FLOSS Your World: It's About Free (Steve Braunius)
,----[ Quote ]
| Besides having fun playing on a LiveCD version of EduBuntu (which I
| hadn't done before at length) I was quite enthused with TuxPaint,
| a free "KidPix-like" game for all platforms that is free /
| open-source.
|
| Every school should have TuxPaint installed on its computers, for
| learners of all ages. It's powerful and free. What is holding back
| the implementation of software solutions like TuxPaint in many
| schools is not just knowledge and awareness of the availability of
| these tools, but a mindset that fallaciously believes schools
| should only run software programs that are either commercial,
| from Redmond, or both. Our mindsets and the mindsets of many of
| our leaders are holding us back in many cases more than anything else.
`----
http://www.speedofcreativity.org/2007/04/22/floss-your-worldits-about-free-steve-brauniussteve-braunius/
The blog as a whole (one among several from like-minded educators) seems to
favour giving children Free software. Watch the front page. Tomorrow's
generation of users and developers depends greatly on these educators and
publishers.
Last week:
Open Source rising in N.Z. education
,----[ Quote ]
| On staff we have people who contribute to a variety of different open
| source projects, both through work and on their own time. It's not
| unusual for a lunchtime curry to end up in a fierce argument about
| the merits of different version control systems, window managers,
| distributions of GNU/Linux, different Open Source licenses, and of
| course, emacs vs vim. As we interview potential staff members, it's
| not unusual to ask them to fix a bug on an Open Source project, and
| submit a patch for review. And of course, when we hire new staff,
| they arrive on their first day to an Ubuntu workstation.
`----
http://www.opensourcereporter.net/nzedu.html
Education dept eyes stronger free software policy
,----[ Quote ]
| South Africa's education department may re-look at its policies
| regarding free and open source software and pursue a stronger open
| source strategy in light of the government's free software strategy
| adopted in February this year.
`----
http://www.tectonic.co.za/view.php?src=rss&id=1460
Related:
Nepad e-Schools kicks off in SA
,----[ Quote ]
| Maripe is one of six schools in SA in which computer labs and
| audio-visual centres will be installed as part of the demo project,
| which includes 18 African countries. The initiative was launched in
| March 2003 and aims to see the digitisation of all of the estimated
| 600 000 schools in Africa by 2013.
|
| [...]
|
| The computers have been equipped with a Linux operating system,
| e-mail client, browser and office productivity suite, and
| educational software that assists in the learning process, as
| well as the administration and maintenance of the school.
`----
http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/business/2007/0704181037.asp?A=BUS&S=Business&T=News&O=ST
http://tinyurl.com/2n8pa8
Tapping a world of schoolroom innovation
,----[ Quote ]
| SchoolTool began development in 2000 and is funded by Mark Shuttleworth,
| of the South African-based Shuttleworth Foundation, creator of the
| free Ubuntu operating system.
`----
http://www.pbn.com/stories/24545.html
Open source project aids South African students
,----[ Quote ]
| The non-profit tuXlab program, which provides network connectivity
| along with tuXlab GNU/Linux desktops and other open-source software
| to South Africa high schools, integrated 10 more schools into its
| wireless network on Feb. 9. The project reportedly has now connected
| tuXlabs in 50 schools near Cape Town.
`----
http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS3015125106.html
Back to school - tuXlab reviewed
,----[ Quote ]
| tuXlabs is a freely distributed educational software package running
| on a specialised Ubuntu derivative which has been rolled out to
| schools across South Africa and serves over 160,000 learners.
`----
http://www.tectonic.co.za/view.php?src=rss&id=1397
|
|
