Ubuntu in Schools

[undoIT]

Have any efforts been made to have Ubuntu available in the educational system? When I was in school K-12 (kindergarten thru high school) we had Macs. I guess there was some sort of deal between Apple and the public school I was attending. If Ubuntu were used in the educational system, it would be a huge step in the right direction for gaining mass acceptance of Linux as a viable operating system.

I have used a lot of different computers and operating systems. I am a web developer and in front of the computer anywhere from 8-16 hours a day for work and creative projects. It is not an exaggeration when I say that Ubuntu Gutsy is by far the best operating system I have used. Can't wait for Hardy Heron to be released tomorrow. Seems to me that Ubuntu is ready for mass consumption.

It makes a lot of sense to have Ubuntu available in schools.


It is cost-effective (can't beat free)
It comes loaded with just about all the productivity tools needed by students for scholarly and creative projects. Again, cost-effective.
It is, in my experience, more intuitive and productive than either Windows or OS X once you learn how to use it.
If people grow up with Ubuntu, using it would become second nature. I think the biggest mental hurdle to trying Linux is not wanting to have to learn something new.


Is there an outreach program for the educational system? If so, how's it going?

[smartboyathome]

Ubuntu makes edubuntu, but other than that not as much.

[Mazza558]

Yes, Spain plans to migrate 500,000 PCs to Ubuntu.

[Joeb454]

I was reading about this the other day :) I'm glad to see Ubuntu spreading (well...Linux in general)

It's getting there...slowly but surely

[undoIT]

Yes, Spain plans to migrate 500,000 PCs to Ubuntu.

Awesome! Let's get this going globally :D

[NightwishFan]

They would benefit from reduced costs using ubuntu as their desktop os and server, I remember the IT in my old school almost pulling hair over windows 2000 and windows server.

[amazingtaters]

I think it would make sense to start a gradual roll out of Ubuntu with elementary schools first, and then upgrade in middle schools and high schools as the kids who started with Ubuntu move through. The fact is that a lot of kids at my college still don't properly know how to use an XP machine (as in, the interface for PowerPoint and IE confuse them) and most people are generally unwilling to change. So, we must target children who are going to be having formative computing experiences, namely those in elementary school, and build from there. Yes, this means that it will be years before most high schools and middle schools are using Ubuntu, but this way you're causing the least confusion and easing the adoption process. Just my two cents on Ubuntu in education.

[undoIT]

How could we organize outreach programs to bring Ubuntu into schools? Would this be handled by Canonical, or are they support only?

[smartboyathome]

It would have to be done by the IT guys, really. Since they are the ones who manage the computers, they would have to know Linux and be able to make a good case. Schools can't just go out and find IT guys who know Linux.

[undoIT]

The IT guys would be the ones to implement it, whether or not they are well-versed in Linux. I'm wondering what the best way is to let school systems know that there is a better option.

Probably one of the most attractive arguments is reduced costs. There would need to be some spreadsheets and charts made illustrating this with real figures. I think the decision makers are the ones who would need to be convinced that it is worthwhile to implement.

[smartboyathome]

The argument against that from the schools always is, in my experience at least, more cost for the IT guys to maintain it. I think that it needs to go from the ITs to the schools, as personally they have the most influence in this situation. If you can get the IT guys together in a district and convince them to support you in your endevour to get Linux implimented, then you'll have a better chance.

To be fair, though, Linux doesn't work for many schools because a lot of them may use Windows-only programs (a lot of science programs are Linux-only, for example). Open source replacements might not be up to spec to what they need, or may be harder to use than their Windows-only versions. Wine also usually isn't an option, since they need everything to work, and Wine has hardly any programs which are bug-free.

[undoIT]

The argument against that from the schools always is, in my experience at least, more cost for the IT guys to maintain it.

Perhaps the IT guys and gals would have to bide their time and wait for either a major worm / virus to bring down the computer systems, or the next upgrade cycle to make a case for Linux.


To be fair, though, Linux doesn't work for many schools because a lot of them may use Windows-only programs (a lot of science programs are Linux-only, for example).

This is a very valid point. I use Virtualbox for Adobe CS3 and Quicken (the last two reasons I need Windows anymore). But running Windows in this way would probably not be feasible in schools that require specialized programs that are Windows only. That is one of the biggest hurdles that keeps people faithful to the old guard - Windows still has the broadest selection of professional-grade programs and the best driver support (usually).

Perhaps a way to get started is to implement "trial" installs on computers that do not need the Windows-only programs. For example, computers that are primarily used for surfing the internet, word processing etc. Elementary schools are probably the best candidates.

[jviscosi]

The student computers in my wife's classroom are all Edubuntu. Frequently, they're the only student computers in her school that are functional ...

[undoIT]

When I was in college, the library computers were running KDE (not sure which Linux distro). Perhaps libraries would be a good place to begin, since they are usually used for research and web access and probably do not require specialized programs.

[Vince4Amy]

# It comes loaded with just about all the productivity tools needed by students for scholarly and creative projects. Again, cost-effective.

We've tried it, it's not sufficient enough for most people. Things like photoshop are required.

The web development courses would not be possible due to the lack of good web authoring software.

The ISP company our school has to use as enforced by the county does not support any other browser other than IE, using other browsers make it do weird stuff and it's out of our control.

Another one, Visual Basic is part of one of the courses offered and is required by the exam board, Visual Studio must be used and of course post is not possible on Linux.

The way I look at it, the current situation of the exam boards and the courses offered it will have to be Windows for now, too many courses will have to be dropped if not, sorry to say.

We've experimented with Linux in our school and we do use some open source software (Open Office is installed as well as Microsoft Office, Audacity, Cam Studio, The GIMP etc), even PING Is used for restoring images of hard drives (Partimage Is Not Ghost) however converting the Operating Systems at this stage would be completely pointless.

This isn't general for all schools, I've made this post based on the school I go to.

[HermanAB]

Venezuela recently ordered one million Linux machines for schools.

[fourthofjuly]

Another one, Visual Basic is part of one of the courses offered and is required by the exam board, Visual Studio must be used and of course post is not possible on Linux.

The way I look at it, the current situation of the exam boards and the courses offered it will have to be Windows for now, too many courses will have to be dropped if not, sorry to say.

same problem here...

we have 100 machines on a peer-to-peer network (3 labs with 35+35+30 machines)...

i wish to move atleast the kids lab (upto grade 5) to ubuntu, since all the tools they use have open source alternatives...

but its really difficult to convince my colleagues and superiors + i need to put in way too much extra time and effort for installation & supporting these machines...

then again, with my level of knowledge, i may not be able to handle problems that may arise... its quite different to use ubuntu at home and to use it at institutional level...