On Tue, 11 Jun 2002, Manas Laha wrote:
> Russell McOrmond wrote: > > > > On Mon, 10 Jun 2002, Sankarshan Mukhopadhyay wrote: > > > > Computers [and let's us forget the literacy issue for some moments !] > is > > > taught to students as a set of application suites that help solve life > > > crises [at least some of them]. The "drag-drop-routine" is somewhat like > > > the showmanship or patter that a magician does before the actual trick > > > is performed. > > > > > > While it is true that there are huge problems in technology education, > > this is not in any way unique to India. The solutions may also similar > > all over the globe. You first need to get the right tools into the > > classroom and peoples homes, and then you have the opportunity to change > > the teaching methods. Without the right tools being available, > > independently thinking students and educators simply don't have the > > ability to attempt more advanced methods. > > Russell, could you give us some idea how computers and computing are > taught to schoolgoers of ages 13-17 in Canada? Sounds like it is the same as was described of India. There are different classes. Programming courses do exist, but are primarily tought on a Microsoft platform using Microsoft C or similar languages. Most students outside of these few programmers take Accounting and Word processing courses. It is very much a "click here, pull down here", primarily on eithor Microsoft Office or Corel Office. The Open Source community has been trying to push Open Source based office suites. It is possible that with Sun's help there may be a possible push to get OpenOffice into the classroom. This change then allows for the opportunity to change the underlying platform (IE: the OS doesn't really matter as much as the applications). I believe I mentioned previously that I have done presentations both to highschool students <http://weblog.flora.ca/article.php3?story_id=129> and highschool teachers <http://weblog.flora.ca/article.php3?story_id=114> to try to educate them on some of the legal (copyright/etc) issues around Open Source software. --- Russell McOrmond, Internet Consultant: <http://www.flora.ca/> See http://weblog.flora.ca/ for announcements, activities, and opinions http://www.flora.ca/osss2002/ "Open Source Solutions Showcase" (Past) Next: GOSLINGS (Getting Open Source and Linux INto GovernmentS) -- To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the body "unsubscribe ilug-cal" and an empty subject line. FAQ: http://www.ilug-cal.org/help/faq_list.html
