Re: Replacement for Abiword: LyX? Openoffice?
On Tue, 21 Oct 2003 18:16:35 +0100 (BST)
Firinel Taranen <firineltaranen@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
> Is there anyone on the list who, aside from
> programming , is also versed at all in child
> development and what is age appropiate?
I am a qualified primary teacher in the UK and have
been following this thread for a while. I posted a
while back with the idea of 'progression' claiming that
lyx would probably not fit this model.
A text editor would probably be a good way forward,
but not for long. One thing mentioned in an earlier
post was what we use these kind of apps for (I think
reference was made to memos and some kind of small
database).
If think like this, we might fall in
to the mistake of assuming that children use a computer
for the same activities as we do. Some children
will use computers to program and to organise data,
but not all. Children love to customise and make things
"their own". This is normally done by choosing garish
designs and formatting. Children tend to use IT for
presentation, rather than organisation. A text editor
wouldn't be suitable for this task. Lyx doesn't really
do this kind of thing easily, leaving only some kind of
WYSIWYG app.
My suggestion is that we push forward a text editor for
the basic editing functions and then move the children
on to OpenOffice.org for presentation. If they are
already using Linux for desktop, chances are they will
already have a version of it installed.
As an aside, including it within the distribution for
children will act as method of advocacy, with children
telling their peers about OO.o. I doubt if they will be
advocating about text editors.
Just my 2p.
adam
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