hang of it quick but I
have never used it.
>
> First area is to control the network and make it work. School Net has
> been described as a mess by two senior people. Does anyone know what
> is going on? No sense in putting in a good school network if their
> pipe in is ratty.
>
Most schools in the state now have an ISDN line in for the net. Its a 64K
pipe. At our school the Linux server in the proxy server for about 60 or so
machines that can access the web simultaneously. Gets a bit slow at times
but the Linux box has not fallen over in the last 8 months or so. Obviusly
we'd like a bigger pipe but in many schools the ISDN line is serving only
1 -10 machines.
>
> Word processing I don't see as a problem, although vi might not be too
> popular {:-).
Not wrong
>
> The problem with educational games is that most are shifting away from
> win3x (old hardware friendly) towards win9x (old hardware very
> unfriendly). So, obviously there is a need to be met there.
True
>
> I'm wondering how easy is it for teachers to craft www pages for
> lessons, projects, etc to go onto an intranet server. Old hardware can
> run win3x and netscape easily enough. Server as newer hardware running
> linux.
>
Training of teachers is the issue. I've seen some great software for
creating intranets, very suitable for schools but the price- phew. One of
the things I'm doing is teaching other teachers and kids to write web pages.
The expertise to do this exists in many high schools and fewer primary
schools but the desire is there. Generally the kids take to this like the
proverbial ducks to water.
>
> List -Things that linux can do on old hardware
>
> firewall - ipfwadm/ipchains
> postoffice
> dhcp
> news? (suck selected newsgroups)
> intranet servers
> print servers
> xterm - how much ram do you need to X with?
>
>
I don't know enough about linux to do much of this stuff. Certainly our
school like others has older hardware. We could have a room full of either
Linux machines or dual boot machines but many teachers are comfortable with
macs, still coming to grips with learning Win95. Adding another operating
system will not be popular. I know Linux has a lot of potential for schools,
maybe in a niche role initially but realistically Linux doesn't have the
ease of use for mainstream school use at this stage. I'm trying to figure
out what the best niche roles are for it?
Hope this helps with everyones understanding.
Trevor
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