[ILUG] "gLITCh": GNU/Linux In The Classroom

[Cormac McClean]

Hi,

I was thinking about the Linux in the Classroom
 project. It's on my mind from time to time, and I
 decided to type something up.

Name: gLITCh or GLITCh or GLITCH ?
The de facto name for this project is Linux in the
 Classroom. I was trying to get a snappy one-word
 abbreviation based on the initials. Given the recent
 discussion about the use of the name GNU/Linux, I
 thought that GLITCH might be good:
       GNU Linux In The Classroom (GLITC)
with the H tacked on at the end to make it
 pronounceable.

I'm not sure I go along with the use of the GNU for
 Linux... except maybe in the case of DEbian
GNU/Linux.
In fact, if anything should be prepended to Linux, it
 should be Ong/Linux: Ours, Not Gnu's!

I know that "glitch" means "bug", but I thought it
was a nice play on words... like "less" is "more",
glitch is better than FACILITY. 

Anyway, the name is of minor importance.

Technical Issues:
One of our main selling points for Linux to Principals
 and Deputy Principals is the FREE alternative to the
 (expensive and poor quality) commercial student
 administration software package FACILITY (not
 "Facilities"). If and when this gets off the ground,
we can present it as being not only FREE - which is
 good news to Principals who always have to work with
 tight budgets, even if they get funding for IT - not
 having to spend thousands(?) on FACILITY would mean
 they could reallocate significant funds to other
 purposes - but that it is even better than FACILITY,
 which is just as important.

To get things off the ground initially, I was thinking
 in terms of a Web browser based application. That is,
 we focus initially on the functionality of the
 database administration back-end, and use a Web
 Browser as the front end. This is not as
unprofessional as it seems - in fact, it is the
 approach taking by commercial eCommerce solutions. 

First of all, it means that a Principal / Deputy would
 not need to be using Linux to access the database,
all
 s/he would need is a Web browser, running on any
 platform s/he currently uses (obviously, most likely
 to be Micro$oft), so we're giving the front-end
 user an environment in which s/he is comfortable, as
 opposed to expecting him/her to cope with adjusting
to
 Linux AND a new software package. The Web browser
 would connect to the database using MySQL or another
 RDBMS (I mention MySQL becuase this is what I am
using
 currently as the RDBMS for an eCommerce project with
 one of my class groups).

Secondly, it removes the need to install software on
 multiple PCs, as any school administrator who needed
 access would simply use a Web browser (with password
 authentication, of course).

I see this as a wedge into the secondary schools
 market. We impress with the superior functionality of
 our solution,emphasise that it is made possible FREE
 OF CHARGE by using Linux, present them with the
 additional benefits of Linux as a network
 and internet server (as implemented so impressively
in
 St. Oliver's, and now that they are interested, blow
 them away with the examples of Linux in other
 classrooms as FREE software, that can do anything
they 
 want, all they need do is say what they want, and
 we'll do it.
When they are persuaded that Linux is the way to go,
 then we can produce a graphical front end, instead of
 using a browser.

Promotional Issues:
pagLITCh: Promoting Awareness of GNU Linux In The
 Classroom. Even before we have a working replacement
 to FACILITY, we could make representations to various
 concerned parties:

1. Principals and Deputy Principals: last week they
had a general meeting; it would be great to have the
 opportunity to present Linux to all Principals and
 Deputys at once. We could run it as a side-show, as
is
 done with British Labour Party conferences.

2. Department of Education: Conveniently based here in
 Athlone. I imagine the Dept would be all for reducing
 costs in schools, thereby making it easier to
implement the government's ideals of making all
 secondary students computer literate.

3. Teacher's Associations: I know there exists an an
 association for Maths teachers, maybe there is one
for
 teachers of IT. It would be great to work with them,
 they are the ones who would ultimately deal with
Linux
 in the school on a day to day basis.

4. Teaching Union: ASTI? (Association of Secondary
 Teacher's in Ireland). Maybe they could help with
 promoting the GLITCH project. As I former member, I
 got the impression that the ASTI might be sympathetic
 to our cause.

5. Local Government Councils: I mention this because I
 know members of the local Urban and County Council.
 Any political clout we can get might help
 (particularly if the makers of FACILITY start getting
 upset, which they might - they currently have a
 monopoly and they won't like having a rival which is
 not only FREE, but is a BETTER product).

6. Enterprise Boards: We would, of course, be a
 non-profit organisation (quickly copyrighting GLITCH
 under the GPL) but some funding to help with costs
 might be useful and having official sanction would be
 help further persuade Principals and Deputies that we
 are a serious alternaive.

and last, but not least:
7. Individual schools: Nothing beats a face-to-face
 demonstration. We could make a presentation to the
 Principal/Deputy/IT teacher, outlining the advantages
 of Linux, explaining why we're doing this (providing
 free software) and then give a detailed presentation
 of the Student Admin package, e.g. bring in Linux on
a
 laptop, (this is where the funding would be helpful),
 with the Student Admin software installed, show them
 how easy it is to access the data via a Web browser -
 queries, updates and so on.

We can also point out that our Linux solution could
run
 on as little as a 486, whereas the new version of
 FACILITY released last year was very resource hungry
 and would not run on the existing hardware PI 66MHz
 and meant that the school I was in had to be a new
 PC to run it!

I am very serious about (and excited by) this project.
 I'm willing to devote significant time to it,
 particularly over the summer months (I'll be on
 holiday from Athlone Institute of Technology). Our
 first step would be to implement the Student Admin
 solution, (at least a prototype) then start talking
to
 people about GLITCH. 

Any thoughts?

Regards,
Cormac.

P.S. Sincere apologies for the formatting problems in
this e-mail. I'm working from home and my Netscape
messenger is misbehaving (getting a message
"Netscape's
network connection was refused by the server", any
 ideas?) so I'm using yahoo mail.








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