[education-wg] Hi education-wg

[Don Davis]

>> For this group, my personal hope is that it becomes a communication 
>> forum that leads down many paths.  To see real change  in K12, we will 
>> need a clear vision, documentation that will back up our positions, 
>> some brilliant brainstorming, and a commitment to our kids' futures.  
>> Some of the topics up for discussion probably should be:
>>
>> - one-to-one computing
>> - affordability
>> - sustainability
>> - scalability

LTSP and LDAP. I think it would be very beneficial to have a cost 
benefit analysis presented in a glossy pamphlet / website for that could 
be given to IT directors/ principals / school board members etc...

>> - repeatability
>> - cost effectiveness issues
>> - management methodologies
>> - professional development issues
>> - transition programs
>> - more ideas from you!

I would suggest plans for a repository of FOSS Educational software 
(similar to Linux and beyond the scope of school forge.)

I'm an educator and classroom tools are great: the Gimp, Open Office, 
Audacity, etc. However,  it would be great if there were FOSS database 
programs for attendance, grades, other school specific needs. I believe 
that would help the educational IT landscape profusely. Every school 
district is buying into a different chintzy gradebook or attendance 
program. The big schools get the best and the other schools spend 
limited resources on something (an inferior chintzy program) that has 
been done a thousand times. (Not to mention that each of these 
proprietary programs has it's own unique way of saving data -- creating 
needless hours of additional work. How many hours are spent typing 
information into spreadsheets or databases that has already been saved 
electronically? ( I write Python scripts to parse the information from 
PDFs, but I assure you most educators aren't.))