Teaching technology: What is important for K-8 ?

[Matt Burkhardt]

I know this is for openSUSE, but the course guides from Novell cover
ages 10 through 14 and has sections on both Gnome and KDE, so that
should cover Grades 5 though 8.  It's close enough to Kubuntu that you
should be able to get some use out of the documentation and instructor's
guides.

http://ocw.novell.com/suse-linux-enterprise-desktop/get-ready-for-open-source-suse-linux-enterprise-desktop-book-1/course-materials

There's also a second level course available through Novell, and knowing
Montessori, your kids might be ready for it.

I haven't been able to find curriculum and instructor guides for grades
K through 4 - so if anyone knows, please let me know.

The best way to sell this to MS-centric folks is to look at the savings.
Most schools get their cost per computer down by between 40% and 75%.
The entire state of Indiana and the city of San Diego are two examples -
they both discovered that open source software could save them a good
deal of money between lower requirements for hardware, no software
licensing fees, no anti-virus software and the increased security
available in Linux systems.  They're both aiming for a computer for
every child.

In addition, using an open source operating system also gains you all of
the great open source software.  For example, there's video editing
software, graphics software and audio editing software that is all free
- only some of it available for Windows machines.

If you need any additional information, I am focused on K-12 open source
for schools and would be happy to help out.  You can also look on my web
site (http://www.imparisystems.com) for the Links page - I'm constantly
updating it - that only has open source software and copyleft course
materials.

Good luck!

On Thu, 2008-01-10 at 10:49 -0800, Jeffrey LePage wrote:

> Hello,
> 
> Here's my basic question: How do you integrate Linux
> workstations into the K-8 Montessori classroom?
> 
> Follow-up question:  how do you sell this to people
> who come from a MS-centric world?
> 
> Background
> --------------------
> The principal at my son's school has decided that we
> need to emphasize technology more.  They think they
> might get a big grant soon.  However, they don't
> really have a plan for integrating computers into the
> classroom. 
> 
> They're a little bit familiar with Linux.  I set up 22
> Xubuntu laptops for them (for student use).  By all
> accounts everyone loves the new laptops.
> 
> They seem to want
> 1) to teach basic mouse/keyboard skills
> 2) to teach how to use the internet for research
> 3) to teach how to use common apps like M$ Word. 
> (yes, I told them about abiword and OpenOffice).
> 4) to teach touch typing.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>       ____________________________________________________________________________________
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-- 
Matt Burkhardt, MSTM
President
Impari Systems, Inc.
Phone:  (301) 644-3911
mlb at imparisystems.com
http://www.imparisystems.com
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