Life after LTSP

[Caroline Meeks]

On Thu, Nov 11, 2010 at 2:41 PM, Intense Red <intnsred at golgotha.net> wrote:

>   This is a fascinating discussion -- kudos.
>
>  > It brings up the question: what about kids that can't afford their own
>  > laptops?
>

There is another interesting option.

Bootable USB sticks loaded with open source software.

Kids who have laptops could use their own laptops if they wished.
Kids who did not could use a school laptop at school and a donated desktop
(tons of these available these days) at home.

Kids could install whatever they wanted on their own laptops but the sticks
could be locked down.
The sticks could be backed up to the cloud or to a School owned server while
they were connected at school.  If a stick (4GB < $10) was lost a student
could buy/be issued a new one with all the software preloaded, then goto an
internet connected computer and restore their work.

 Kids without internet at home could grab local copies of web pages and
other reference materials to use at home.

I'm working on a pilot of this in Massachusetts right now.

Cheers,
Caroline

>
>    To me, considering the fact that the gov't is getting ready to slash
> every social program from social security to Medicaid, given the history of
> how poor communities/students are treated relating to public schools, the
> answer is clear: The poor students will be offered older, publicly-owned
> devices as charity, or simply ignored. I hope I'm wrong, but history and
> actions speak louder than words.
>
>  > Also, who manages these systems?
>
>    This is something I've dealt with already with special ed students and
> school-owned laptops. Advocates for the students insist on the ability to
> install any program they desire, and, not surprisingly, the administration
> of such machines is a time-sucking nightmare. I've found no solution given
> the politically correct concept that the student should be able to do
> anything their heart desires.
>
>  > They don't belong to the school. We can't touch them.
>
>    I've talked to some EdTech people who are already running into this.
> Presently, they are able to hold the line, but they know that the tide is
> turning.
>
>   It's sort of the same issue with thumb drives spreading viruses and
> malware. If stable, consistently working systems are required, at some
> point a line has to be drawn that schools and students do not need to
> support every idea and device that corporate America sells.
>
> --
> Income tax rate for the median American: 1955 - 7.4%, 1961 - 10.2%, 1997 -
> 16.9%, 2007 - 13.6%. Income tax rate for the 400 richest Americans: 1955 -
> 51.2%, 1961 - 42.4%, 1997 - 24.2%, 2007 - 16.6%. Tax the rich anyone?
> <http://www.toomuchonline.org/art_charts_2010/apr12_taxes.png>
>
> --
> edubuntu-users mailing list
> edubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com
> Modify settings or unsubscribe at:
> https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/edubuntu-users
>



-- 
Caroline Meeks
Solution Grove
Caroline at SolutionGrove.com

617-500-3488 - Office
505-213-3268 - Fax
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/edubuntu-users/attachments/20101111/992df817/attachment.htm