[aclug-L] Linux from Kindergarten to High School

[jeffrey l koehn <caveman@xxxxxxxxxx>]

From the Linux Journal


Linux in Education Moving the school computer lab to Linux was not 
an easy decision to make--but it was a beneficial one.

As the bell rings to begin class at Greater Houlton Christian 
Academy, enthusiastic students sit down at their shiny, new 
computer workstations. In one corner, the red cabinet housing the 
server hums quietly as two stuffed penguins look on fondly from 
their perch. Other penguins keep watch from different locations as 
the students enter their user names and passwords to access their 
accounts. Ask a student who ``Tux'' is, and he or she will point to 
the large penguin painted on the front wall of the computer lab and 
say, ``He's the Linux penguin!'' About this time KDE has loaded, 
and young boys and girls are opening the application they need for 
class as easily as kicking a ball.

figure
Figure 1. First graders learning some penguin art fundamentals.

Now for a little history. Greater Houlton Christian Academy (GHCA) 
is a private school and nonprofit organization in Maine. As such, 
it does not have the same access to funding as the public school 
system. As the computer science teacher and system administrator, 
this means I have to be creative about providing our students with 
computer technology while working with a tight budget. In the past 
I relied on area businesses and generous individuals to donate 
their used computers. While these donations were a great blessing 
to us, they were a temporary solution at best.

Last year it became quite evident that we would need to replace our 
old, secondhand computers running Windows 95. The decision to move 
from donated computers to new computers was based on many factors, 
though our primary goal was to make sure our students had the best 
technology available for the enhancement of their educational 
experience. Therefore, this would be a software upgrade as well as 
a hardware upgrade. In fact, choosing the software was by far the 
bigger challenge.

Interestingly enough, it was during this time that many schools in 
the western US were being audited by Microsoft concerning the 
school's use of Windows and Office software. I began to realize my 
ignorance concerning exactly how strict and inflexible the 
Microsoft EULA is. It was also during this time that Microsoft's 
new licensing initiative, called Software Assurance, was causing 
quite a stir in the tech headlines. As my research opened my eyes 
to the various limitations to proprietary software, I began to 
think that the answer for us might be found in open-source software.

The decision to switch to an open-source platform for our new 
computer lab was not an easy one. My experience was with DOS and 
various versions of Windows and not with UNIX-compatible operating 
systems. I had experimented with Linux a few years earlier but 
found it somewhat difficult and incomplete. Because some time had 
passed, I decided to give Linux another try. Going with Mandrake's 
8.0 distribution, I installed Linux at home to see if it could 
replace Windows in a desktop environment. To my amazement, I found 
Linux to be much more capable this time around. I was one step 
closer to making my decision to switch our computer lab to the 
Linux OS.

Other factors went into the final decision to go with open-source 
software, not the least of which was cost. By purchasing bare-bones 
computer ``kits'', we were able to save considerable money on the 
hardware. Part of the savings in purchasing a bare-bones system is 
that the computer does not come with an operating system. We knew 
by then we would have to spend more money on software than we did 
on hardware if we went with Microsoft. Not only would I need to 
consider the initial purchase of the operating system and 
application software, but I would also need to factor in the costs 
of upgrading our software every couple of years. Needless to say, 
going with an open-source platform would save us considerable money 
now and in the future.

Another key issue was flexibility. As many of you know, it takes 
time to install an operating system, customize it for the 
particular hardware it runs on and install the desired 
applications. Having purchased 20 new, identical computers, it made 
sense to completely configure one machine and then clone the hard 
drive to the other 19 computers. However, Microsoft's EULA prevents 
a user from doing this, even if they have 20 copies of Windows. Not 
only would Linux save me considerable time by allowing me to clone 
my configured PC, it also gave me great flexibility in the degree 
to which I could customize the OS for the hardware. By recompiling 
the kernel to take advantage of our specific hardware, I could 
fine-tune the OS to run at peak performance. Linux would even save 
us money in the cloning process, thanks to the dd command.

A few aspects, however, made the decision to switch to Linux a 
difficult one. The smaller software base to choose from and the 
lack of mature drivers for our hardware were among the lesser 
obstacles. The major obstacle was my own lack of experience with 
the Linux OS. In fact, most of the money and time spent in the 
software upgrade of our computer lab was for a shelf full of books 
I had to purchase and read to really feel confident using and 
teaching Linux. It isn't always easy to teach an old dog new 
tricks, but I found the experience one of the most challenging and 
rewarding experiences of my IT career.

Today our private school of over 170 students has one of the finest 
computer labs in Maine. We have 20 computers with Athlon 1600+ XP 
processors, 128MB of RAM, 20GB hard drives and all the 
accessories--3-D graphics, sound, 17" monitors and 100Mbps Ethernet 
networking. Our computers run Mandrake Linux 8.2 with KDE 3.0.2. 
What is most amazing is we upgraded our computer lab for under half 
the cost of what many neighboring schools paid for inferior 
equipment. Most of this savings was the result of switching to 
Linux.

Our servers also run Linux. Using NFS, students can access their 
accounts from any computer in the lab. Student- and staff-owned 
files are backed up on a daily basis, so gone are the days of ``the 
computer lost my homework.'' Our proxy server runs Squid to help 
speed our wireless internet connection to 20 workstations, and we 
use proxy software along with iptables to provide firewall 
protection. A nice program called Dansguardian provides filtering 
to protect our children from pornography and other inappropriate 
content.

Many of you may be asking at this point, ``How do you use Linux in 
teaching your students?'' GHCA is a K-12 school, and so we strive 
to offer some level of computer training for each grade. 
Kindergarten students, for example, can use such programs as Potato 
Guy to practice hand-eye coordination and familiarize themselves 
with how to use a mouse to manipulate objects on the computer 
screen. Elementary and secondary teachers integrate the computer 
lab into their curriculum by using the computer for research, 
multimedia enhancements or even something simple as coloring 
digital pictures.

figure
Figure 2. Potato Guy develops mouse skills.

Starting with grade seven, education in computer science takes a 
more formal approach. Seventh graders are taught keyboarding skills 
using programs such as KTouch and TuxTyping. Grade-eight students 
are taught the basics of programming with the kate editor and 
yabasic interpreter. It is during this class that students gain a 
better understanding of how computers process instructions.

figure
Figure 3. Students learn touch typing with KTouch.

Computer Fundamentals is a one-credit course that introduces the 
ninth-grade student to ``how a computer works'' and ``how to work a 
computer''. During the second semester, students learn about the 
purpose and use of the operating system and various applications, 
such as word processors, spreadsheets and web browsers. Because our 
computers run Linux, it is the Linux OS and open-source software 
that students learn in this class. Being sensitive to the fact that 
Microsoft currently dominates the PC market in corporate America, I 
do spend time discussing the similarities and differences between 
Linux and Windows.

Tenth- through twelfth-grade students can chose from a variety of 
computer electives, including how to upgrade and repair computers, 
web site design, advanced programming and even an upcoming course 
in robotics. In making the switch to Linux, I easily found all the 
tools needed to teach these courses using open-source software. In 
many cases, the open-source software we now use is superior to the 
proprietary software originally donated to us.

This is our first year with our new computer lab, and I am very 
pleased with how it is progressing. One of the most pleasing 
experiences I am having as a system administrator of a Linux-based 
lab is the actual ease of administration. Once I set something up 
in Linux, I rarely need to worry about it again. This was not the 
case with Windows. Last year we were constantly suffering from 
system crashes, frozen servers, strange bugs and the infamous 
``blue screen of death''. Needless to say, it was a frustrating 
situation for many students. While Linux is not bug-free, it has 
been a far more stable operating system for both our workstations 
and servers. Linux also has shown itself to be a much more 
versatile operating system to administer in a network environment. 
My job is more pleasurable thanks to our switch to Linux.

As a teacher of computer science, I am finding this year a 
fascinating test for Linux. Very few of our students, parents or 
teachers knew what Linux was before this year. I have actually 
found this to be a great advantage in teaching computers. In the 
past, I have found students to be disinterested in learning about 
the personal computer running Windows, because it is something most 
of them grew up with at home. This lack of interest made it more 
difficult to teach the more-advanced aspects of the operating 
system. However, Linux is something completely new, different and 
unexplored. Instead of being intimidated by the change, as many 
adults might be, young people are excited to explore the 
``uncharted territory''. This opens a door for me as a teacher, 
allowing me to educate eager minds in the more-advanced aspects of 
computer operating systems and software. In fact, it only took two 
weeks until students began to ask me, ``Where can I get Linux?''

People sometimes ask me, ``Is teaching our students Linux preparing 
them for the workplace?'' This question is based on the fact that 
Microsoft is the current dominating presence in operating systems 
and office software. It is a question I have thought over a long 
time, and the answer I always come up with is, ``Yes, most 
definitely.'' The basic principles of any type of operating system, 
office application or other similarly grouped software are the 
same. A student who becomes proficient in Linux will not find 
themselves lost in a Windows environment. I have found Linux to be 
the more advanced of the two operating systems, yet our students 
are very quickly and easily learning it. The process of copying a 
file or formatting a paragraph is not so different between one 
operating system and the other. The important thing is we are able 
to offer the latest in hardware and software tools to train our 
students in these fundamental principles--something we could not do 
if we went w!
 ith proprietary software.

Another question that may be even more important to ask is, ``What 
is the future of Linux?'' When our students graduate a few years 
from now, will they enter a Microsoft-dominated workplace or will 
the tide have changed? Even in our small New England town of 
Houlton, Maine, businesses are beginning to look to Linux as an 
alternative to proprietary operating systems. These businesses will 
need qualified personnel familiar with the Linux operating system 
and open-source applications. Greater Houlton Christian Academy 
will be graduating young men and women who will be able to meet 
that need, a claim not many schools in our nation can currently 
make. In fact, some of our students may go on to write the future 
applications for Linux, giving back to the community that helped 
them during their school years.

For us, switching to open-source software running on the Linux 
operating system has been the right choice, allowing us to provide 
our students with modern equipment and software for a fraction of 
the cost of a computer lab running proprietary software. If Linux 
continues to grow in popularity and gain a foothold in the 
workplace, we will look back at our choice as one of the most 
important decisions we've ever made.

Michael Surran is the system administrator and computer science 
teacher at Greater Houlton Christian Academy (www.ghca.com) in 
Northern Maine. Michael enjoys church, outdoor adventures, target 
shooting, sci-fi, collecting penguins and his wife, Lisa, who also 
teaches at GHCA.

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