Wow! What a great day!

[Jordan Mantha]

Rock on! That is so sweet.

I'm curious, of course, about the grades (elementary?) and what apps
the teacher's are stoked about.I'm also wondering about what web
resources and non-Edubuntu resources they are using.

-Jordan

On 8/27/07, David Trask <dtrask at vcsvikings.org> wrote:
> Hi!
>
> Today was a great day!  Today was the first day of school....for the
> teachers (the kids come tomorrow morning).  Why was it so great?  I
> finally had the opportunity to really show off our new "system" where we
> now use a combination of Edubuntu desktops and thin-clients.  I also had
> the opportunity to present to the staff on the arrival of "the digital
> natives" to our school.  Yep....the children of today....the digital
> natives and how we must adjust our teaching and content delivery to
> accomodate their "world".  The excitement was electric.  I was a bit
> nervous as I really had no idea how things could go.  Yes...we've been a
> predominantly Linux school for about 6 years....but this was the biggest
> step forward we've taken.  We no longer have any classroom machines that
> boot to Windows.  As part of my "dog and pony" show....I showed them
> Celestia (ran the cool demo)....showed them a virtual field trip via
> Google Earth....showed them how kids can collect research via Google
> Notebook or Zoho Notebook....showed them how I was able to put a TON of
> clipart into OpenOffice ( I used Open clip art and the extensions from
> OxygenOffice)...and a whole bunch of other things.  Once I was
> finished....the mood in the room was one of excitement about the new realm
> of possibilities.  Shortly after I went around to each of the "team
> meetings" to ask what I could do for them (after all...they are one of my
> "customers" so to speak).  I was inundated with requests for more
> thin-clients and computers.  I was shocked.  I had no idea the impact that
> had been made, but I was ecstatic.  But...I'm ready (that's the key)...as
> soon as the new monitors arrive later this week.  I have a bunch more
> workstations and about 15 more thin-clients that I can deploy to an
> already "well-stocked" school.  I'm so psyched!  The teachers are already
> asking me about workshops to learn all of the new programs available to
> them.  Edubuntu is LOADED with them!  The combination of Web 2.0 apps and
> the open source apps on Edubuntu have made for a very exciting combination
> and a platform that is poised to make a HUGE difference in the delivery of
> content and teaching at our school.  Several computers and thin-clients in
> every regular classroom....in addition to the labs that already exist.
> Each classroom is now a min-lab unto itself!  Access!  That's what it's
> all about!
>
> Tomorrow the kids arrive....(tonight at Open House they were pretty
> excited).  You can bet I'll be blogging and photo-blogging all of the
> smiling faces!  Gosh I love this job!  :-)  It's Open Source and free of
> encumbering licensing....I get to design and create new magic every school
> year!  This is SO COOL!  (When no one tells you what and how you have to
> do something...and you are free to do what you know is right and what will
> work....that's VERY powerful and inspiring!)
>
> Gosh...I hope I can sleep tonight!  :-)
>
> David N. Trask
> Technology Teacher/Director
> Vassalboro Community School
> dtrask at vcsvikings.org
> (207)923-3100
>