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SchoolTool - Another Shuttleworth Initiative

Posted by: Iceman

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Iceman
Iceman

 

SchoolTool 1.0

SchoolTool is a full open source software solution that is designed to aid schools in managing their day to day administration. It's licensed under the GNU General Public License, Version 2. It's another initiative from the Shuttleworth Foundation which seems to be making strides in their drive for making South African Schools pro Open Source.

The solution in it's current rendition caters for most of a school's administrative functions and a report writing facility. Also, there are plans underway to develop the solution to cater for financial management, communication with local authorities & inter-school information sharing. If you sit down & think about this for a second you can kinda gauge the power potential of this solution & where it's headed. It's a great initiative & allows for a certain level of autonomy while also catering for information sharing so that local authorities & government can better plan & implement changes to our schooling system for the better.

Our education system seems to need a shake up & I think this is a great start. I have to admit also that I strongly second Mark Shuttleworth's sentiments that the South African education system needs to go completely open source. This is imperative in Africa of we want to bridge the 1st & third worlds (digitally, educationally etc.). At least the South African government is seriously considering impelementing open source solutions in all government departments to cut down on costs

Visit www.schooltool.org for more information

 
 
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written by Dissol, May 08, 2009
Our local (state) primary school, has been selected as one of the trial schools for some of the new technology (although not this particular programme - as I understand the next system they are trialling uses Apple Macs). But already they have been exploring the inter-school sharing. They have electronic white boards, and web cams which can connect educators to more than one cla*sroom (in different schools) at a time. This means that the very best educators can be utilised to teach many more children at once, whilst still allowing 2 way communications. So any student in any cla*s can ask questions directly.

I am excited with the opportunities that technology is bringing to our educational system. Until recently they have been lagging behind the digital age. If our great, great grandparents walked into any cla*sroom they would instantly recognise the same basics as in their day. But take the same person into almost any other of our modern environments and they would be amazed with how technology has revolutionised, and transformed the way we live our lives...
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written by Iceman, May 12, 2009
It's great news Dissol! I'm for any initiative that involves uplifting the schooling system in our country & in Africa in general.

The trial you highlighted is superb but I can't help thinking about how much this will cost. In South Africa there are serious budgetary constraints for education. I work & earn an ok salary (never good enough :grin ) but I still dream of an Apple Mac...I read another blog here on MyDL where Barrmar wrote about saving to buy an Apple with the clicks generated here on MyDL.

My point, it's a great idea but too costly to roll out into our schooling system. Open Source is a natural answer
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written by Dissol, May 12, 2009
I agree; I was concerned when I was told about them using Apple Macs (although I know that many computer manufacturers make some great deals for education - if they can get kids using their system, then the hope is they will continue when they leave school).

But the whiteboard technique, and linking schools together is a great way forward. That way you could make sure that even a small rural school could potentially have access to the best educators...

Using my own tablet in a clever, linked University network was amazing. I was sat in what they call the knowledge 'egg', surrounded on 3 walls by linked white boards. I could control them all, using my tablet...I could have web pages on one, a series of diagrams on another, and data on a third, and manipulate them all using the tablet... One day, I want the same in my office!

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