[Lias] Learning And Technology In Schools ( LATIS) NT

[Paul Shirren]

I am in SA.

Not working in .edu at the moment.

Agree with what you say on the process. I think gov here is 
investigating FOSS. They will probably tell edu what to do, not the 
other way around when they write new procurement rules.

I think it is possible to win the battle and lose the war though. Which 
is why I think we do have to do some work with teachers as well as all 
the other stuff.

Ben Minton wrote:
> hi Paul.
> 
> I hear you ! Remind which state you are in please ? If you are in Vic,
> contact the OSV.org.au and get busy, 2 years will pass so quick $10.5
> Million ... nice number if you can get it.
> 
> Sure I'll keep you posted on what I am doing. In fact I should upload it
> to the Net at my ISP 'free 10 MB website'.
> 
> I take it you are currently in .edu support IT?
> 
> Yes, the comment on teachers is right on but you have to see how the
> purchasing cycle works (sorry if you already know 8-)). The .gov
> contacts the .edu and says you IT contract is up, what do you want? They
> don't ask the teachers, they go the policy and concepts branch of the
> educatino directorate, who are mostly public servants (admin types) or
> former teachers who have moved up.
> 
> Most of them in the last 10 years have been using M$ stuff, so they just
> say the usual please. Combine this with the bulk purchase of IT equip
> for schools (good) and you get a very large scale M$ enterprise
> contract.
> 
> However the future policy makers and education consultants are the
> current generation of teachers, so ytou are spot on. We, the OSS
> community, need to introduce these teachers to OSS for 2 reasons.
> 
> 1. To highlight the wide variety of functionlaity available through the
> entire package range of the OSS and,
> 2. Influence their personal views on technology.
> 
> Technology is a tool to help us do stuff, what gets forgotten n the
> enterprise is that the stuff really matters, the tech does not.
> Purchasing one brand of tech to do a wide range of soft is performance
> limiting and myopic.
> 
> But then this policy runs around a lot in the .gov.au ... take defence
> where they will buy one vehicle platform ie the Land Rover 110 6x6 and
> modify it to do 11 different jobs, which it does, but not successfully
> well.
> 
> I know that the impetus these days is to achieve the highest value for
> money but I think and your last comments support this, that we are
> concetrating too much on the tech value for money as opposed to the
> functionality/performance value for money.
> 
> Apply that last statement honestly and without commercially driven
> favour or current vendor support and OSS is the BEST choice.
> 
> Ben.
> 
> On Fri, 2004-02-20 at 11:15, Paul Shirren wrote:
> 
>>Please keep me up to date Ben.
>>
>>We have a $10.5 million dollar contract for MS software here that runs 
>>out in Feb 2006. The government here is doing some serious research into 
>>using FOSS. Lots of internal surveys going around. A few pilot studies etc.
>>
>>I am desperate to be involved but I am going to have to get a job in the 
>>department to make a difference.
>>
>>If you want to work together on anything or you are looking for any 
>>specific resources let me know.
>>
>>I do not know of any OSS in schools comparison site. SEUL does have a 
>>big list of edu software though.
>>
>>One of the concerns I have is that teachers always get left out. They 
>>really have been left to fend for themselves which is why they use 
>>software so badly, ie powerpointlessness. I believe that too many of the 
>>FOSS in schools advocacy dwells on cost and technical issues and not on 
>>teaching.
>>
>>Frankly a computer nobody can use properly with FOSS is no better than 
>>its Windows equiv. I want to do some teacher training in FOSS. And not 
>>so much just teach the tools, but explaining the educational values.
>>
>>Another project that really impressed me was the Scottish guy who got 
>>OpenOffice cds into the libraries there. The howto on openoffice.org is 
>>brilliant. A lot of our libraries in country areas here are joint use. 
>>If I could get OpenOffice or OpenCD into the country libraries, they 
>>would be in many school libraries as well.
>>
>>Paul Shirren
>>http://shirro.com/
>>http://edufritz.org/
>>
>>Ben Minton wrote:
>>
>>>Hi
>>>
>>>Just looking at the NT Schools Technology site: LATIS  - Learning And
>>>Technology In Schools ( www.latis.net.au )
>>>
>>>Goto: http://www.latis.net.au/softbank/msselect.htm
>>>
>>>... here is a very sad page 8-(
>>>
>>>Goto: http://www.latis.net.au/softbank/software_vendors.htm
>>>
>>>... a very expensive page
>>>
>>>Is there a  'master' linux in schools site that can details known or
>>>future OSS apps that can be compared against specific known Microsoft or
>>>other education vendor software?
>>>
>>>I know about the K12 website, but was thinking of a more technical,
>>>costs, functionality sort of thing.
>>>
>>>Ben.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>_______________________________________________
>>>lias mailing list
>>>lias at lists.linux.org.au
>>>http://lists.linux.org.au/listinfo/lias
>>
> 
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