Sean makes good sense. Most people won't be interested in switching to another operating system. But I think an exercise in the durability of documents based on their file format might be useful. Pass out some old documents in various formats, and see which ones they can open properly. Remind them that to them, ten years is half a lifetime, but somewhere down the road, they might need to access a file that they made five or ten years before. Get them receptive to the idea with some practical examples, and then make a pitch for open standards and open source software. Even if they're not interested in Linux, they can hear about what's available for Windows, and the ideas should make sense to them. Greg Sean Corbett wrote:
To be honest, I think the overwhelming majority of non-technical students will not want to get involved with Linux, even with Ubuntu... even some of my fellow computer science majors will only use Linux for coursework and refuse to touch it otherwise, mainly because they don't want to have to worry about "learning new software" or dealing with the fact that, in some cases, there aren't enough drivers to support all their software. Even Ubuntu can be a real pain in terms of out-of-the-box hardware compatibility, especially with laptops (which for most students serve as their main machine of use). I'm sort of sad to admit that many of the kids I go to school with are, in almost all cases, looking for the easiest means to accomplish anything; anything that requires too much effort is bound to be ignored by the majority. I picked up Linux out of genuine interest, and because I knew it served as a very good platform for development (and thus a worthwhile thing to use), and especially because of it's compliance with my (mild) disdain of proprietary software. Also, because I look up to Linus Torvalds, and Richard Stallman, and all those great guys... but, I don't know anyone else at my school who shares my enthusiasm. Perhaps its a bit better at a purely technical school (like WPI)... In short, if students aren't pursuing Linux out of their own interest (or at least out of necessity), I wouldn't try much beyond what you've already attempted in order to get kids more interested... I don't mean to be discouraging or pessimistic, but I really think your efforts are better spent aiding students who've developed an interest in running Linux on their own, as opposed to trying to turn them on to it.
Hope this helps, -Sean C.
Date: Sun, 1 Feb 2009 13:31:19 -0800 (PST) From: Andrew Perry <perryand@yahoo.com> Subject: [Wlug] successful upgrade to openoffice.org 3.0 ; ubiquity of .docx; reaching college students with linux To: wlug@mail.wlug.org Cc: Andrew Perry <perryand@gmail.com> Message-ID: <377215.4592.qm@web35208.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Hi Everyone,
(1) Thanks a million for all of the help, especially the link to the fantastic tutorial, posted by James Gray, I think. I am in the process of installing hardy updates, and it appears that openoffice.org 3.0 is part of what's being installed, so it looks like everything is working perfectly.
(2) To Greg: yes, I could ask students to submit all of their assignments in .doc or .rtf format (or even open office format), but they most wouldn't listen. Many can't figure out how to save to any format but .docx. It's a perpetual hassle to nag them. Besides that, I get many files from colleagues, professors at my college and other colleges and universities, as well as the Mass. Dept. of Education, and increasingly, most are in Office 2007 formats. It's hard to convert the whole world to linux.
(3) Here is a new issue for everyone who is interested in commenting. I am a mathematician but besides math ,I also teach a computer literacy course each semester. You would all be proud: I do my best every semester to convert students to the linux religion, or at least to make them aware of linux and the evils of Microsoft. However, for every student who finds my linux modules interesting (about 2 hours of a 45-hour course on average), there are a dozen who get annoyed and find the material boring and irrelevant.
Once I brought in a PC running compiz and they found that mildly intriguing.
They absolutely hate the movie "revolution os". If I pass out ubuntu cds, I doubt they get used.
Can anyone suggest teaching resources (videos, for example) that would be likely to make an impact for non-technically minded college students ?
Thanks, Andrew
-Dr. Andrew B. Perry Dept. of Mathematics, Springfield College Schoo Hall Room 123 263 Alden St., Springfield MA 01109 Work Phone (413)748-3193
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