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On 21/07/10 20:06, Rob Beard wrote: > On 21/07/10 19:14, Roland Tarver wrote: >> On Tue, Jul 20, 2010 at 8:15 AM, Steve Lee<steve@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> >> wrote: >>> Miles Berry has put together a good list of ways to make the most of >>> open source in educational settings. >>> >>> http://agent4change.net/grapevine/platform/645 >>> >>> Those of you have been around open source in education for a while >>> will recognise the themes that Miles has collected together in a >>> compelling article that deserves wide dissemination. Pass it on. >> >> Good one. passed on to my 348 friends on face book. haha. >> Best wishes. > > There's been a few critical comments about it on some forums... > > http://tinyurl.com/3ynhrlm > > In a way I'm wondering if these folks commenting are right. I recently > had a tour of the new Torbay Community College site and spoke to the IT > Manager there about what they have. They were slightly different from > some schools, sure they had some RM stuff in there but they didn't go > for the standard package from RM. Instead they had assistance > installing some equipment from RM (wireless access points in every > classroom) but they opted for their own solution on the desktops > (Windows 7, Office 2007 I believe) and netbooks for each student. > > There was only two technicians at the school as far as I'm aware and an > ICT Teacher who also taught other subjects. I gather that with close to > 800 odd machines, possibly more the resources of the technicians are > limited so maybe investigating and supporting FLOSS applications as a > blanket replacement to Windows/Office etc would be a huge task requiring > the help of someone like RM (who appear to be Microsoft only with their > own proprietary junk on top) or maybe one of the other big players > (Novell, IBM, Redhat?). > > It was promising to see that they ran a web based version of SIMS and a > web based VLE (although not Moodle) but they'd need to manage these > systems (they were saying that when a machine goes down they simply > re-image it over the network and it does everything), they would need > custom images building and tools to replicate what they already have > (things like tools to lock down the machines, monitor screens and > stuff). Okay this could possibly be done, but it's probably beyond the > time and abilities of just two technicians who have to also support the > staff and students in the school (currently around 1,000 people, > possibly rising to 1,200 people). > > I'm not saying that it won't happen eventually, but maybe it would be > easier with other schools who already haven't had the sort of investment > that Torquay Community College have had (new building, all new machines > etc). > > Rob > Torbay community college, where is that, or did you mean torquay community college Paul -- Next Paignton meeting - Saturday 7th August 2010 - 3pm Lighthouse, Paignton, Next Holsworthy Meeting - Saturday 21st August @ The White Hart, Holsworthy. Thursday 22nd Tea Party 2pm - 5pm Saturday 31st Salsa Night 8pm - 12:30 please e-mail devonmusic@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx for more details. SOFTWARE FREEDOM DAY 2010 SATURDAY 18th SEPTEMBER 2010 - LIGHTHOUSE, PAIGNTON -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/listfaq