Free and open source software are available for everyone but I think that schools will be the ones to benefit the most. After all, it means the following for them:

less pressure on the instructors and students as well
tools they could play around with and not be too afraid to make mistakes
there are tools that could be fitted within her budget

It is awesome to read case studies that show us that installing Linux on their school computers, etc. It is never easy to just switch. (Is proprietary software an addiction? A habit? Sounds like it sometimes.) In any …read more

Writing about Moodle and iTalc reminded me that the first time I heard about Linux was in college. One of my classmates reported about Linux, GNOME and KDE. I didn’t really understand everything they said but I had an awareness of Linux after that. Then I learned that there was a documentary about Linux showing in the university’s film center so I watched that with some classmates and teachers too. It wasn’t so difficult for them to talk about Linux since we were, after all, in an academic setting where we should talk about these things. …read more

If you’re running a training center, whether it concerns distance education or not, you need tools to help you manage your classes and facilitate discussions, especially for those who are into distance education learning programs. Issues that need to be addressed include: course management as well as ensuring that the training room is managed well so that learners can focus on the lessons and not be distracted by other applications.
Let the Training Room Come into Order with iTalc
Today, I’ve learned about iTalc. It is an application that lets you manage your training room’s computers by ensuring that your …read more

School’s starting in my country in two weeks’ time and now I read about Dell Latitude 2100s as K-12 friendly. Interestingly enough these nifty netbooks have rubberized casings so that it won’t easily slip from the hands of students. And the units are quite colorful too.
Some nifty features:

optional touchscreen
webcam (say, “Hi, Teacher!”)
labeling window – personalize your netbook so they know who owns which unit
network activity light that warns teachers if their students are using the WiFi connection instead of focusing on their studies
you could get it with Ubuntu, instead of Windows
3-cell or 6-cell battery
option to choose between an …read more

In this case, it’s Ubuntu Linux, the Kubuntu flavor because of better control, as they say.
Sounds like Ubuntu Linux is one of the more common distros installed, from the looks of it. The article talked about the students’ use of the kiosk which runs Kubuntu. Also mentioned were the good points of using Linux in Westall Secondary School in Melbourne.
For the uses, the following were listed:

Searching
Book reservation
Access the college intranet

Other things that were mentioned to be good effects of the change:

The response time of the machines became faster compared with Windows.
Students are not hacking the kiosks in order to …read more