Smart computing
What if I told you that you could take an old Microsoft XBox 360 game console from 2002 and turn it into a great computer? These units can probably be found at a yardsale for $50 or less. And, without opening the case, you can turn it into a perfectly good computer for your children to learn and navigate the Internet with ease.
The trick to making this work is to install a smart operating system called Edubuntu onto the machine. With a simple setup of Edubuntu installed on the parent's computer to manage the things that the kids learn and do, the promise of network computing for families and entire school systems is brought to life. The best thing of all is that Edubuntu is completely free. Free as in Liberty. Free to copy. Free to share. Free to modify, customize, extend and do whatever you need it to do. It is open source. It is created for and created by people with the highest commitment and interest in education and welfare of our children's future.
Edubuntu comes with a wide variety of education programs for children. What's more is that it comes with a host of systems aimed directly at solving the management and administrative challenges of educators and school system administrators. From the superintendants office down to the technology director and classroom teachers, Edubuntu is a complete suite of operating system software, servers, application suites and individual programs to bring a bevy of easy-to-use solutions into today's learning environment.
Imagine this: your child goes to school wearing a small USB pendant. It is a 8GB storage device that holds a complete computer operating system, all the applications she will use for classroom and homework assignments, all her homework files -- even multimedia files for project assignments, securely encrypted for privacy. At school she plugs it in to any of the classroom thin client workstations to instantly access her personal desktop for learning. Her desktop is remotely visible and controllable by the teacher who is running the classroom management system. At the end of the day Jane's files are both backed up on the school's backup system and stored locally on the USB key so that she can take her homework with her. Visiting a friend or a library, she can have her complete school system running anywhere she needs it to learn. This learning environment is truly technology-enabled.
More Info[edit | edit source]
Contact Greg Rundlett or somebody in your neighborhood who knows about Edubuntu.
