/srv/irclogs.ubuntu.com/2009/12/06/#edubuntu.txt

Sp133nanyone know where I can find the checksum for edubuntu 9.10?04:30
sbalneavFor which, the iso?04:38
sbalneavhttp://cdimages.ubuntu.com/edubuntu/releases/9.10/release/04:39
sbalneavMD5sums is at the top04:39
sbalneavMorning all14:50
dgroosGood Morn.14:51
dgroosChilly 'up north'?14:51
sbalneavOnly -10 at the moment15:00
sbalneavbalmy weather for this time of year15:01
dgroosis that Fahrenheit or Celsius?15:12
mhall119it's 50F here15:16
mhall119so 10C, according to the google15:17
sbalneavC15:18
dgroosmhall119: You're in US/Florida?15:29
dgroosIn my yard here in US/Minnesota it's also -10º C or 16º F.15:30
dgroosAn interesting feature of an irc app would be to plot current chat-room members' locations on a google map based on their ip.  So, click on a button and it takes you to a world map showing from where people are logging in.  Maybe some might not like to share that info, though.15:48
mhall119dgroos: yup15:52
mhall119we're all freezing15:52
mhall119dgroos: can probably be done with a bot15:52
dgroosmhall119: cool. someday I may look into that.15:57
pleia2I think it'd would be wrong too often to be very useful15:59
pleia2I come in to IRC from a server in Texas, but I'm frequently in Pennsylvania these days15:59
mhall119someone in the florida loco goes through a russian proxy16:01
mhall119so yeah, it may not work so well16:01
mhall119maybe a LP lookup would be more accurate16:01
dgroosAh, right, proxies.  What's an LP lookup?16:02
mhall119dgroos: Launchpad lookup18:11
mhall119since so many people have their IRC nick listed, and also have their correct location entered for google maps already18:12
highvolt1ge,wub 1318:14
highvolt1geoops18:15
mhall119irssi?18:17
highvolt1gemhall119: yep18:31
=== highvolt1ge is now known as highvoltage
livingtochillany teachers here?19:53
alkisglivingtochill: yup20:03
livingtochillwoohoo20:03
livingtochilldo you use edubunut?20:03
livingtochilltu?20:03
alkisgHeh, I never get that reaction from my students :P :D20:03
livingtochillme neither.  what do you teach?  I teach 6-8 grade ESL in Memphis, Tennessee.  Home of Elvis.20:04
alkisgI'm a teacher using ubuntu/ltsp and of course educational apps, but not edubuntu per se (too childish interfaces for my students :()20:04
livingtochilli use xubuntu20:04
livingtochillusing lxde as my windows manager20:04
livingtochillbut i like the xfce apps20:04
alkisgThe last 3 years I taught at 12-15 y.o. kids, this year at 15-18 yo20:04
livingtochilldo you use italc?20:04
alkisgSure, a lot20:04
livingtochillI can't make it work, for some reason.20:05
livingtochillMy host machine never works.20:05
alkisgLTSP or standalone computers?20:05
livingtochillstandalone20:05
alkisgDid you copy the keys from the server to the clients?20:05
livingtochillthink so.  i haven't worked on it in a good minute.20:05
livingtochillthe host program would launch on my netbook20:05
livingtochillwhich is the teacher computer20:06
alkisgAre you there now, to try some commands?20:06
livingtochillno20:06
alkisgDo you have a pc to use as a client?20:06
livingtochilli'm just yacking on an idle sunday.  :)20:06
alkisg(or even a vbox pc)20:06
livingtochillI think I'm going to have to get one.20:06
livingtochillThe tech teacher has some old PCs that I've been fixing up for him.20:06
livingtochillI think I'm going to have to ask for one.20:06
alkisgUsually the problem is in the key copying/permissions20:06
livingtochillThat's what it kinda felt like.20:07
alkisgI need to find the time to update the wiki page about this :(20:07
livingtochillI'm here to farm some ideas.  I'm giving an edupunk-themed presentation on Wednesday20:07
livingtochillhttp://midsouthedupunk.wikispaces.com20:08
alkisgHeh, nice word (edupunk :))20:08
livingtochillit's not mine20:08
livingtochillguy named jim groom20:08
livingtochillit's on wikipedia20:08
livingtochill(therefore it must be real!)20:09
alkisg(or they put it there :P :D)20:09
livingtochillWhat kind of apps do you use with your students?20:09
livingtochillLike, the showstopping stuff.20:10
alkisgWell here (Greece) we have edu* apps from our ministry, so I'm using those20:10
livingtochillReally?20:11
alkisgThey were windows apps, but I've packaged them into .debs and I've setup an ubuntu repository with them20:11
livingtochillWhat do they do?20:11
alkisgSo now I just do sudo apt-get install "secondary-school" and I'm done :D20:11
alkisgGeography, Chemistry, Mathematics, Informatics etc etc20:11
alkisgFor all the lessons we have an app20:11
livingtochilloh, those.20:12
livingtochillnot the edubuntu programs, but custom-made greek ones?20:12
alkisgYup20:12
livingtochillSweet20:12
alkisgMe, I'm an informatics teacher, so I mostly teach them openoffice, ubuntu usage, web usage, and some kturtle greek variant20:12
livingtochillhave you tried etoys?20:13
livingtochillfrom squeakland.org20:13
alkisgNope, first time I'm hearing about them. But some teachers here are using http://scratch.mit.edu/20:14
livingtochillScratch is built on the same foundation as etoys.20:14
livingtochilli don't like scratch, personally.20:14
livingtochillit's all too often used just for animations20:14
alkisgHey, those etoys look nice.. do they play nice with Ubuntu?20:15
livingtochilletoys, on the other hand, is powerful enough to be used to develop games and simulations20:15
livingtochillquite.  The new version, etoystogo, is splendid20:15
livingtochillthe showcase has lots of cool projects20:15
livingtochilli've got one on there, too20:15
alkisgHey, it's even in the Ubuntu repositories!20:16
livingtochillthat's an older version20:16
livingtochillor it was last time i checked20:17
livingtochillsee if this works: http://squeakland.org/showcase/project.jsp?id=780420:17
livingtochilli was getting an error20:17
alkisg!info etoys lucid20:17
alkisg!info etoys20:17
ubottuetoys (source: etoys): A media-rich model, simulation construction kit and authoring tool. In component multiverse, is extra. Version 3.0.1916+svn132-2 (lucid), package size 12536 kB, installed size 37188 kB20:17
ubottuetoys (source: etoys): A media-rich model, simulation construction kit and authoring tool. In component multiverse, is extra. Version 3.0.1916+svn132-2 (karmic), package size 12536 kB, installed size 37188 kB20:18
livingtochillsqueakland.org has version 420:18
alkisgHmmm 3.0.2177 on the site...20:18
alkisg? where?20:18
livingtochillhttp://squeakland.org/download/20:18
alkisgAh I only saw the older version at the bottom :D20:18
livingtochillchoose the etoys to go version20:18
alkisghttp://squeakland.org/showcase/project.jsp?id=7804 => 500 Servlet Exception20:18
livingtochilletoys ships standard on the olpc computers20:18
livingtochillbummer20:19
livingtochillit's a jeopardy-style game20:19
livingtochillnothing better than a quia.com game, but I made it myself and it's good for standardized test review20:19
livingtochillI have a tic-tac-toe game,as well20:19
livingtochillhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaCncmnVIAE20:20
alkisglivingtochill: if people are using this, and Lucid ships with and older package, we could make a version-4 package and put it to the edubuntu ppa...20:21
alkisg(to be easier to install)20:21
livingtochilleasier = better20:21
livingtochillthe idea of etoys to go, though, is that you don't install it20:21
alkisgWell the idea of packages is that you get updates :)20:22
livingtochillit's a bit buggy, though, as to where it stores its files20:22
alkisgEven the packaged version?20:22
livingtochillno, the packaged version is cool.20:22
livingtochillversion 4 does a good job at scaling projects across different screen resolutions20:22
livingtochillas my eeepc has taught me20:22
alkisgOK, we could package the 4 version then, no problem there...20:23
* alkisg wonders what version debian testing has...20:23
alkisgHeh, it even has Greek translations! Nice!20:24
livingtochillit's a nice package20:24
livingtochillgreat for school20:24
livingtochillcheck out www.waveplace.com20:24
livingtochillthat guy has been teaching etoys to kids in the caribbean20:25
livingtochillhe's got nice tutorial videos20:25
livingtochillMan, I haven't been on IRC in YEARS.20:28
livingtochillI was searching and searching for an educators channel, but not enough teachers are technical enough to access this, I guess.20:28
livingtochillnot in the states, at least20:28
alkisg#edubuntu is also at a low ebb these times... :-/20:34
livingtochillboo20:34
livingtochillbut true20:34
alkisgSome years ago many more people were hanging around here... I hope we can make it better again in the future20:34
livingtochillI wish educators were better about collaborating.20:35
livingtochillNot even just ubuntu users20:35
alkisgRight, I know what you mean...20:35
alkisgI got a forum which is visited regularly by many thousands of Greek informatics teachers20:36
livingtochillamerican education is in a sad, sad state20:36
alkisgOnly about 300 of them actually offer content or participate in general :(20:36
livingtochillbut what about math teachers, language arts teachers, science teachers20:36
livingtochilledupunk is about that, in a way20:36
livingtochillgetting ALL teachers networked20:36
livingtochilli think everyone just uses twitter20:37
alkisgMost math, language etc teachers here don't know how to surf the web or join a forum...20:37
livingtochillbut that is so limiting20:37
livingtochillsame here20:37
alkisgOnly the younger teachers are computer literate20:37
livingtochillbut i'm working on that, one teacher at a time20:37
livingtochilli've put linux into about 10 teachers' classrooms.20:37
livingtochillreplacing their dead computers20:38
livingtochilland i'm giving this presentation on wednesday20:38
alkisgHeh, nice, but what about support?20:38
livingtochilledupunk is also about doing it yourself.  ;)20:38
alkisgDo they call you when they have problems?20:38
livingtochillyes, they do20:38
livingtochilleach school has a "technology coordinator" who is supposed to do just that job20:38
livingtochillunfortunately, ours are stupid20:38
alkisgI also helped a lot of teachers here to switch to ubuntu/ltsp, so I guess I'm an edupunk too :P20:38
livingtochillthe teachers know this and call me, instead20:38
livingtochillYOU ROCK!20:39
alkisgUnfortunately here the informatics teacher has also sysadmin duties :-/20:39
livingtochillOur informatics teacher (we just call her the computer teacher) is a big fat woman who looks like she's always pregnant and has never heard of linux20:39
alkisg...so I'm trying to make a click-and-install remix of edubuntu/ltsp to give to them20:39
livingtochillooh20:40
livingtochillthat should be cool20:40
alkisgI know exactly what a greek computer teacher needs, so I'm trying to offer them that out of the box20:40
livingtochillwhat about regular content area teachers?  Do you support them, as well?  Do they have computers in their classrooms?20:41
alkisgI hope I'll have it ready by Lucid...20:41
alkisgThe 12-y.o. students here were ALL given a netbook by the edu ministry20:42
livingtochillwow.20:42
alkisgAnd they're supposedly being taught 4 lessons with the help of computers20:42
livingtochillthe whole country?20:42
alkisgYes20:42
livingtochillawesome20:42
alkisgIt's the first grade of secondary school20:42
livingtochillare they theirs to keep for their whole life?20:42
alkisgYes.20:42
livingtochillis this going to happen every year?20:42
alkisgAnd we were able to put dual boot windows/linux on its specifications20:43
livingtochilldo the schools have WiFi?20:43
livingtochillscrew that.  save cash and drop Windows.20:43
alkisgNot yet... some parents were against this20:43
alkisgIt's not up to us :(20:43
livingtochillthe netbooks or the wifi?20:43
alkisgThe wifi20:43
livingtochillsafety issues?20:43
alkisgHealth issues, I imagine...20:44
livingtochillwow.20:44
livingtochillis there research backing that up?20:44
alkisgThey hope they'll be able to offer netbooks every year, but I'm not sure they'll be able to do it. Greek economy is a mess, and I don't know if the EU will keep sponsoring it...20:44
livingtochillSome schools in the states are doing netbooks20:45
alkisgNope, parents and media here don't listen to reasearchers a lot :D20:45
livingtochillbut i teach in memphis, which is VERY poor20:45
livingtochillHave you ever read The Magus by John Fowles?20:46
alkisgNope, I'm not much of a books person. I've only read some Stephen King books and the Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy...20:50
livingtochillit's set in greece and the main character is an englishman teaching english for the british council.  Good read.20:51
livingtochillnot at all relevant to our discussion, but just a cool sidenote.20:52
livingtochillsince the kids will all have netbooks, do you think you'll use moodle or something?20:52
alkisgWell.... I think it's too "early" for moodle20:52
alkisgThe teachers and the students here are not ready to use it properly20:53
livingtochillgive it time, i guess.  It's a good way to structure online learning, though.20:53
alkisgI *am* using a blog to give exercises to my students, but I imagine that only a handful of secondary school teachers here do that.20:53
livingtochillI use a google group.20:54
livingtochillgroups.google.com/group/mrfowles20:54
livingtochilland we use google docs extensively20:54
livingtochillit's really fun.  I can give them instant feedback.20:54
alkisgI'd like to try cooperating with empathy the next time I get a chance20:55
alkisgEmpathy has a "people nearby" function which should be useful20:55
livingtochillooh.  i've not used empathy.20:55
alkisgE.g. send/receive files, messages, remote desktop etc20:56
livingtochilli switched back to pidgin20:56
alkisgThe students can share URLs... typical IM stuff, but with automatic people discovery20:56
livingtochillthat should be cool20:56
alkisg...and I'm trying to make a classroom control app20:56
livingtochillcontrolaula and italc not enough?20:57
alkisgNope20:57
alkisgcontrolaula is too unstable for me, and italc doesn't do enough20:57
livingtochillwhat more do you want from italc?20:57
alkisgE.g. I want to be able to automatically create user accounts, put some bookmarks on them, send them some files, ...20:58
livingtochillgotcha.20:58
alkisg...you know, if a plugin framework is made, I guess tens of plugins would be made20:58
livingtochillsuppose so20:59
alkisgHave you used controlaula?20:59
livingtochilltried, but didn't succeed20:59
alkisgYup, same here.20:59
alkisgAnd it doesn't even uninstall whatever it installs...21:00
alkisgI had to delete the avahi service it made manually, and lots of other stuff21:00
livingtochilli didn't really check it that deeply21:01
livingtochillwhat do you think it would take to get your older teachers to use technology?21:02
alkisgMoney :P21:02
livingtochillah21:03
alkisgThey gave a netbook to whoever teacher offered to teach the students with the netbooks21:03
livingtochillbut without wifi....21:03
alkisgAll teachers, including ones that didn't know anything about computers, offered to do so :)21:03
livingtochillfor the free computer, no doubt21:04
alkisgIt's difficult to persuade a 50 y.o. teacher to change his teaching habbits21:04
livingtochillsome would argue that it is necessary to do just that21:04
livingtochillin the states, we have this sense that we are going straight to hell in a handbasket and it's largely the fault of the teachers21:05
livingtochillWe have many good teachers, young and old.  Same with bad.21:05
alkisgReally? I thought the states had a pretty good education system...21:05
alkisg(after finland :) but still, good enough...)21:05
livingtochillWe have good universities.21:05
livingtochillOur urban schools are pretty bad.21:06
livingtochillMany are extremely violent.21:06
alkisgOuch21:06
livingtochillmy girlfriend works at a school that is nicknamed "little iraq"21:06
livingtochillChicago is a hellhole: http://www.catalyst-chicago.org/notebook/index.php/entry/412/Violence_on_the_rise_inside_Chicago_high_schools21:07
alkisgThe worse thing here is that we have some private "schools" called "frontisteria", where students go to learn only the lessons that they are examined in, when they want to be accepted to univercities,21:07
livingtochillno extra classes?21:08
alkisgso the students don't pay attention at all at the regular school, because they think they'll learn all they need from the "frontisteria" at afternoons21:08
alkisgSo for a student it is 7 hours in the morning of regular, obligatory school (=wasted time for him),21:09
livingtochilleww21:09
alkisgand 4-5 hours of "frontisteria" in the afternoon (they pay a lot of money there)21:09
livingtochillare these kids generally from wealthy families?21:09
alkisgNope. All students do that in 15-18 age21:09
livingtochillKorean schools have similar programs, but the kids are rather attentive at both places.21:09
livingtochillDo they take an English test?21:10
alkisgThey have 2-3 hours of english lessons at regular school, but again, they don't pay attention21:10
alkisgSo they go to "frontisteria" from 10 y.o. to 18 y.o. and get a proficiency in english from there...21:11
livingtochillinteresting21:11
alkisg(that's in addition to the 4-5 hours of afternoon lessons... :-/)21:11
livingtochillso the regular schools have to really step up if they're going to reach the kids21:11
alkisgIt's a mess21:11
alkisgNo, we have to change the way the students are admitted to univercities21:12
alkisgThe exams as they are now are a curse21:12
alkisgBut the "frontisteria" teachers oppose to that, because they'll be out of job then21:12
livingtochillwhat are they like?  I'm familiar with Polish exams, but none other in Europe.21:12
alkisgWhen the students are 18 y.o. they are examined and graded in 4-6 lessons,21:14
alkisgand then they choose univercities based solely on that grade21:14
livingtochillnot too different from Poland.  A huge exam at the end.21:14
alkisgSo kids from 15 y.o. and up are only thinking about those exams... :-/21:14
livingtochilldo the kids cheat a lot?21:14
alkisgNo, not in those exams21:14
livingtochillso not like Poland, then.  ;)21:15
alkisgHeh :D21:15
alkisgHow are students admitted to univercities in the states?21:16
livingtochill4 factors,usually21:16
livingtochill1.  high school grades21:17
livingtochill2.  ACT or SAT score21:17
livingtochill3.  Personal experience (volunteering, scouting, or other things like that)21:17
alkisgWow21:17
livingtochill4.  an essay (for better schools)21:17
livingtochillthe first two are the most important, of course21:17
alkisgBut all the grades are counted, not just the last year's grades, right?21:18
livingtochillcorrect21:18
livingtochillgrade point average21:18
alkisgThat's what I'd like to happen to Greece :(21:18
alkisgThis huge exams that we have is destroying everything :(21:19
livingtochillgotta get running.  good talking to you.21:19
alkisgBye!21:20
=== Rondom_ is now known as Rondom
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