Open Learning Environment

[Alexander Hanff]

Hey William and Steve,

Thanks for the replies I will investigate both sets of suggestion fully once
I get back from our family dinner.

Sincerely

Alexander Hanff

On Feb 10, 2008 8:28 AM, William Kinghorn <williamk at dut.ac.za> wrote:

> Hi Alexander,
>
> I am not suggesting hardware, just training material.
>
> Some course material that you might consider using, some might need
> updating.
>
> This is from a e-mail that Billy Cina sent me. This is for Ubuntu 7.10,
> but should work for Edubuntu.
>
>     Ubuntu 7.10 Desktop Course - IT's   HERE!!
>
>      pdf versions of the student guide and instructor guide are
>      attached here: Student Guide attachment:student.pdf
>      <
> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Training?action=AttachFile&do=get&target=student.pdf
> >;
>      and Instructor Guide attachment:instructor.pdf
>      <
> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Training?action=AttachFile&do=get&target=instructor.pdf
> >;.
>      In order to retrieve the actual code and contribute or modify the
>      content, you will need to have a launchpad account and bzr set up
>      on your computer. The launchpad branch is: [WWW]
>
> http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~canonical-training/ubuntu-desktop-course/ubuntu-desktop-course-beta<http://bazaar.launchpad.net/%7Ecanonical-training/ubuntu-desktop-course/ubuntu-desktop-course-beta>
>      <
> http://bazaar.launchpad.net/%7Ecanonical-training/ubuntu-desktop-course/ubuntu-desktop-course-beta
> >;
>
>
> OpenICDL
>
>     http://www.openicdl.org.za/devcourseware.html
>
> OpenOffice.org
>
>     http://www.tutorialsforopenoffice.org
>
>    from : http://www.tutorialsforopenoffice.org/Welcome.html
>
>               We strongly recommend the following
>
>                 1. Download and Save the tutorial into your "My Documents"
> folder
>                 2. Print the tutorial.
>                 3. Read the tutorial first to get an idea of what is in
> the tutorial and then do the exercise.
>                 4. As you do the tutorial observe what happens on our
> screen.
>
> LPI 101 and LPI 102 training notes  - training course material, licenced
> under GNU FDL.
>
>      http://www.ledge.co.za/downloads.php
>
> Hope this helps
>
> William
>
>
>
> >>> "Alexander Hanff" <core.ldf at gmail.com> 02/09/08 8:48 PM >>>
> Hello all,
>
> I am in the final year of my degree and for my final year project I have
> elected to set up and Open Learning environment for a local Internet Cafe.
> The company used to run Learn Direct courses (for those of you not in the
> UK
> these were government sponsored basic IT courses which were free for low
> income and unemployed people) so they already have a training room which
> is
> networked on GigE and has space for 12 machines.
>
> Members of the public will be able to "Drop In" and do courses at no
> charge
> irrespective of their social background and the range of courses will
> include word processing, graphics manipulation, spreadsheets,
> presentations,
> general IT training and anything else I can think of during the project.
> There will be a staff member in the room to provide "support" but not to
> actually teach so ideally it would be useful to find existing courses
> using
> FOSS software such as OOo.  I don't actually have to provide the courses
> as
> the project is primarily a feasibility study but the company is interested
> in deploying if the study gives positive results.  I will also be looking
> at
> a range of funding via grants and sponsorship from private trusts, local,
> central and European government sources.
>
> I am thinking of going the thin client route to minimise hardware and
> operational costs and was hoping some of the people on this list may have
> already set up such projects in schools and other environments who would
> be
> able to share the experience and suggestions with me.  I need to do a full
> budget for hardware and give some indication as to other costs (such as
> energy use and maintenance).
>
> So I need ideas on hardware specs for 12 thin clients which will keep
> costs
> low but allow efficient delivery to the end user.  I am not adverse to
> using
> a flash drive to pull the users /home/ folder over on boot to cut the
> network traffic and increase responsiveness.  I would also like the user
> to
> be able to store their own files on a USB pen drive should they wish to
> take
> their work away with them.
>
> Server-wise I am not too concerned, from the reading I have done so far I
> would be very surprised if the company doesn't have suitable server
> hardware
> already in house but even if they don't I don't anticipate I will have any
> problems creating a decent server specification.
>
> So if you have any advice, experiences or suggestions you wish to share,
> please drop a reply to this email.  I am a long term Linux user (over 10
> years) and reasonably well known in the Ubuntu community so feel free to
> get
> a little technical and also any warnings about possible obstacles or
> problems people have encountered on similar projects would be a bonus.
> Finally any links to existing free CBT resources based around FOSS
> applications would be great as I could then include them as a bonus to the
> project.
>
> My final year dissertation is on the negative impact and consequences of a
> Microsoft centric public sector (including education) so obviously using
> Open technologies for this project will compliment my dissertation well
> and
> will be able to be used as supporting evidence.
>
> I look forward to reading the responses.
>
> Regards
>
> Alexander Hanff
> aka Paladine
>
>
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