[ubuntu-uk] Ubuntu beginners course in North Tyneside

[Bea Groves]

Hi!

Just a quick bit of news...

I teach in adult education in North Tyneside, and last year I managed to 
talk my manager round to the idea of putting on a beginners course in 
Ubuntu within the borough. It means spending scarce funding on what is a 
fairly 'off the beam' topic, when the usual practice is to play safe and 
put on the usual 'Intro to MS Windows' material. He was a bit sceptical 
about recruitment for it, but let it go ahead anyway.

Happily, we got 11 adults signing up for the course just last Thursday, 
which is a big success by current standards. I've got to say I did do a 
lot of evangelising amongst my current students, so it wasn't all 
accidental, but even so I wasn't expecting such a good turn out.

We're also having to run the course in rather 'experimental' 
circumstances. The powers-that-be wouldn't let me install Ubuntu to 
their PC HDDs, so we're having to run Ubuntu from bootable memory 
sticks. Works pretty much OK though, and the students can (of course) 
have the same experience at home if they wish.

This is very much a beginners (level 1) course, taught by someone (me) 
who was trained ' the MS way', but has converted to the FOSS agenda over 
the years. Practical experience is the thing that makes people convinced 
about software though, so I think having 10 weekly sessions with Ubuntu 
should produce a positive outcome!
-- 
Beatrix E. Groves
BA Hons (Educ) LCGI MAPTT MIFL QTLS
President, Institute for Learning (IfL)
General Secretary, Association of Part-Time Tutors (APTT)
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Email:	beagroves at gmail.com
Email:  bea at beagroves.net
Web:  	http://www.beagroves.net
Blog:	http://beagroves.tumblr.com
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Random Quote of the Day (chosen by my computer) ------------->

"In conventional education the student is required to adjust himself
to an established curriculum; in adult education the curriculum is
built around the students needs and interests. Every adult person
finds himself in specific situations with respect to his work, his 
recreation, his family-life, his community-life, et cetera situations 
which call for adjustments. Adult education begins at this point."
(from 'The Meaning of Adult Education' by Eduard C. Lindeman, 1926)