Re: We are asking the teachers: [Re: choosing software applications]

[Ralf Gesel|ensetter <rgx@gmx.de>]

Am Freitag, 4. März 2005 08:43 schrieb Knut Yrvin:
> The main problem is that the teachers don't give an real answer what
> they want or expect from an applications when we aks them. A lot of
> activeties is therefore reorganised to learn the teacher how to make
> choices when looking for applications as a part of their teaching.

Hi Knut :)

as a teacher I have to declare my point of view, here. 

I understand the wish for clarity, for having a "round and sound" 
product, with a finished menu of applications, not to confuse the 
pupils.

I agree that an overload of supplied software might shrink the value of 
usage, somehow. But from a phenomenological view to education, I 
appreciate the variation which is there with free software:

The pupil will understand the essence of a word processor by variating 
the application and detecting the invariate. Likewise they will learn 
that the idea of a window manager / desktop system is exactly in what 
gnome, icewm and kde have in common.

Furthermore, I believe hat kids of today are much more used to cope with 
a multiplicity of options that most of us teachers.

Hence I'd focus on
- space issues (what minor important package can be removed)?
- promoting of new packages / packaging (e.g. unignuplot)

Raising "one app per task" to a maxime seems rather contraproductive to 
me. We have to consider that _using_ Skolelinux at the same time is 
_evaluating_ its advantages. By cutting off this and that from the very 
beginning we prevent teachers from knowing software that otherwise 
could become a "killer application" one day.

Regards
Ralf.