Re: Graduate Teacher Programme - best way to approach it

On Sat, 15 Apr 2006 18:08:48 +0000, Brian Reay wrote:


"Dave (from the UK)" <see-my-signature@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote in message news:44413015@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
D.M. Procida wrote:

For good or ill it is the industry standard after all.


What standard is that? "Most common" is not the same as "standard".

It is a de facto standard.


Indeed.

If Danielle is suggesting that "we" (ie the education system) should be
aiming to teach transferable skills- so pupils can adapt to use applications
other than those from the Microsoft stable- I think she has a point.
However, if her position is based on "not liking Microsoft" then it is
unsupportable.

Most pupils will go on to be application users and it makes sense to ensure
they can use the most common applications they are likely to meet "in the
real world".

Which are likely in 10 years time to be Internet network based. Things
like Skype are cross platform, major productivity tools will be
cross platform and available directly from the Internet.

An interesting point that the Linux fans ignore is that, from a user view
point, Linux and its applications seem to be getting more like Windows every
day.

Simply because it makes sense to make it easy to make the transition
for users. Linux just happens to be the only viable competitor to Windows
at the desktop and is the defacto industry standard in some applications
eg serving web pages but the desktop as we see it to-day will not be that
relevant in 10 years time. Really, having to run desktop applications on
local computers running Windows is not sustainable in the longer term
whatever effect Linux has at the desktop. Look at how mobile phone
technology is developing with severe competition driving it. I can now buy
a phone with a digital camera, web browser, E-mail and GPS built into it.
How long before an Office suite? How long before its free with my contract
and does all I need of a PC? If I get a phone which can double as my
desktop PC as part of my phone contract why bother paying £80 for Windows
+ whatever other expenses come with the traditional route? Who knows,
portable telephones might run Linux in a year or two but who cares if they
don't if they work and are low cost driven by competition? One thing is
for sure. Windows Vista is not going to find its way into a mobile
telephone for a hell of a long time because its simply too resource
hungry. 3G phones also offer instant broadband connection and you can even
use Gmail in principle as an extension of your filesystem straight to the
network. Expensive at the moment but it won't be for ever and Google need
to develop such things to justify the investment in them. And don't worry
about keyboards and screen sizes, no problem in plugging keyboards into a
USB port or connecting a monitor.

Things are going to change so educate kids for change, spark their
imagination about technological development, raise their
expectations, don't stunt their learning by becoming an unpaid lackie to
the IT industry machine whose only interest is hitting this month's sales
target. They want you to dumb down locking thinking into their interests
with terms like "industry standard". Its an easier sales maessage
but its simply anti-education and teachers really ought to be challenging
it.
--
Ian Lynch
www.theINGOTs.org
www.opendocumentfellowship.org
www.schoolforge.org.uk
.

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