Hi! Today was a great day! Today was the first day of school....for the teachers (the kids come tomorrow morning). Why was it so great? I finally had the opportunity to really show off our new "system" where we now use a combination of Edubuntu desktops and thin-clients. I also had the opportunity to present to the staff on the arrival of "the digital natives" to our school. Yep....the children of today....the digital natives and how we must adjust our teaching and content delivery to accomodate their "world". The excitement was electric. I was a bit nervous as I really had no idea how things could go. Yes...we've been a predominantly Linux school for about 6 years....but this was the biggest step forward we've taken. We no longer have any classroom machines that boot to Windows. As part of my "dog and pony" show....I showed them Celestia (ran the cool demo)....showed them a virtual field trip via Google Earth....showed them how kids can collect research via Google Notebook or Zoho Notebook....showed them how I was able to put a TON of clipart into OpenOffice ( I used Open clip art and the extensions from OxygenOffice)...and a whole bunch of other things. Once I was finished....the mood in the room was one of excitement about the new realm of possibilities. Shortly after I went around to each of the "team meetings" to ask what I could do for them (after all...they are one of my "customers" so to speak). I was inundated with requests for more thin-clients and computers. I was shocked. I had no idea the impact that had been made, but I was ecstatic. But...I'm ready (that's the key)...as soon as the new monitors arrive later this week. I have a bunch more workstations and about 15 more thin-clients that I can deploy to an already "well-stocked" school. I'm so psyched! The teachers are already asking me about workshops to learn all of the new programs available to them. Edubuntu is LOADED with them! The combination of Web 2.0 apps and the open source apps on Edubuntu have made for a very exciting combination and a platform that is poised to make a HUGE difference in the delivery of content and teaching at our school. Several computers and thin-clients in every regular classroom....in addition to the labs that already exist. Each classroom is now a min-lab unto itself! Access! That's what it's all about!
Tomorrow the kids arrive....(tonight at Open House they were pretty excited). You can bet I'll be blogging and photo-blogging all of the smiling faces! Gosh I love this job! :-) It's Open Source and free of encumbering licensing....I get to design and create new magic every school year! This is SO COOL! (When no one tells you what and how you have to do something...and you are free to do what you know is right and what will work....that's VERY powerful and inspiring!) Gosh...I hope I can sleep tonight! :-) David N. Trask Technology Teacher/Director Vassalboro Community School [EMAIL PROTECTED] (207)923-3100 -- edubuntu-devel mailing list edubuntu-devel@lists.ubuntu.com Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/edubuntu-devel