TFA
IT'S not that he doesn't like them or doubts his teaching ability, but Thomas H. Luxon, an English professor at Dartmouth College here, wants to see his students less next semester, hoping they will learn a lot more without having to look at him in a classroom.
Professor Luxon, who teaches courses on Shakespeare, wishes they will instead be watching scenes from "The Merchant of Venice" or "Macbeth" on their PC's while sitting on a lawn, in a coffee shop or while relaxing in a dorm room. "That will be really cool," Professor Luxon said. "They could watch it on their own time and in their own place instead of having to go to the classroom or the media center. That means they could review it as often as they like, and they don't have to see it just once."
Professor Luxon is able to release his students from the shackles of forced classroom movie viewing as a result of a major wireless convergence project that has taken Dartmouth's phone, cable and wireless systems and condensed them into one Wi-Fi network. The project, officials say, keeps students on the forefront of wireless technology, and opens up endless educational and teaching opportunities while saving the college millions of dollars. The switch, which started in 2001 and will be complete with the wireless cable rollout this fall, includes the addition of 1,400 wireless access points and 24,000 wired ports across the campus of the 236-year-old college, the first in the country to completely integrate its communications systems into a wireless infrastructure.
"This really improves our ability to deliver types of information services that enhance teaching and learning," said Brad Noblet, Dartmouth's director of technical services.
The first phase of the cable rollout will put the school's cable television system online. After that, students, professors and anyone else on the overall network will be able to make up his or her own "channel," showing movie clips, video projects or presentations with cable-quality video.
The college's public affairs office hopes to have its own channel as well. It could also be used by students to shop for classes during course selection because they could view a few minutes of a lecture or discussion on the network, and by professors to provide discussion materials before class. Dartmouth also hopes to put all its public lectures and forums on a cable network instead of on the sometimes gritty streaming video now available.
"We're really at the front end of this," said Jeffrey L. Horrell, dean of the libraries and librarian of the college. "It's not yet clear where the boundaries are."
The new network could even change how students write papers. They will not replace words or writing, but might enhance, say, a paper on "The Merchant of Venice" with a clip of the actor Patrick Stewart explaining the method behind his portrayal of the character Shylock, said Professor Luxon, who teaches a course on the play.
"Imagine writing a paper about one of these performances and including a video clip in your paper, like you would a quote," he said. "Now your paper isn't on paper anymore, it's on a Web site or a word file."
The convergence project is meant for educational purposes, but it is not bad for entertainment, either. Students will be able to catch the latest episode of MTV's "Pimp My Ride" or any other television show anywhere on campus - including in class. While that is one more worry for professors who are now used to students staring at screens, they hope that the interaction and stimulation of a class will detract from the desire to tune in to "TRL" during sociology, Mr. Horrell said.
Students, many of whom did not know about the new service, are enthusiastic. Jean Cowgill, 19, a freshman, hopes to use the network to watch materials outside of class. But, Ms. Cowgill said, the cable access might backfire.
"That sounds amazing," she said. "But I don't know how great it will be for my study habits."
Wireless data has been available here since 2001. Its success led the technology department to combine it with the college's
How soon do you think this will this be available in the Major Linux distros?
I would love to have this for my debian machine. Perhaps I wouldn't have had to spend all last Saturday rebuilding my machine and restoring individual files.
Having worked in a school system for several years, I can tell you that anything you can get for free is a good idea; however; So many schools are hellbent on teaching using MSOffice because that is what the industry is using.
This is my biggest compaint. Instead of teaching the skills neccesary to create professional documents, they are teaching the knowledge neccesary to do this. Yes there is a difference. Instead of teaching word processing they are teaching MS Word, or instead of teaching spreadsheets or databases, they are teaching MS Excel or Access.
To Answer your question. I don't think it will be possible to completely convert your users over to OpenOffice. I would start by deploying it to your labs and various other student desktops. Your Administration and some of your more proficient users will not want to switch. This is not something that is going to happen overnight.
I have a disk too with a useful tool on it. Its called "Ghost".
I get really tired of trying to explain to these people that these are not their personal computers, and that they should not install this crap (i.e. Date/Time manager Weatherbug etc....)on these machines. I have handed out about 300 Internet Usage policies, Most of them got multiple copies.
Spybot is a great piece of software, but like its been said before, it cannot do everything.
Slashdot Mirror
If everyone leaves Facebook, who will feed my cows?
TFA IT'S not that he doesn't like them or doubts his teaching ability, but Thomas H. Luxon, an English professor at Dartmouth College here, wants to see his students less next semester, hoping they will learn a lot more without having to look at him in a classroom. Professor Luxon, who teaches courses on Shakespeare, wishes they will instead be watching scenes from "The Merchant of Venice" or "Macbeth" on their PC's while sitting on a lawn, in a coffee shop or while relaxing in a dorm room. "That will be really cool," Professor Luxon said. "They could watch it on their own time and in their own place instead of having to go to the classroom or the media center. That means they could review it as often as they like, and they don't have to see it just once." Professor Luxon is able to release his students from the shackles of forced classroom movie viewing as a result of a major wireless convergence project that has taken Dartmouth's phone, cable and wireless systems and condensed them into one Wi-Fi network. The project, officials say, keeps students on the forefront of wireless technology, and opens up endless educational and teaching opportunities while saving the college millions of dollars. The switch, which started in 2001 and will be complete with the wireless cable rollout this fall, includes the addition of 1,400 wireless access points and 24,000 wired ports across the campus of the 236-year-old college, the first in the country to completely integrate its communications systems into a wireless infrastructure. "This really improves our ability to deliver types of information services that enhance teaching and learning," said Brad Noblet, Dartmouth's director of technical services. The first phase of the cable rollout will put the school's cable television system online. After that, students, professors and anyone else on the overall network will be able to make up his or her own "channel," showing movie clips, video projects or presentations with cable-quality video. The college's public affairs office hopes to have its own channel as well. It could also be used by students to shop for classes during course selection because they could view a few minutes of a lecture or discussion on the network, and by professors to provide discussion materials before class. Dartmouth also hopes to put all its public lectures and forums on a cable network instead of on the sometimes gritty streaming video now available. "We're really at the front end of this," said Jeffrey L. Horrell, dean of the libraries and librarian of the college. "It's not yet clear where the boundaries are." The new network could even change how students write papers. They will not replace words or writing, but might enhance, say, a paper on "The Merchant of Venice" with a clip of the actor Patrick Stewart explaining the method behind his portrayal of the character Shylock, said Professor Luxon, who teaches a course on the play. "Imagine writing a paper about one of these performances and including a video clip in your paper, like you would a quote," he said. "Now your paper isn't on paper anymore, it's on a Web site or a word file." The convergence project is meant for educational purposes, but it is not bad for entertainment, either. Students will be able to catch the latest episode of MTV's "Pimp My Ride" or any other television show anywhere on campus - including in class. While that is one more worry for professors who are now used to students staring at screens, they hope that the interaction and stimulation of a class will detract from the desire to tune in to "TRL" during sociology, Mr. Horrell said. Students, many of whom did not know about the new service, are enthusiastic. Jean Cowgill, 19, a freshman, hopes to use the network to watch materials outside of class. But, Ms. Cowgill said, the cable access might backfire. "That sounds amazing," she said. "But I don't know how great it will be for my study habits." Wireless data has been available here since 2001. Its success led the technology department to combine it with the college's
SIGS!!!We don't need no stinkin sigs
Having worked in a school system for several years, I can tell you that anything you can get for free is a good idea; however; So many schools are hellbent on teaching using MSOffice because that is what the industry is using.
This is my biggest compaint. Instead of teaching the skills neccesary to create professional documents, they are teaching the knowledge neccesary to do this. Yes there is a difference. Instead of teaching word processing they are teaching MS Word, or instead of teaching spreadsheets or databases, they are teaching MS Excel or Access.
To Answer your question. I don't think it will be possible to completely convert your users over to OpenOffice. I would start by deploying it to your labs and various other student desktops. Your Administration and some of your more proficient users will not want to switch. This is not something that is going to happen overnight.
Cheers,
Matt
Where is SpellCheck on this thing
When I get spam I don't want I just unsubscribe from it. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT WILL TAKE 72 HOURS TO REMOVE MY ADDRESS?"
I have a disk too with a useful tool on it. Its called "Ghost".
I get really tired of trying to explain to these people that these are not their personal computers, and that they should not install this crap (i.e. Date/Time manager Weatherbug etc....)on these machines. I have handed out about 300 Internet Usage policies, Most of them got multiple copies.
Spybot is a great piece of software, but like its been said before, it cannot do everything.
Its a bird
Its a plane
No Wait
OH SH#T
This is all Lar's fault :0)