Hi reading your comments on introducing Ubuntu I thought you might be
interested in our experiences of Ubuntu as a training medium.
We have been running a project in South Cheshire for 4 years.
The aim of the project is to support local communities by improving
access to IT. We run a range of activities including 'drop in help
sessions, loan of recycled pcs and free internet access at both local
and neighbourhood levels.
Central to our activities is use of Ubuntu, we have about 250 Pcs on
loan all of which are Ubuntu based. Many of our loan PCs are used by
school children and FE/HE students for their home studies.
All our workshop PCs/Laptops (about 25) are Ubuntu based.
We expect to see about 500 people per month in our workshops held at
community centres and rural village halls.
So we think we must have over 1000 people in the area regularly using
Ubuntu from version 8.04 onward
We adopted Unity at 11.10 - customers liked it - trainers liked it.
We are currently deploying 12.04 - only comment we are getting is 'this
is quicker'.
When we were designing the project we decided that Ubuntu was the OS of
choice and that we would centre all project activity on this software.
Our opinion is that we now live in a world where Apple, Android, Google
plus about 4 versions of Windows are in common circulation at any time;
therefore users often use 2 or more different operating systems with
phones tablets and PCs in common use. Users therefore need to have a
generic understanding and transferable skills rather than the ability to
use just one software.
As an organisation with training as on of our primary functions we can
definitely confirm the customer willingness to use Ubuntu as their
primary learning medium
As a voluntary group we are very cost conscious and we are certain that
without Ubuntu this project would not have been able to develop in the
way it has.
Obviously licensing costs has been a factor in this but the savings
through minimal repair time and no virus problems have been vital.
Congratulations to the 12.04 team our upgrading to less than 2 hours for
25 machines - best yet
Thanks
John Bottomley
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Today's Topics:
1. Re: Ubuntu beginners course in North Tyneside (Bea Groves)
2. Re: Ubuntu beginners course in North Tyneside (Gareth France)
3. Re: Ubuntu beginners course in North Tyneside (kpb)
4. Re: Error report not working (Colin Law)
5. Re: Ubuntu beginners course in North Tyneside (Alan Pope)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Sat, 05 May 2012 20:21:35 +0100
From: Bea Groves<beagro...@gmail.com>
To: UK Ubuntu Talk<ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com>
Subject: Re: [ubuntu-uk] Ubuntu beginners course in North Tyneside
Message-ID:<4fa57dbf.7060...@googlemail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
Hi!
I'm actually the President of IfL -- so it sometimes helps in getting
educational bodies to do things they normally wouldn't ;-)
I'm not against Unity. I just think I need to get my little bunch of
'pioneers' used to something closer to what they're used to Windows-wise
than go with the redesigned (and controversial) UI. I've discussed with
my group the possibility of upgrading the memory sticks later in the
course, as and when they're feeling confident.
On 05/05/12 19:20, kpb wrote:
On 05/05/12 19:00, Gareth France wrote:
I actually installed 10.10 (staying clear of Unity just for the
moment until all the controversy dies down a little) onto the 4GB
sticks using the Windows 'Universal USB installer'. Works like a
dream! Students plug in the stick, switch on the PC... and hey
presto! Later when we upgrade to a more recent LTS version we can
just reformat the sticks.
It's a shame you feel pushed into ditching Ubuntu's biggest unique
selling point. What Canonical have done with unity is amazing and I'm
certain they're on the right path in the long run. It's just
frustrating that people seem to have so much trouble ditching 20+
years of UI baggage.
Hello Bea
Really well done.
Your experience has confirmed my resolve to run a couple of workshops at
the FE College where I teach. I'll probably go for freebie/3 GLH type
taster courses to begin with to test the water. FE Colleges get less
'developmental' funding than adult education centres. I'll offer it as
staff development in June/July to begin with to see what activities work
best.
If the LibreOffice files for any of the resources below would help, just
let me know and I'll pop the dropbox links here. I guess you have lots
already for a 10 week course.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8403291/1204-poster-4.pdf
Unity 12.04 poster for those who use 10.04
http://sohcahtoa.org.uk/pages/files/unity2dguide.pdf
Unity 11.10 guide aimed at Windows people
http://sohcahtoa.org.uk/pages/files/live-cd-quick-start.pdf
A Live CD guide.
Gareth:
My teenagers and 19-24 students can sort Unity in a minute or two when I
lend them my little 1024/600px netbook in lessons. The adults struggle a
bit to be honest. Would need an overview/explanation, but a 10 week
course would be great.
--
John Bottomley BSc MBCS
Beech Drive Community Centre IT Project
60 Beech Drive
Crewe
CW2 8RG
Telephone 01270 663154
Mobile 07 427 628 597
Twitter #!/BDCCIT
Web www.beechdrive.cc
john.bottom...@bcs.org
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