Lounge

...three words: Howard-honesty-priceless!

yep guilty as charged, have also been a bit partial to using a couple of cms systems (names witheld ) as just a repository...and enjoyed clicking aimlessly with clickers etc, of course in the past ha ha

OK, 2nd question= a response

What objections to using computers and technology to L&T have you come across?

-Early years: nutshell answer the kit is not developmentally appropriate.

-The rest of the Ed systems I referred to in my first response, well two reasons drawn from a range of sources over time:

1. Staff training too focused on developing knowledge of IT/CMS tools out of context, instead of a focus on what the tools can do to enhance L&T processes/outcomes

2. Human behaviour: as a consequence of the use of a meritocratic ed system-it was Ken Robinson who stated in his talk: 'Building a culture of innovation in Ed' that there are three types of peeps (based on a quote by Benjamin Franklin)

-the immovable-like to stick to old models changed as much as they are going to change

-the movable-open to alternatives

-those who move-get the job done....enough of these and a movement occurs

warm wishes

Dawn

Hi Mary,

My first guess is that the sysadmins want to stick to what they know and keep as few things to watch over as possible, which should make less work for them and fewer potential security risks. Sysadmins love it when the next slew of scare stories about this software or that runtime come out so that they can disable/uninstall yet more features.

I suspect that the "lockdown" mentality has more to do with oversight and accountability: sysadmins, directors, headmasters, teachers, parents, etc. are afraid of children and/or other users accessing inappropriate content, installing add-ons/plugins in browsers that circumvent censorship, and that kind of thing (I can imagine that they have horrific fantasies whirling around in their heads involving tabloid headlines and class-action lawsuits). In this case, you just have to point out a few examples of schools that are successfully running other systems and software without the sky falling down.

I suggest a piecemeal, gradual approach along the lines of giving older, less powerful PCs/laptops a new lease of life with lightweight Linux distros (e.g. Lubuntu - the LXDE UI looks enough like Windows). Or if everyone's addicted to WIndows, give them this: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Windows-XP-Is-Dead-Transform-Ubuntu-and-Linux-Mint-in-Windows-XP-420169.shtml That should keep the bean-counters happy and provide support for switching over. For less cranky old computers, there are other distros, e.g. Edubuntu, that are specifically set up for K-12 education environments. Nothing's lost and there's a lot to be gained. Windows XP will reach its end-of-life soon (in a year or so; it keeps getting extended by Microsoft) at which point anyone running XP connected to the internet will rapidly get their computers infested with malware. Perhaps so much malware running in the background that they'll slow down to crawl. It may not always be possible/feasible to upgrade old XP hardware to Windows 7 or 8, which is where Linux can save the day and very little cost but some disruption to learners and teachers who'll have to learn a different way to do things very quickly (This is why I think a piecemeal, gradual changeover is better; you don't get all the problems and issues all at once and start on a voluntary, good will basis, and work out for yourselves what kind of training and support staff and learners will need well in advance).

On the lock-down front, Linux distros are just a lockdown-able as any other OS. In fact, their more difficult to circumvent since they don't allow root access by default (unlike Windows). This means that you must enter an admin password every time you want to update or install software or change any of the important/sensitive user control settings.

On the malware front, the vast majority of PC viruses target Windows only. Point out any of the numerous articles on Linux vs. Windows malware to your sysadmins, e.g. http://librenix.com/?inode=21 You can also point out the recent explosion of malware attacks on iPhones, Android, iPads and tablets.

I reckon, if you really want to use tablets, you should get Windows surface http://www.microsoft.com/surface/en-ca/products/overview , which are being sold at knockdown prices these days, and which are "beefy" i3/i5 Intel powered computers (not the wimpy ARM chips you get in Android and iPads), and install a suitable Linux distro on them (Edubuntu?).

Just my €0.02!

It's not just schools, it's businesses as well. This is, in reality, Microsoft's big selling point. I can have my big Microsoft Active-Directory Domain (or whatever the hell they call it this week) and I can restrict all manner of stuff throughout the organisation centrally. It seems to me to be a particularly negative way of doing business. Shouldn't we all be expending effort on making it easier to do things rather than expending effort on making it easier to not do things. Maybe I'm just some old liberal

I was graciously given this link in response to an IT problem I have where I suspect they just don't want to deal with Moodle anymore.  We've had for more than 6 years and I absolutely love Moodle and everything I can do with it.  Our IT director left and now everything is falling apart.  In fact, the new guy running the show decided to trash Moodle without telling any of the users.  As a power user, I am resisting this with all sorts of justification and since then, Moodle crashes 6-11 times a day - never did this before!  What was a gift is now become a burden when the students can't access.  How can I convince or help IT to understand the importance of this software and to make them feel easier about supporting it?