I want to recommend a curriculum from Alpha Omega that my two high school aged boys are currently using. The online curriculum blends real time quiz and test grading with teacher/parent graded items and they offer a wide range of subjects from K-12. The Computer Information System electives for the high school students address what is typically taught in the high schools in this area but Alpha Omega has chosen to base their classwork on OpenOffice which I thought was refreshing.
If you are less interested in business computer information systems and more interested in plain computer science I would like to suggest DreamSpark by Microsoft. It is a plan offered to students that gives them access to all the MS tools for one year. On package they tout as providing a great introduction to programming is their Kodu programming and game platform that allows students to quickly begin programming and playing the games they create.
I think there are several questions you need to answer for yourself before you address the question you're asking. One of the questions you need answer first is, "Who is my target audience and who will understand my hypothesis/arguments?" There are just a handful of people in my field. Researchers in related parallel fields my have a reasonable chance at understanding what I'm talking about but will likely have little interest or time to read my papers. Anyone else in the scientific community won't read the paper.
I am relatively certain that fewer than 10-20 people in the word have read the papers I have written simply because there just aren't that many people that are interested. If you deeply involved in your field you likely have a similar audience; possibly a larger one depending on your field but still very limited.
I believe that papers should be written in such a way that a person who is interested in duplicating your results but knows next to nothing of your field should be able to find in your writing the bread crumbs that have led you from the basic early research and the research of your contemporaries to the point where you are today. Careful use of references will help to create an overview that can act as a study guide to the interested student. It is likely that your assumptions are nuanced and possibly confusing to people outside your field but carefully chosen words and references can again leave enough of a trail that the interested student will be able to learn and fully appreciate those nuances and see why you have felt that it was important to clarify them.
It sounds like you have spent a lot of time learning to explain your hypothesis to yourself. All that remains is to capture and document the steps you have taken, weeding out or documenting false steps and emphasizing the real steps forward that you have made.
There are some possible problems with several of your comments.
what *is* the point of teaching something that does not have a practical application in life?
Like it or not it is this type of reasoning that causes so much frustration in cities such as L. A. and Miami. Why learn English, I can go all day and never see or hear an English word!
...I don't think we should require it [history] if a student isn't interested in it.
It would certainly be nice if life worked that way but it doesn't. It isn't just irritating, but really bad business to have to stand in Target and watch the "manager" miscalculate a discount because and insist that it is correct - even though the amount was, in this case, in my favor. I understand that not everyone enjoys math but that doesn't mean you shouldn't learn a few basic concepts! There are so many counter examples to your statement but I'm sure you see the point.
I disagree with your comment about getting computers out of schools completely...
Removing them completely would, of course, be negligent but to use them at every turn simply because it's the fad is not a solution either. There is a reason that Sun Microsystem banned PowerPoint presentations http://www.optimlator.com/qod1.htm at one time!
I think this point of view is quite common. Unfortunately it often leads people to waste resources. My employeer bills out my skills at well over $100/hour. It is in my employeer's best interest to spend $100-$200 for, say, a VB.Net date control so I can get on with the project at hand instead of me spending an hour writing a control similar to that one and then the additional future time required to maintain it as well as work on the original project.
I think that people always remember that time => money but rarely realize that money => time. I can spend a little money that allows me to reallocate my time - time that is billable at a much higher rate than what I paid for it.
I've seen this done as a proof of concept using just samba. It's kind of a pain to set it up but it does seem to be feasible.
1. Install your standard client OS (Windows 95 or 98) and then use your favorite tool to collect a complete directory/file tree of this clean install. Make a backup of the registry.
2. Install your favorite app. over this clean install and again collect a complete directory/file tree of this clean install.
3. Diff the two trees. That's what was actually just install - well, almost. You also need to note changes to the registry.
4. Copy all the files that were installed off to a Linux box.
5. Share c:\ with a password on some other Windows box then smbmount that drive and push the files onto it.
I believe that you also have to push a small batch file onto their desktop that will merge in the new registry elements and reboot their computer.
It works pretty nicely but it does require minimal user interaction - that is, they need to run the batch file at the end of the install. I seem to recall that I saw this demo'd where the batch file actually ran automatically and all the user actually had to do was click a button to reboot their computer.
To make this work you'ld have to maintain tight control over each computer, however. It must have a specific group/name and a specific password to share c:\ with read/write permissions. The proof of concept that I saw with this was demo'd with a database that contained group/name/password, MAC address, (IP address if you want to use statically assigned IP's), and user contact information. The system also housed a seperate database that contained license information for each application.
The user only need to visit a URL, select the update/app. that they wanted installed and give a password. If their authenticity and right to a license was verified from the database their windows box was smbmounted and the software installed.
The install was noted in the database so duplicate installs couldn't be made automatically and to keep licensing information current.
The added benefit was that you could also use DHCP to administrate the IP's. That also allowed them (a university) to hand out IP's only to known clients. Others got none routed IP's that could only be used to reach a campus registration server where they could request full access.
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I want to recommend a curriculum from Alpha Omega that my two high school aged boys are currently using. The online curriculum blends real time quiz and test grading with teacher/parent graded items and they offer a wide range of subjects from K-12. The Computer Information System electives for the high school students address what is typically taught in the high schools in this area but Alpha Omega has chosen to base their classwork on OpenOffice which I thought was refreshing.
The direct links to the electives are:
Business Computer Information Systems 1-A
Business Computer Information Systems 1-B
If you are less interested in business computer information systems and more interested in plain computer science I would like to suggest
DreamSpark by Microsoft. It is a plan offered to students that gives them access to all the MS tools for one year. On package they tout as providing a great introduction to programming is their Kodu programming and game platform that allows students to quickly begin programming and playing the games they create.
I think there are several questions you need to answer for yourself before you address the question you're asking. One of the questions you need answer first is, "Who is my target audience and who will understand my hypothesis/arguments?" There are just a handful of people in my field. Researchers in related parallel fields my have a reasonable chance at understanding what I'm talking about but will likely have little interest or time to read my papers. Anyone else in the scientific community won't read the paper.
I am relatively certain that fewer than 10-20 people in the word have read the papers I have written simply because there just aren't that many people that are interested. If you deeply involved in your field you likely have a similar audience; possibly a larger one depending on your field but still very limited.
I believe that papers should be written in such a way that a person who is interested in duplicating your results but knows next to nothing of your field should be able to find in your writing the bread crumbs that have led you from the basic early research and the research of your contemporaries to the point where you are today. Careful use of references will help to create an overview that can act as a study guide to the interested student. It is likely that your assumptions are nuanced and possibly confusing to people outside your field but carefully chosen words and references can again leave enough of a trail that the interested student will be able to learn and fully appreciate those nuances and see why you have felt that it was important to clarify them.
It sounds like you have spent a lot of time learning to explain your hypothesis to yourself. All that remains is to capture and document the steps you have taken, weeding out or documenting false steps and emphasizing the real steps forward that you have made.
Good luck!
what *is* the point of teaching something that does not have a practical application in life?
Like it or not it is this type of reasoning that causes so much frustration in cities such as L. A. and Miami. Why learn English, I can go all day and never see or hear an English word!
It would certainly be nice if life worked that way but it doesn't. It isn't just irritating, but really bad business to have to stand in Target and watch the "manager" miscalculate a discount because and insist that it is correct - even though the amount was, in this case, in my favor. I understand that not everyone enjoys math but that doesn't mean you shouldn't learn a few basic concepts! There are so many counter examples to your statement but I'm sure you see the point.
I disagree with your comment about getting computers out of schools completely...
Removing them completely would, of course, be negligent but to use them at every turn simply because it's the fad is not a solution either. There is a reason that Sun Microsystem banned PowerPoint presentations http://www.optimlator.com/qod1.htm at one time!
I think this point of view is quite common. Unfortunately it often leads people to waste resources. My employeer bills out my skills at well over $100/hour. It is in my employeer's best interest to spend $100-$200 for, say, a VB.Net date control so I can get on with the project at hand instead of me spending an hour writing a control similar to that one and then the additional future time required to maintain it as well as work on the original project.
I think that people always remember that time => money but rarely realize that money => time. I can spend a little money that allows me to reallocate my time - time that is billable at a much higher rate than what I paid for it.
I found this
which seems to do PERT Charts at least.
I've seen this done as a proof of concept using just samba. It's kind of a pain to set it up but it does seem to be feasible.
1. Install your standard client OS (Windows 95 or 98) and then use your favorite tool to collect a complete directory/file tree of this clean install. Make a backup of the registry.
2. Install your favorite app. over this clean install and again collect a complete directory/file tree of this clean install.
3. Diff the two trees. That's what was actually just install - well, almost. You also need to note changes to the registry.
4. Copy all the files that were installed off to a Linux box.
5. Share c:\ with a password on some other Windows box then smbmount that drive and push the files onto it.
I believe that you also have to push a small batch file onto their desktop that will merge in the new registry elements and reboot their computer.
It works pretty nicely but it does require minimal user interaction - that is, they need to run the batch file at the end of the install. I seem to recall that I saw this demo'd where the batch file actually ran automatically and all the user actually had to do was click a button to reboot their computer.
To make this work you'ld have to maintain tight control over each computer, however. It must have a specific group/name and a specific password to share c:\ with read/write permissions. The proof of concept that I saw with this was demo'd with a database that contained group/name/password, MAC address, (IP address if you want to use statically assigned IP's), and user contact information. The system also housed a seperate database that contained license information for each application.
The user only need to visit a URL, select the update/app. that they wanted installed and give a password. If their authenticity and right to a license was verified from the database their windows box was smbmounted and the software installed.
The install was noted in the database so duplicate installs couldn't be made automatically and to keep licensing information current.
The added benefit was that you could also use DHCP to administrate the IP's. That also allowed them (a university) to hand out IP's only to known clients. Others got none routed IP's that could only be used to reach a campus registration server where they could request full access.