[ubuntu-za] [Education] Introduction

[Jonathan Carter (highvoltage)]

Hi Hilton

Hilton Theunissen wrote:
> to the 1st Edubuntu summit in June 2005, which was really fantastic. I 
> will never forget Jc explored the hotel room bar fridge - most expensive 
> drinks and chocolates I ever paid.

I did apologise for that! I also swear that I've never touched a 
mini-bar after that ever again!

> Personally I am passionate about Open Platforms in the SA Education 
> Sector, I have devoted myself since 2000 to get OSS into SA schools. I 
> figure I will never give up...hope.

I'll always fondly remember my time at Shuttleworth Foundation and 
Inkululeko. I think the government will have to /really/ but their 
backing behind free *content* before things really pick up, and 
currently our education system is so old-fashioned and behind the times 
that I think it will take a real long time before education actually 
catches up to the world we live in.

> Newest tuXlabs to go up this month: join in if you wish
> Pietermaritzburg 5 primary schools - networking starting next week
> Joburg 1 primary school - this is a nice lab, 17"lcd, 40 x inveneo amd 
> thin clients, phase 2 will be focused on going into the classroom, 
> terminal for the educator.

Where in Jo'burg?

> Long e-mail ne' but I hope it inspire you to launch your project and 
> make it known in SA to ensure OSS gets embedded in SA schools.

To be perfectly honest, I think any education project needs to be well 
funded, even if it's a free-software-like project. I think a 
loosely-knit group will always struggle, since education is one of those 
problems that are considered non-sexy. People tend to come and go often, 
get busy and can't contribute for certain periods... and while this is 
generally not a big problem in a big software project, in educational 
projects it seems to be a very specific problem.

Actually, Edubuntu is making some interesting turns. The next version of 
Edubuntu will be an add-on CD for Ubuntu, Kubuntu or Xubuntu. This means 
that Edubuntu administrators can easier choose the desktop environment 
they want to use, etc. The real benefit though is that the Edubuntu CD 
will have much more space for content, language packs, etc. The CD size 
limit has always been a significant challenge for the team, since the 
Ubuntu CD was already pretty much maxed out. There will be lots more 
space (very literally) for improvement in the future versions of 
Edubuntu. I think that if you are serious about improving education with 
Ubuntu, then get involved in the Ubuntu 8.10 (Intripid Ibex) release 
cycle for Ubuntu, and add your ideas and input there.

-Jonathan