Enquiry about Edubuntu in the classroom

[Uwe Geercken]

Anh Hung,

I am giving linux lessons at our local school in germany using  
edubuntu. we have one server - a quad core, 4gb machine - that I put  
together myself. I am teaching up to 10 children at one time. a clear  
limitation that I see are: games and video. the server has problems of  
distributing a lot of data in forms of screens to all clients. other  
than that, it is 100% ok. depending on your setup, you might not have  
the same limitations as I have here. of course it also depends what  
clients you use and what network you have. let us know a little bit  
more about your setup please.

in my case the school clearly indicated that I can not change any of  
the existing computers inb the computer lab which are running windows  
xp. so we got this server, I hook it up to the network before the  
lesson and then all clients boot from the edubuntu server. that was  
the perfect solution for me.

linux nowadays is quickly going forward. people start to recognize  
linux and that it brings benefits. my argument is always: teach the  
students both windows and linux. then later when the time is right,  
they can coose themselves what they like and what they prefer or where  
they see the greatest benefit for themselves.

I don't know if edubuntu is available in vietnamese, but linux is very  
much multi-lingual out-of-the-box. if vietnamese is not available, go  
ahead and launch a project to translate it to your language. with lots  
of helping hands that is doable!

be patient. it took me a long time to convince people from the school  
to also use linux and that it is beneficial for the students. after  
more than a year of talking - also to parents - it is progressing. but  
the steps are small. but I don't care because I have a lot of fun with  
my students (10-14 years old) and when I see that they have understood  
and learned something and keep on comming to my lessons (which are  
extra hours in the afternoon) I am proud and have enough strength to  
carry on.

good luck. and have a nice day.

uwe



Quoting Anh Hung Nguyen <anhhung at gmail.com>:

> Dear all,
>
> I'm currently working on a project proposal that in effect brings open
> source and web 2.0 technologies to the classroom. The target audience will
> be disadvantaged children in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
>
> However, I'm not from a technical background so it's hard for me to
> visualize how the the LTSP on Edubuntu will work out in  reality. I am
> wondering if the thin-client network actually has an edge over a traditional
> fat-client.
>
> If it is, what is a typical configuration for a server which caters to
> around 25 (and possibly) more clients which enable children to access web
> 2.0 site for the learning. How about 3D applications such as Google earth?
>
> I would love to learn from your experience in using Edubuntu and open source
> technologies in general in an educational environment.
>
> There's one thing that also bugs me. Since almost all the companies here are
> using either licensed or pirated versions of Ms Windows, what are the career
> prospects for students who study Edubuntu and online collaborative tools
> such as Google Docs or ZOHO?
>
> And is it difficult to train for teachers and staff to get hold of the new
> technology as they are the keys to the success of the project, especially
> when they are Vietnamese and can speak little English.
>
> Also, is there anyone from the Ubuntu Education Fund participating in this
> mailing list too? It's such a nice model that I hope to learn from.
> I highly appreciate all of your responses.
>
> Thanks and regards,
>
> --
> Nguyen Anh Hung
> Foreign Trade University, HCMC
> Southeast Asian Service Leadership Network
> 0987 005 477
>