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Old Software or Open Source?

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the just-give-'em-all-slide-rules dept.

Pakled writes "I teach a high school multimedia course. We were scheduled to get new software this year but due to several pointy haired bosses, no software was ordered. The software I have to teach is Flash 5, Dreamweaver 2000, Photoshop 7 and (god help me) Movie Maker. The question is: is it better to teach old commercial software or their open source counterparts (Komposer, Gimp, etc.)? Is the steep learning curve and slightly less uniform design worth a little student frustration to teach them software written in the past 5 years?"

4 of 454 comments (clear)

  1. Throw in a little school-angst... by _14k4 · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Refuse to teach the class citing insufficient materials. The software required is not there, so you can't do it.

    Then give everyone a copy of gimp and ubuntu anyway.

  2. Old Software or Open Source? by calebt3 · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Dumb question. This is /.

  3. Re:Teaching Graphic Design by RingDev · · Score: 1, Redundant

    Agreed. Transitioning from APS 7.0 to CS, CS2 is an incremental change. New filters, a few new tools, better previews, all in all, if you have a solid grasp on 7.0, going to CS2 is not going to be a challenge. Although changing Alt-F,S from "Save" to "Open As" had to be one major step of retardation.

    Flash 5 on the other hand... completely different beast. The students will probably be better off learning the concepts of an open source alternative.

    -Rick

    --
    "Most people in the U.S. wouldn't know they live in a tyrannical state if it walked up and grabbed their junk." - MyFirs
  4. Don't teach software! by seebs · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Teach principles. Software's an implementation detail.

    --
    My blog: http://www.seebs.net/log/ --- My iPhone/iPad app: http://www.seebs.net/seebsfrac/