08:01:40 <michalrud> #startmeeting Fedora in the Classroom 08:01:40 <zodbot> Meeting started Wed Aug 3 08:01:40 2016 UTC. The chair is michalrud. Information about MeetBot at http://wiki.debian.org/MeetBot. 08:01:40 <zodbot> Useful Commands: #action #agreed #halp #info #idea #link #topic. 08:01:40 <zodbot> The meeting name has been set to 'fedora_in_the_classroom' 08:01:53 <michalrud> #meetingname flock2016 08:01:53 <zodbot> The meeting name has been set to 'flock2016' 08:02:51 <michalrud> #topic Why do it? 08:02:57 <michalrud> First question: why not? 08:03:45 <michalrud> People ask if it's a problem. Mostly, it's a problem in Lebanon of finding people that are comfortable with Linux is way harder than people who can administrate Windows. 08:03:56 <michalrud> For many people it's the reason not to switch to Fedora 08:04:37 <michalrud> Also update treadmill, it's a lot of work to keep everything up to date, but it's getting easier and easier, F22 and F24 were skipped 08:04:48 <michalrud> using Ansible doing full system upgrade is not a big deal 08:04:56 <michalrud> main problem is that it's different 08:05:20 <michalrud> people don't like using LibreOffice instead of MSOffice that's used everywhere, and this seems like a valid complaint 08:05:29 <michalrud> So why do it? 08:05:40 <michalrud> Viruses are not much of a big deal 08:06:25 <michalrud> When we started updates could bring down the system 08:06:50 <michalrud> but for some last years this is not a problem anymore, Fedora was rock solid for last few years, so big thanks to QA 08:07:49 <michalrud> Licencing Fees: Lebanon is not a place where money is flowing, so we could either pirate and fail at teaching good values to students or spend a lot of money but we chose Fedora where it's not a problem 08:08:41 <michalrud> Fedora gives the power to open up the system, and being 12 they can use the computers without guidance as they have their own accounts and staff can keep an eye on them 08:08:54 <michalrud> so it allows them to give extra freedom in using computers for students 08:09:11 <michalrud> #topic Tools 08:09:38 <michalrud> freeIPA is a lovely way to store users, organize them and just keep track of what do we have 08:09:53 <michalrud> we even have plugins which allow to tie individual computers using DHCP 08:10:10 <michalrud> allows to change passwords without console, but there is also a console interface 08:10:12 <nardasev> next tool we use - iPXE 08:11:09 <nardasev> the great thing about iPXE we are able to choose different ways of booting 08:11:20 <michalrud> It has a build in HTTPS module, that you can use to make certain disk images with different usernames and passwords 08:11:32 <michalrud> so not everyone can have full access 08:11:37 <michalrud> another tool - Lesson 08:12:10 <michalrud> system which I've designed, it's on GPL but please don't look at the code :) 08:12:28 <michalrud> It allows to keep track of attendance, grades etc 08:12:42 <michalrud> another tool we use - Ansible 08:12:45 <michalrud> Ansible rocks. 08:13:03 <michalrud> Back in the old days Koji was used with configuration stored in RPMs 08:13:41 <michalrud> with every small files, spec file would have to be fixed, RPMs rebuild, repo regenerated... it was a 10 step process which took 15-20 minutes to make a small configuration change what was annoying 08:14:16 <michalrud> Ansible allows to do that using a small configuration file, and the beauty of this is that it gives us automation 08:14:31 <michalrud> #topic Teaching tools 08:14:43 <michalrud> LibreOffice, GIMP, GEdir, Blender... 08:15:18 <michalrud> LibreOffice is known by everyone 08:15:22 <michalrud> GIMP is more than enough 08:15:29 <michalrud> GEdit is simple, easy and works for simple editing 08:15:49 <michalrud> Blender - one of my favorite tools, students spend 0.5yr modeling 08:16:48 <michalrud> Scratch 08:17:06 <michalrud> Students enjoy Scratch 08:17:15 <michalrud> Python - final tool we use for teaching 08:17:22 <michalrud> #topic Curriculum 08:17:49 <michalrud> Memorization vs Comprehension 08:18:19 <michalrud> Memorization is an easy way to teach, when I want students to understand things I don't understand I can just give them book and make them memorize it 08:19:45 <michalrud> nardasev, hope I've helped :) feel free to help me since I can't keep up sometimes 08:20:12 <nardasev> Michal, thank you for the help, you did it better :) 08:20:17 <michalrud> Comprehension - if students would be teached to memorize Word 95, then Word 2016 would be useless for that 08:20:22 <michalrud> for them* 08:21:10 <michalrud> Layour of Word has changes, so anything that was memorized became useless, so it's an easy way to teach, but it's not a good way to teach 08:21:38 <michalrud> We are learning the concepts behind WHY do we something, it's harder but it's way more effective 08:22:03 <michalrud> but when students comprehend, they can use Word, Google Docs, LibreOffice... 08:22:22 <michalrud> Teacher requirements: Teacher need passion, knowledge and compassion 08:24:02 <michalrud> Curriculum: Touch typing - it's where memorization is important 08:24:06 <michalrud> Databases 08:24:14 <michalrud> Hardware - students know how computer works 08:24:32 <michalrud> we don't have books, we get a computer, we get a screwdriver and we talk about what do parts actually do 08:26:03 <michalrud> Image editing - what is an ethical change 08:26:16 <michalrud> we talk about licencing 08:26:41 <michalrud> we go beyond and talk about the whys 08:27:10 <michalrud> Spreadsheets - we are doing invoices, gradebooks, etc. 08:27:43 <michalrud> We do HTML, students work with HTML, CSS, so they can create web pages, on the end they create web pages in groups 08:27:57 <michalrud> Blender - my favorite thing to teach 08:28:17 <michalrud> some students may struggle with spreadsheets and other things, but they really love Blender 08:28:34 <michalrud> I have admit that I love Blender the most, but it's the one which I know the least 08:28:49 <michalrud> so I had students who were ahead of me in the beginning 08:29:34 <michalrud> so when students knew Blender, they were required to do something amazing in it but they were not required to pay attention 08:29:52 <michalrud> so one student made a 3D model of a school room 08:30:05 <michalrud> they learned how to do animations 08:30:17 <michalrud> (sinking Titanic animated video) 08:30:37 <michalrud> student who did the video didn't enjoy computers up to this point at all, so that was amazing 08:31:18 <michalrud> Students learn to program in Scratch, which is a graphical programming language, which is not very powerful, but one can create something very quickly 08:32:08 <michalrud> students games made in Scratch are publicly available on the internet and students know that 08:32:35 <michalrud> at the end students can learn Python and learn about functions 08:32:50 <michalrud> there is no time to learn about classes, unfortunately 08:33:28 <michalrud> Lecturer written a simple game engine where students write functions that control robots that can shoot each other 08:33:33 <michalrud> so it's a simple AI lesson 08:33:42 <michalrud> #topic Goals 08:33:59 <michalrud> we want students to understand the theory and what the applications are doing 08:34:22 <michalrud> now how to work with Word, Writer or something else specific, we want students to know how to use a word processor, how to create spreadsheets 08:35:02 <michalrud> Students are not required to give him an ODT file, but students know that LibreOffice will be used to mark the homework 08:35:10 <michalrud> and what they use at home is their decision 08:35:36 <michalrud> Fedora is the best tool about teaching students is about Ethics 08:35:50 <michalrud> we want students to know what they should be doing with computers 08:36:05 <michalrud> whether it has to do with hacking, or pirating 08:36:15 <michalrud> it's not whether you can do something, but whether you should 08:36:25 <michalrud> computer ethics is what we teach 08:36:36 <michalrud> #topic Questions 08:36:43 <michalrud> Q: Why Fedora? 08:37:16 <michalrud> A: I was using Fedora when we first starting looking at this, at beginning we looked at Ubuntu, but since I am more comfortable with Fedora we are using that 08:37:39 <michalrud> A: We are always using the newest software, but not bleeding edge, so we had no major problems for the last few years 08:37:58 <michalrud> A: The mindset behind Fedora is the one that I really stand behind 08:38:08 <michalrud> Q: How many computers are there in total with Fedora? 08:38:34 <michalrud> A: Probably 30-50, probably close to 60 but some are multiseat systems 08:39:16 <michalrud> A: we use systemd ability for multiseat systems, we plug multiple GPUs and the integrated GPU we have 4 seats out of one system 08:39:27 <michalrud> A: so we have over 100 seats with Fedora 08:39:49 <michalrud> Q: what age are the children 08:40:16 <michalrud> A: We have first lessons for 4 year olds, but not until 10 they learn some real knowledge about computers, all on Fedora 08:40:27 <michalrud> Q: are students installing Fedora at home? 08:40:35 <michalrud> A: not a lot, but a few each year, yes 08:41:11 <michalrud> A: I am cautious about not putting pressure at students, I tell them that I will install Fedora to them 08:41:52 <michalrud> Q: Aren't you scared that you'll have to support these students laptop later 08:42:28 <michalrud> A: I am a support anyway in my school, but I'd rather support Fedora thich is reliable and without viruses so I'm happy to do that 08:42:42 <michalrud> Q: how easily replicable is what you are doing? 08:43:36 <michalrud> A: Excellent question. It depends on the people, it takes someone who has the passion to get it done. If you have someone who's willing to put the time to do that, it's definitely repricable 08:44:00 <michalrud> A: All my configuration scripts are publicly available, so anyone who wants to make workstations like ours is free to do so 08:44:34 <michalrud> A: My IT dept is myself, my assistant, someone who works with younger students in the other building and the principal who was an IT teacher previously and who makes my life easier 08:45:26 <michalrud> Q: Did you document the process of what you did to install Fedora etc? 08:46:07 <michalrud> A: All ansible scripts and installation stuff is written down. I do not have and I am ashamed about this, but I have no proper documentation, we don't use books so most of what I use is from my head 08:46:21 <michalrud> A: what we do is either on school website or in GitHub 08:48:22 <michalrud> Q: Are there any events for educators to share this knowledge? 08:48:51 <michalrud> A: No, at least not that I have attended. OSS community in Lebanon is very small, and Fedora community is me and a couple of other guys 08:49:11 <michalrud> #endmeeting