I installed two linux thin client labs at two elementary schools in the Conval School District (Peterborough) last academic year, 2008-09. The labs were successful (including testing (with audio) for academic progress (NWEA)). The rub came this past fall when curriculum selectors at the SAU chose Pearson Envision, a web based instruction that utilized SHOCKWAVE!! As Linux does not natively support shockwave (I know about wine...too much overhead) and the tens of thousands of signatures petitioning for shockwave in the linux environment notwithstanding, I had to convert the thin client lab to windose to accommodate the web based instruction. I do utilize linux in the district, hosting Moodle servers and running linux web and mail servers along with file servers (samba). Inroads in education are at times slow and difficult. Ken
-----Original Message----- From: gnhlug-discuss-boun...@mail.gnhlug.org [mailto:gnhlug-discuss-boun...@mail.gnhlug.org] On Behalf Of Ken D'Ambrosio Sent: 2010-03-24 22:40 To: Joshua Judson Rosen Cc: Greater NH Linux User Group Subject: Re: Souhegan High School Ironically (or coincidentally?), this very day we made an offer on a house in Amherst for the very reason on the subject line of this e-mail. While US News & World Report rates Souhegan as second in the state for (public) high schools, behind Hollis, we found that the general atmosphere and direction of Souhegan was something we enjoyed and admired. I'm somewhat disappointed to hear that they're a Windows-mostly shop, but that does seem to be par for the course these days. Maybe with some grass-roots student brainwash^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H introductions, Linux can make inroads -- in much the same way that it did into corporate environs a decade ago. As for skipping college... well, it's an option, but there are many areas in which I regret not having been more fully-educated. Additionally, if you get your foot in the door, there's nowhere you can't work if you're persistent and reasonably smart -- but it can take an awful lot longer to get said foot in said door without a degree. (For me, it was five years... and I consider myself lucky.) Anyway, enough late-night (as opposed to early-morning) blatherings; but I'll be very interested to see how high schools -- especially Souhegan -- come to embrace (or not) FOSS. -Ken On Wed, March 24, 2010 11:15 pm, Joshua Judson Rosen wrote: > "Jon 'maddog' Hall" <mad...@li.org> writes: > >> >> Two weeks ago I went to Souhegan High School in Amherst to vote, and >> while there I looked up their computer technical person (they are mostly >> a windows shop, but also have MACs) and offered to do a presentation >> to the students and faculty on FOSS and free culture. > > Awesome! > > >> I was warned that these were "high school students" and it was "hard to >> keep their attention". > > Hilarious :) > > >> I started with a slide that showed five people that did amazing >> things with FOSS before they were 22 (one as young as 11), most of whom >> are now very successful and one of whom was a former student at >> Souhegan. >> > > There are, I think, quite a few of us--SHS students who became > wildly successful at young ages due largely to our involvement with FOSS. > Several of us even got to skip college, going straight > from SHS to success--though I don't know how kosher it would be to bring > *that* up inside a high school... :) > > > Some of these cases can, additionally, be traced more-or-less > directly back to some contribution that you made--thank you (immensely) for > your continued work on this. > > This is immensely valuable--to the kids, to the adults that they > become, to *their* eventual children, and to the industry (and world) that > they go on to inhabit and create. > >> They have a nice lab filled with relatively new machines. I pointed >> out that with the correct software we could teach either high >> performance computing or "cloud" computing. > > ... or virtually anything else :) > > >> For others on this list that might want to participate, these are paid >> teaching courses, and while the pay is probably not gigantic, you may >> find that courses you have already put together are easily >> repackaged...and courses that you give may lead to other business. In >> any case, these courses would be for next fall, so you have time to >> think about it. >> >> As the students get more involved, I think we may have some "new blood" >> coming into the group. I found them very intelligent, very polite and >> very thoughtful. >> >> Friday I am going to visit Milford High school and offer the same talk. >> >> >> Next week I will hit the Community College on Amherst St. in Nashua. >> > > This may be a stupid question, but... is there some sort of summary > available for your presentation? I don't want to ask you to spend time > transcribing it or anything like that, but if you have slides or > something...? I always find openings particularly interesting for > study.... > > -- > "Don't be afraid to ask (λf.((λx.xx) (λr.f(rr))))." > > > _______________________________________________ > gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org > http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/ > > > -- > This message has been scanned for viruses and > dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean. > > -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean. _______________________________________________ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/ _______________________________________________ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
