|
Are We Educating Or Training? |
by Mark Shuttleworth
Are we educating or training?
It is appropriate for a business to standardize on a hardware or software platform, but multi-platform computing is ideal in an educational environment. If we want children to learn concepts and not products, we should teach them using diverse platforms (Windows, Mac, and Linux) and diverse software (MS Office, Open Office, Abiword, Apple Works(?)). Teaching concepts is education; teaching products is training.
What's current is passé.
We need to look beyond the currently dominant business practices to determine which products we should have and teach in our schools, and we need to educate our children instead of training them. The very first version of MS Office was released in 1989, and now millions of professionals -- who were already out of school then -- use it every day. There is no reason not to teach using up-and-coming technologies such as Open Office, which may well dominate the professional world of the future. (The state government of Massachusetts, for example, is committed to migrating by January, 2007 to the document format used by Open Office.) Such a shift in focus from MS Office to Open Office, which is free, can save the district thousands of dollars which can then be put toward obtaining more computers and equipment or personnel. Even if the district doesn't want to incorporate Open Office in the curriculum at this point, at least computers without MS Office should be supplied with Open Office (fast computers) or the Abi office tools (Abiword and others) to increase access to productivity applications. |
|
Last Updated ( Wednesday, 03 December 2008 )
|
|
Read more...
|
|
|
This week I made a new Web 2.0 friend.
Mrs. W. is a first and second grade looping teacher in Onoro, ME. Using Linux and Open Source Software has brought excitement back to her classroom (after the No Child Left Behind program ushered in an "Is it on the test?" mentality). Recently she blogged about Linus Torvalds' story "Just for Fun: The Story of an Accidental Revolutionary" by David Diamond, which basically humanizes a technogeek.
Her blog is exciting as it gives a non-techie view of Open Source Software and how it can be used in education. My own posts usually tend to be geeky and terse so I enjoy both her style and perspective.
Her blog entry about "Just For Fun" is found here:
-- http://learningwithlinux.blogspot.com/2007/01/linus-torvalds.html --
Check it out and be sure to leave an encouraging comment for Mrs. W! |
|
Last Updated ( Wednesday, 24 January 2007 )
|
|
|
What Exactly Is Free (Libre) Open Source Software? |
|
Free (Libre) Open Source Software, known as FLOSS, FOSS, or OSS, is software that anyone is free to use, copy, improve, examine and/or distribute, either free of cost or for a price. More precisely, it refers to four fundamental freedoms which users of all software should have: Users should be able to run the software for any purpose. Users should be able to closely examine and study the software and should be able to freely modify and improve it to suit their needs better. Users should be able to give copies of the software to other people for whom the software will be useful. Users should be able to improve the software and freely distribute their improvements to the broader public so that they, as a whole, benefit.
Ultimately the concept is that you retain your rights to do what you will as a user. There are lots of different types of free software licenses which cover and specify different levels of freedom, however they all have the commonality that the under-lying code which runs the program is available for free, which in almost all cases guarantees you a number of rights that you waive when you agree to a standard EULA (End User License Agreement) when using proprietary software.
What does FREE actually mean???: The word "free" has two meanings in the English language: - The "free" as in "free beer", which refers to zero cost.
- The "free" as in "free speach, which refers to freedom.
The "free" as in "free software" refers to the four fundamental freedoms mentioned above. There's nothing in the definition of free software that says that you cannot sell it to someone for a price. Indeed, there are companies whose entire business model is centered around collecting, compiling and selling free software with value-added services. Also, many companies use free software to run their businesses – Google and Yahoo! are two prime examples. Why Is It FREE??? Free software exists because those who write it choose to give it away for others to use at no cost. Its their copyright; they make the choice to give it away. Its that simple. |
|
Last Updated ( Thursday, 08 February 2007 )
|
|
|
|
<< Start < Prev 1 2 Next > End >>
|
| Results 1 - 4 of 6 |
