[LUAU] FLOSS in Education

[Angela Kahealani]

On Thu, 2008-03-27 22:56:53 Jim Thompson wrote:
> On Mar 27, 2008, at 11:05 AM, Angela Kahealani wrote:
> >> Its not even working in the long term.  HOSEF has lost many of the
> >> "school labs" it installed.
> >
> > Lost? how? why?
>
> Because the tide turned.

Am I understanding that HOSEF installed FLOSS labs,
and that the tide of interest in same at many schools turned,
that they dumped existing FLOSS labs? Or that previously
expressed interest in getting a FLOSS lab installed
disappeared before the install happened? i.e.
did they have bad experiences, or not even give it a try?
Either way, what did they choose instead, and why?
Does this indicate some lack or failing in either HOSEF or FLOSS?

> The value of creativity, imagination and critical thinking over
> "information" access is self-evident, you'd think. But an alliance of
> convenience between technology vendors, who want to stuff more
> unwanted computers into classrooms, lazy governments, for whom IT is
> a way of appearing "modern" while cutting education budgets, ensures
> the issue doesn't stay in the headlines for very long.
> Schoolchildren are developing a "problem-solving deficit disorder",
> and losing the ability to analyze.   Creativity is being lost, and
> the best remedy for this is to turn off the computer and stimulate
> childrens' imaginations.
>
> The pervasive use of advanced technologies and their low cost have
> reduced hands-on experiences for children, including the simple but
> overwhelmingly rewarding experience of taking things apart and
> putting them back together. Without this, technology becomes a
> mystery, leading to a perspective that might well be called 'magic
> consciousness'.  This consciousness is a perversion of the magical
> enchantment that naturally pervades a child’s world and is too
> quickly destroyed by adult insistence on viewing the world
> mechanically (and to get back to PowerPoint, linearly.)   Meanwhile,
> we've replaced the richness of observing manipulating real world
> objects with simulations of same, but these simulations are almost
> hyper-real.  HD television, television programing with high
> production values, intensely interactive computer games, etc.
>
> I see this with the Scout groups I work with.  Most of the boys are
> not filled with wonder at the natural world, last week in Volcanos
> N.P. they were not agog at the lava flows, nor the events at
> Halemauau (we were camped 1/2 mile from the Jagger the night the gas
> vent blew rocks all over 20 acres.)  Few, if any, have had the
> experience of tearing something to pieces, and then attempting to put
> it back together again.   This is the essence of the reason why I
> think "Computer Guts" is a good thing (its also not targeted at
> elementary school aged children.)
>
> >> On the other hand, access to music programs, learning to garden,
> >> being outdoors, learning to play well with others, etc... does.
> >
> > (at least some) Charter Schools are excelling with a wholistic
> > approach.
>
> Now go back and look at the "problem solving" evident in the
> activities I listed.  :-)
>
> jim

I see a generational divide which started with Television, and ended 
with iMovie, where we old dinosaurs learned textually, thought 
textually, hacked textual interfaces, and may be considered "literate",
whereas the young geckos running around now are raised with Television 
as their nanny, are weak in the three "R's" of readin' ritin' 
and 'rithmatic (whoever thought that up should be hung at dawn),
have learned computers as users of graphical interfaces
(rather than as creators of scripts), and are more likely to
express their creativity or tell a story by making a video.
I would suggest that the healthy human would have facility with
both the left brained linear logic, arithmetic, textual abilities,
(n I no mean shrthnd dey lrn by txt msging on cellphns),
and with right brained visualization and geometry.

Developmental psychology shows that a child's ability to learn certain 
things occurs at different ages in different genders (e.g. math).

Going to the root word under "education" is "educare", to "bring out" 
the soul, not to "stuff in" a bunch of programming to be learned by 
rote and regurgitated upon demand.

Because languages define mindset (you can only think amongst the 
concepts for which you have a word to describe something), a child
will be better off by having multiple mindsets from which to develop
freedom of mindset versus lock in to one "right" mindset, by being
educated multilingually, which is also getting to be pretty important as 
our global communications creates a global village. Also, beyond the 
duality of language (which is a dual form between written and spoken), 
it is important to learn non-lingual communication, i.e. symbolic 
languages, and gestural languages. Developmental psychology has learned 
that children are able to understand language far before they can speak 
it, and that they can both understand and "speak" sign language before 
they develop the ability to speak, and that indeed our understanding of 
language is correlated with gestural signing. Hula is one such 
gestural/sign language.

While the subject matter here may be getting way beyond the purview of 
HOSEF, it is all about the use of FLOSS in education, and can be the 
foundation of practical research and experimentation (e.g. project 
based education) and develop some feedback about, and inspire new 
software projects, to move things like Edubuntu to the next quantum 
level.

For example, the Hawaiian Charter School Halau Lokahi is running a 
bilingual wholistic education program based on the principle of 
educare, is making excellent use of a K12LTSP FLOSS lab, is 
experimenting with different "educational" software packages, and is 
probably an excellent "test case" where we can ask:

Given the software you have, what about it serves or impedes the 
educational program you're intending to use?

What educational software would you like to have that doesn't even exist 
yet?

Maybe as a test lab, it would benefit from having the addition of some 
seriously qualified individuals trained in "developmental psychology" 
and "educational psychology" to develop new educational "programs" 
and/or software.

It truly is a GNU generation.

Perhaps the combination of a K-12 school like Halau Lokahi,
with the Hawaiian College being developed by Ku Kahakalau on Big Isle,
with not just a Hawaiian Language version of Edubuntu, but a
bi-lingual version of Edubuntu, the wisdom of educational/developmental 
psychology, and the introduction of symbolic and sign languages,
could be the next quantum in educational software and educational 
modalities. This synthesis and synergy is challenging enough, without 
the constraints of limited budget, and the overall NWO agenda to dumb 
down the populace with the "no child *not* left behind" campaign.
While Hawai'i strives to preserve the most valuable parts of what little 
is left of traditional Hawaiian culture not overrun by Hollyweird and
(somebody please) Wash DC, to the extent that Hawai'i has 
been "American"-ized (must learn to say North American Union-ized), it 
has often appeared quite near the bottom of the 50 states statistics,
and the latest statistics quite clearly show that "America" (North 
American Union) is seriously in decline, while China is rising, and 
nowhere is this more evident than in math, science, and engineering,
and nowhere in all of education is computational technology more 
applicable. Yes hands on real world experience is essential, but so is 
it essential to develop better education in the sciences. Could it be 
possible that often-last Hawai'i could reinvent education and turn out 
to the the leading pioneer in a whole GNU generation of educational 
practice and software?

For what is being, or needs to be, developed to support this,
where is there overlap, and therefor room for cocreation and synergy,
between the mission of HOSEF, and the practice of schools like
Halau Lokahi and Ku Kahakalau's Hawaiian College (does it have an 
official name yet?)

I haven't read the charter document of HOSEF, so I'm not clear how 
limited it is, whether it's just to Educate *about* FLOSS, or whether 
it can have a broader reach to support the use of FLOSS in Education.

If the board of HOSEF is now intent on moving away from supporting 
things like K12LTSP labs, is it going to move more into, or further out 
of, supporting FLOSS to support the education of Hawai'i's Keiki?
Is it primarily about FLOSS or primarily about Education? or can it be a 
pioneer in the synergy between them?

FLOSS is primarily about Freedom.
Education is essential to Freedom.

If Freedom is the priority, then wouldn't it be wise for the
Hawai'i Open Source Education Foundation to support both
Education about FLOSS, and the use of FLOSS in Education?

If "green energy" considerations are driving HOSEF away from charity 
e-cycling to put FLOSS based computers in the hands of those who 
otherwise had no computers, is it degenerating into just another LUG?
or will it step up to a whole new level of involvement in Educare?
Isn't it time for a greater synergy between FLOSS and Education?
Could the core mission be the development of the next generation of 
Edubuntu?

"I have a dream!" --- MLK

Aloha, Angela Kahealani

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