Adam Cripps wrote:
>
> You may find that your school has some old hardware that they are
> looking for an excuse to either do something with or get rid of. Ask
> if anything like this exists and then if you can play around
> installing Ubuntu on to it. Suggest it as a project - something to
> evaluate. If the school is going for a Becta kite-mark kind of award
> (you will need to research this more) then this might tick some boxes
> in terms of extra-curricula activities. These kind of activities are
> best run at break times with the support of a trusted teacher who
> doesn't want to oversee your activities all the time (due to them
> being in their break time) but also doesn't want to create any extra
> stress on the existing curriculum.
>
good point about Becta, their report on Vista and Office was excellent.
http://publications.becta.org.uk/display.cfm?resID=35275&page=1835
Ofsted is another organisation to mention, their "about us" page with a
long URL:
http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/portal/site/Internet/menuitem.455968b0530071c4828a0d8308c08a0c/?vgnextoid=e99c8587fd24a010VgnVCM1000008192a8c0RCRD
points out that the Education and Inspections act requires that they see
that services(i.e. schools and institutions) are efficient, effective
and value for money. When we spoke with Zenna Atkins, chair of the board
of Ofsted at the Bett2008 show she expressed considerable interest in
Open Source software specifically in relation to their "value for money"
remit which will be increasingly important.
In short, a good Free and Open Source software deployment at a school is
likely to feature as a favorable comment in an Ofsted report because it
demonstrates value for money.
Alan.
