Using Ubuntu Linux at the American International School

Using Ubuntu Linux at the American International School Kevin Miller, Jr. American International School http://www.ais.edu.vn

About American International School
AIS is a private college-preparatory school providing an American education to students in Saigon
Offers American curriculum in English
Student makeup includes Vietnamese and International Students
I currently teach 8th, 11 th and 12 th graders as a part-time ICT teacher

Why Linux at AIS?
Gives AIS students an opportunity to use another operating system
Makes students less dependent on Windows
Prepares them for US overseas study
Many US universities use Linux
Personal bias
I want my students to learn Linux

History of Linux at AIS
In the 2007-2008 school year, my 10 th and 11 th Graders used PCLinuxOS with VMWare Player
Students learned to SSH'd my PC-BSD Apache server for a couple web projects
Virtualbox (Linux Mint)
(Ken using PCLinuxOS)

All in Command Line
Students not allowed to use the GUI
All tasks must be completed in the Command Line
All images were edited with Imagemagick
(My students got used to Konsole)

How I got then interested in Linux?
iPhone released at beginning of school year
Convinced students that they could unlock iPhone on their own
They succeeded!!!
Got them hooked when I explain iPhone (BSD) and Linux similar

Initial Problems
VMWare Player was slow on the laptops
Not allowed to install Linux on school laptops
Virtualbox slow on shared school server at new campus
20 minute bootups
Students forced to use Putty
SSH to PC-BSD server

2008-2009 School Year
11 th and 12 th Graders required to use laptops or netbooks at AIS
Asus promotion for students
Eee PC 1000 discounted at $450 US
Not popular with faculty, students, and parents
Nobody knew how to use Linux
EXCEPT ME!!!
2 nd Quarter return to Linux
With Ubuntu

My Class Requirements
11 th and 12 th Graders must bring laptops or netbooks to class
Students must install Ubuntu Linux 8.10:
Inside Virtualbox (with Window systems),
As a dual partition with Windows, or
As a dual partition in their Netbooks
Ubuntu eee 8.04.1
Students must keep Window partitions
Other AIS teachers use Microsoft applications

Why Ubuntu Linux?
They already know about Ubuntu
Easy to install
Great Disk Partitioner
Nice eye candy
Compiz really sells
Easy to use
Can use it at home to work on class projects

Students Installing Ubuntu (I) Ubuntu 8.10 install on laptop with LiveCD Ubuntu eee 8.04.1 install on EeePC 1000 with unetbootin LiveUSB

Students Installing Ubuntu (II) Will need two full weeks to install Ubuntu on all laptops

What will they use Ubuntu for?
Command Line
Install LAMP
Web development with XHTML and CSS
GIMP
Python
Popular last school year
Django
Students working on Python projects

Conclusion
11 th and 12 th Graders will have two full school years of Linux experience
Hope to introduce Linux to 8 th Graders
Use web development and netbooks as carrot
Kids love to make websites
Other AIS ICT teachers interested in using Linux in the classroom

Kevin Miller, Jr. Director – Research & Development VinaConsulting http://www.vina-consulting.com Managing Director Vscapeone http://www.vscapeone.com

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Using Ubuntu Linux at the American International School

by Kevin Miller on Nov 15, 2008

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