I have seen whiteboard in a number of schools recently all working brilliantly.  Caroline <div>On 17/01/07, Toby Smithe <<a href="mailto:toby.smithe@gmail.com"> toby.smithe@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">Hi. I'm curious: do you have whiteboards and do they work? On Wed, 2007-01-17 at 09:42 +0000, Alistair Crust wrote: > Hi, I would have to strongly disagree with your outlook here. > I talk from experience as a systems admin at Skegness Grammar school in > Lincolnshire. We have run LTSP with several different distros for 3 years > (Settling on Debian, then Ubuntu) on 100+ thin clients with Ubuntu fat > clients in most of the department offices and all services web-filtering, > email, intranet etc using Linux. Legacy apps are available using win2k3 > Terminal services. All curriculum teaching is done using Linux. We are now a > Maths and Computing Specialist school. > > Although I must admit any advances into education by OSS and GNU/Linux in > general will be, and have been, hard at first the more it is used the more > Managers, Teachers, Software vendors.. even school governors wanting to make > the most of their budget will see the benefits. > > To clarify I recently read in a blog post by Mark Shuttleworth > (<a href="http://www.markshuttleworth.com/archives/76">http://www.markshuttleworth.com/archives/76</a>) that for hardware > manufacturers it seems to be about critical mass... once 5-10% of people are > asking for Linux support only then will they care about providing that > support. IMHO this also is the case for software vendors. > > Without that critical mass in education, shouting to manufacturers > (hardware/software) then it will be a struggle for advancement but not > impossible. Once we have this critical mass, software vendors and hardware > vendors alike will care about why they are loosing out on a viable and > important revenue stream. With BECTA et al reiterating the need for OSS this > will help to grow the seeds of change..for the better. > > I would love to see some way that government could provide funding to OSS > projects to continue there sterling work. Funding that would ordinarily go > to proprietary systems that bear a great risk for vendor lock-in. Look at > the funding for the Compulsory.. sorry Optional KS3 ICT Online...sorry > On-screen Test....sorry Assessment. (This just shows the U turn the > government has done when they found out things were not going as smoothly as > they thought, and they had spend a shed load of tax payers cash and it > wasn't going to do what they wanted it to do). This cash could have gone to > funding something useful... even getting someone like Canonicle to build an > On-line distro neutral Test... something that works! > > To close, I know I haven't been the most active member of the list as I have > limited spare time. I did however feel compelled to add my two peneth here. > I'll get of my soap box now. > > Keep up the great work with OSS promotion.. as I said critical mass, the > more we chip away at this the better it becomes. To coin a phrase "Every > Little Helps!"(tm) > > Regards > > Alistair Crust > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Colin_The_Technician" <<a href="mailto:binarysignal@gmail.com">binarysignal@gmail.com</a>> > To: "British Ubuntu Talk" < <a href="mailto:ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com">ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com</a>> > Sent: Tuesday, January 16, 2007 11:21 PM > Subject: Re: [ubuntu-uk] Open Source Challenges Vista at U.K. Education Show > > > >I was at the BETT Show and saw the Open Forum Europe stand and the > > Edubuntu CD's.  Also the Internet cafe there was powered by Linux.  So > > while it's good to see them at BETT I personally never think Linux we > > make any advances into education.  And I say that as a school Network > > Manager. > > > > I say that because of the 190 poor written and designed educational > > applications we have on our network NONE of them have Linux versions. > > That is with one exception....the new Yr9 ICT SAT software has a Linux > > version and I noticed that just yesterday. > > > > I do promote OSS and Linux within education.  I have converted one > > teacher and two students to Ubuntu.  And given OpenOffice to many > > students who do not have MS Office on their home PCs. > > > > I believe OpenOffice, The GIMP and other OSS applications could do > > well in schools, but I believe the desktop OS will always be Windows. > > Mainly because myself and my colleagues (MS Admins) are ten a penny :-) > > > > -- > > <a href="mailto:ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com"> ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com</a> > > <a href="https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk">https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk</a> > > <a href="https://wiki.kubuntu.org/UKTeam/">https://wiki.kubuntu.org/UKTeam/ </a> > > > > > > > > -- > > No virus found in this incoming message. > > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > > Version: 7.5.432 / Virus Database: 268.16.12/630 - Release Date: > > 15/01/2007 20:28 > > > > > > -- Help me get to Venezuela! <a href="http://tibsplace.co.uk/venezuela">http://tibsplace.co.uk/venezuela</a> -- <a href="mailto:ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com"> ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com</a> <a href="https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk">https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk</a> <a href="https://wiki.kubuntu.org/UKTeam/">https://wiki.kubuntu.org/UKTeam/ </a> </blockquote></div> -- --- London School of Puppetry <a href="http://www.londonschoolofpuppetry.com">www.londonschoolofpuppetry.com</a>