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Old Software or Open Source?
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?"
Yes, next question?...
In my opinion, a gathering of both would be far better... I mean, realistically in the commercial world, it tends to be the "high flyers" which companies go for, (Photoshop, Flash etc) however, teaching students the opensrouce alternatives, gives them a better feel for newer software, and shows them how adaptions have been made.
Use whatever software allows you to teach the concepts to your students in the easiest manner. The tools change much faster than the concepts so don't fret too much about which tool to use. Whichever one is easier for you to use and teach with, use that
It's probably worth teaching the students on a selection of software, concentrating on "how to get stuff done" rather than on what particular apps to use.
People who were only taught a single app for a single purpose often have problems adjusting to other programs, they don't understand what features to look for but rather just where to look for them which ofcourse falls over if the software changes, even between different versions of the same application.
It's also worth considering, even if you teach the most up to date and widely used software today... A lot can change very quickly in software, the apps you teach may not be used anymore when your students go out into the world of work, or there may be much newer versions in use. Conversely, many companies keep using even older versions of apps because they still get the job done.
So basically teach the widest selection of apps you can, explain the differences and similarities and focus on the job that needs doing rather than the tools for doing it. Also for anything that is open/free provide your students with a copy of it so they can take it home.
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How about teaching your students the principles of what they are going to do, so that (with some acclimatization) they can adapt to any software within the category you've taught.
For instance, as far as image editing is concerned, it would be nice to talk about brushes and layers, and filters, all the while showing that while different software can have various options, located in various menus, the work can be accomplished on either, as long as the person knows exactly what they are trying to do.
That way, your students would be more than just click-monkeys, who know little more than what sequence of buttons to push according to a flowchart.
Because otherwise they will wind up like our Pathology department administrator who, when I suggested that to save the school tens of thousands of dollars a year they should use OpenOffice and discontinue the MSOffice site license, turned to me and asked: "But without MSOffice, how will our people do any work?"
A person who understands theory can figure out anything. A person who learns how to click a specific button in a specific place is useless.
It's not a vocational school, so don't teach to a vocation.
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Since you are talking about highschool and not college, I'd say go with the open source option and touch on the older versions of the commercial software. Here's why...
-If they find that they enjoy what you are teaching, knowing an open source (and FREE) software tool will make it easy for them to continue tinkering with it at home. They can download the same tool they used in the classroom and continue to hone their skills at home if that really is their area of interest/career path. In the end, it's their eye and talent as an artist that will determine if their career at this early stage, learning the software is secondary. Practice is key. Chances are a student can't afford a legal copy of Photoshop for their home computer.
-Odds are that it will be a few years before they get into the working world anyway, so even if the school board gave you the latest versions of the commercial software, chances are that what they end up using in the working world will be several versions in the future anyway.
- Once you've learned one tool, it's usually easy to learn another of the same type. Like learning programming languages. Once you have the basics, the icons for the tools and the menus are trivial.
- Many artists do freelance work when they are first trying to break into the graphic design/art world. Knowing a free tool will keep their costs down.
- It will help support the free/open source software movement, and make them aware of the wide variety of awesome free/open apps available to them.
- Many employers even if they provide a commercial graphics program, will allow you to install and use your own preferred tool if it's free/legal/legit/compatible.
- Giving them an additional taste of the old version commercial software you have will mean they've been exposed to two different tools- an advantage in the long run. Choice is good.
$5? Wow, you certainly are sure of your convictions.
Just because you don't like GIMP doesn't mean that it's useless. I find it easier to use than Photoshop. The only problem with it is if you think the Windows way of thinking is the only way to think. But hey, that's what schools are for, right, teach kids what to do, rather than how to think.
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Combative, but an excellent point. I learned how to word process using DOS-based programs like WordStar and Apple ][e programs like AppleWriter. They resemble MS Word only inasmuch as they both eventually are used to send stuff to the printer. But I still learned about styles, tab stops, etc. I dare say that I know how use Word in a more "correct" way then 90% of my co-workers. When I co-write a paper, I generally get hard tabs, double spacing after periods, double returns to pad paragraphs, and other relics of the typewriter age. Stuff that works just fine until you go to change the format of your document.
I learned Excel in version 4 for Macintosh. It sort-of resembles modern MS Excel, at least as far as the formula notation, but that's about it. Macros, editing, printing, graphing, etc... all different.
It is far more important to understand the concepts than to understand which button to click. If it weren't, we'd all be screwed when they released Office 2007. Oh, wait, a lot of people ARE screwed because they know what button to press, but not what it really does "under the hood". I just got off of the phone with a friend who wanted to know how to make the footer stop after page 3... ugh. If he ever took a word processing class using ANY program, he would have understood the concept of a section break. Sure, it was called a "format code" in WordPerfect, but the concept is the same - change the formatting starting at this point in the document. (Oh, how I miss "show codes"...)
Open source is lovely, too. I'd use it when the old programs no longer are adequate. There is no reason to buy thousand-dollar programs unless you are a vocational school, in which case the kids aren't planning on college and need to learn where to click.
So use the old crappy stuff - it's like complaining about the age of the Bunsen burners in the Chemistry lab. They may look different, but the concept is still the same.
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