Alton Convent - low-cost computer suite
Using Edubunu Linux and thin client workstations, Alton Convent Prep rejuvenated its ICT provision by providing an 18 seat computer room with an impressive range of desktop applications for under £3000.
Alton Convent School is an independent school in Hampshire. The Prep School has 209 boys and girls from 2 ¾ to 11; with the senior school having 280 girls from 11 to 18. There is an overlap of staff between the two schools. Miles Berry is Head of the Prep School and also responsible for the ICT strategy in both schools. He is supported by a full time network manager, David Hicks, who has previous experience of using open source software. In addition, ICT teachers and technically literate teachers play a role in the development and delivery of the ICT strategy and have author and editor privileges on the website.
The school's aim was to provide a computer suite for the delivery of the primary ICT curriculum and to support use across the curriculum with one machine per child, at the lowest possible cost, both initially and in continuing maintenance.
Miles has been involved in the Edubuntu project for over two years, including contributing to the original specification. Until 2007, the Prep School was using a ten station Windows XP network. As the senior school was replacing some of its hardware, it was decided to use these 18 old machines as Edubuntu thin clients in the Prep School, powered by a high specification server via a dedicated switch.
Pupils in the Prep School have 30 minutes of timetabled ICT each week and also use the computers for other subjects, notably science, maths and humanities, as well as for their Moodle based homework and to access the school's secure social networking site developed using Elgg.
Edubuntu provides a wide range of educational software packages as standard, and additional software from the Ubuntu repositories can be installed across the entire network very quickly from a single workstation. The school makes use of many packages, including
Gcompris - an educational suite of puzzles and logic, which is good for developing mouse skills and is used by the school's younger pupils
Geogebra - dynamic maths software, which allows interactive diagrams to be accessed from within Moodle as java applets
K touch - a typing tutor, providing detailed statistics and customisable lessons
Kturtle - to teach basic programming in Logo
Stellarium - an open source planetarium which was installed on all the computers in around 10 minutes and which is very popular in science lessons and during the school's science week. As with many of these packages, it can also be downloaded at home and pupils can enter the co-ordinates of where they live to create a custom view of the sky
GIMP - high quality image editing software, also used by the Prep School photography club
Inkscape - vector graphics software, used for exploring tessellations in the maths curriculum
Scribus - desktop publishing application
Synfig - pupils create simple 2D animations, such as a hungry caterpillar
Firefox - internet browser
OpenOffice.org - Office suite
Gnumeric - spreadsheet, providing more configurable graphs than Open Office
Freemind - mind mapping software, used for note-taking and brainstorming
GNUdenemo - music notation program which pupils use to create short pieces of music that they can then listen to, with a variety of musical instruments being available
The school also allows pupils to play a number of educational games installed across the network, including Tetravex. Thanks to the thin client system, scores are shared across the network automatically, so this game is very popular with pupils.
In Miles' opinion Edubuntu is super; whilst there would be difficulties with following the QCA scheme of work for ICT in its entirety, Edubuntu has enabled so much more to be done.
From the installation perspective, Edubuntu works pretty much out of the box and it is very quick to add new computers to the network or install new applications.
In the Prep School the move to Edubuntu has made a positive difference to pupils' experience of ICT. It is possible to provide a similar range of software under Windows, but installing and maintaining Windows-based computers requires more time, and, of course, licence costs must be met.
An additional benefit is that students and parents are free to download the majority of the programs at home and most have versions available which run within Windows, for example Inkscape and Freemind.
Miles and David have experience of setting up both Edubuntu and Windows networks (in the Senior School). Setting up Edubuntu was done at a relatively small budgetary cost (equipping an 18 seat ICT room cost around £3,000) and has provided a wide range of applications very cheaply. In addition to the economic benefits, there are also environmental gains in terms of being able to reuse kit that would have been thrown away. In comparison, a similar size room in the Senior School using Windows has cost £12,000, with an additional £5,500 for a site licence for Adobe software.
Time is also an issue. With one network manager; to set up the Prep School's ICT room took a couple of days and it now requires a minimal amount of time to manage it.
One challenge has been staff expectations, with previous lesson plans being based on specific Windows applications and staff not so familiar with Linux based alternatives.
On the other hand, open source software allows ICT to focus on education rather than training – it is a way of getting pupils to see that there are other ways of doing things; that there are alternatives to Word, Excel and Powerpoint. Children become aware that people write software as part of a creative process and that programming is about creativity and not simply a commercial enterprise. Miles and his colleagues are keen that their pupils also do some basic programming using Logo and write HTML code, giving them direct experience of making computers respond in a way that goes beyond installing software or playing CD ROMs.
A Year 6 pupil, relatively new to the school, had no problems in adapting to using Edubuntu. She particularly enjoyed having the freedom to change her desktop wallpaper. She also liked blogging via the school's Elgg system and having a go at the Puzzle of the Week on the school Moodle. Inkscape was also a favourite – and she has used it for drawing petals on flowers and drawing from pictures.
The Prep School will be adding more second-hand RM machines to the network. These more compact machines will extend the network at minimal cost.
Edubuntu installed like a dream in one afternoon. There have been some technical problems that have needed to be overcome, for example getting the sound to work on flash video, but these have been minor issues and easily solved. Linux and Edubuntu are not a drain on David's time; but he does spend a great deal of time working on the Windows network.
There has been some difficulty with installing Windows-based applications on Linux using Wine. However, Miles' view is that if software is not available in the Ubuntu repositories it is probably of limited use, as otherwise the open source community would have already developed a replacement.