XO laptop image courtesy of Curiouslee
Last night, I completed a no-fail update of the operating system on an XO laptop. If you have students who are using an XO machine, I highly recommend this approach. The update was simple and had the laptop up and running within 30 minutes. I’m brushing up on my XO skills because I’m eagerly following Engadget’s story about Uruguay’s nationwide OLPC education initiative.
A wonderful (free) virtualization software package called VirtualBox gives educators a way to better meet the needs of learners across a variety of operating systems. Although pupils have a great deal in common with one another, they also have differing abilities, needs, and learning styles. Beyond their personalities and intellectual potential, they often have access to and make use of computers with different operating systems. Despite the fact that all of the students in a classroom or group may frequently employ web-based resources such as Google Docs to collaborate and learn together, they’ll eventually want to do work individually on computers that have resources uniquely designed to meet their own personal tastes.
For example, suppose there’s a teacher who wants to give her learners more choice in how they complete their work. This teacher knows that the students gravitate toward differing operating systems. One student prefers doing his assignments on a Windows machine, while another is dedicated to completing work on her Mac OS X laptop. A third, more adventurous pupil, after nobly rescuing a surplussed PC destined for a landfill, is happily anticipating learning with a Linux-based desktop. The teacher decides to foster the choices made by the learners. She installs VirtualBox on her own computer to see the applications her pupils are using and how the operate.
VirtualBox is remarkably useful as it runs on Windows, Linux, and Macintosh machines. It also supports a large number of guest operating systems. This means that a math teacher using a Mac with VirtualBox loaded on her machine can actually install and run other operating systems (such as Windows and Linux) at the same time. If one of her students prefers using a Windows-based math application such as GraphCalc to complete his assignment, the instructor can see that program in action within a Windows-based environment on her Mac! This powerful means of meeting the needs of pupils is free.
I’m doing a lot of my work on non-PC/Linux-based OS machines these days. As a result, I’m patiently waiting on Google to release a version of its Chrome browser for Mac and Linux. In the interim, I stumbled across CrossOver Chromium, a Mac and Linux port of the open source Chromium web browser while nosing around the Codeweavers site. I intend to give the application a whirl.
On a related note, yesterday I found out that Google is releasing an early version of its Google Chrome Frame. It’s a nifty open source (what else would you expect from Google?) plug-in that delivers HTML5 and some other open web technologies to Internet Explorer. As expected, this turn of events has people talking. Thomas Claburn over at InformationWeek has a timely post about the significance of Google’s deft move.
As Michael Ritter explains at his site, The Physical Environment: an Introduction to Physical Geography, as the Earth revolves around the Sun, seasons come and seasons go. Today, for example, here in the northern nemisphere, we’re welcoming the arrival of the autumnal equinox. Those of us in the southern U.S. are delighted. Along with gorgeous Fall colors, Georgians and other denizens below the Mason-Dixon line are more than ready for cooler temperatures.
Since it is the autumnal equinox and there’s talk of revolving round the Sun, why not introduce students to some great free resources such as Stellarium and Celestia? Both of these open source programs will help students understand the difference between important astronomical concepts such as rotation and revolution while simultaneously displaying the wonders of the heavens.
Related links:
Your school system could be helping students hone their 21st century skills without expending a great of money. Sponsored by Novell, the openSUSE for Schools project is all about providing free learning tools for educators. This robust site has a huge assortment of rich desktop applications designed to run on a Linux desktop.
Virtually every school system has a number of PC lying around that no one is using. What a wonderful way to breathe new life into old hardware! Best of all, even if the plan doesn’t go as expected, no money has been lost. It’s FREE. Why stop there, though? Relatively inexpensive netbooks could be used as well.
If you really want to students to learn and be prepared for life in a 21st century economy, model what you expect–learn something new! Take a risk and give the openSUSE for Schools project a try. You’ll learn valuable lessons along the way and open up new opportunities for your students.
0 | Unique Visitors |
Recent Comments