RE: [Sheflug] Hypercube Systems

["Chris Johnson" <chris [at] xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>
> We will also write open source educational software to enhance our
> overall products, particularly with respect to interactive whiteboard
> support and teacher-pupil interaction.
>

On the subject of open source educational software one of the areas I've
noticed lacking in software for Linux PCs is simple word processors,
databases and spreadsheets.  Much of today's "Microsoft Curriculum" is
taught based on these products.  There are many to choose from with fewer
functions than full blown "grown up" products but none with the simplicity
of use of some of the Windows equivalents (IE very few buttons that are very
large for small hands that haven't yet got used to using a mouse).  For
example Softease Textease for Windows has three (at least) levels of user
interface.  From normal use with all the menus and buttons down to infant
use (where the menus are replaced with 6 big buttons, open, save, bigger
text, smaller text, print and font).  How much of a job would it be to write
a new button bar/menu bar for something like OpenOffice.org???  Then as the
children progress through the school they can carry on using the same
application (teachers won't have to learn another application) and more
buttons and options can be added as they are introduced in the lessons.
As well as word processing schools teach databases yet very few have any
multi-user database software installed.  Each child has to enter their own
test data in their own database.  I was thinking the other day how much
better it would be if there was a {php} front end to a {mysql} database that
the children accessed through a web page that allowed them all to build a
shared database and add data to the same set of tables so that more of their
time was spent learning the benefits of databases, filtering, sorting,
analysing the results etc and less time was spent doing data entry onto
their own individual single user database.  That way they would be learning
databases not data entry.

Chris Johnson
(No not that one, the other one!)
(running SUSE 8.2, 512MB PIII 600 (ish))

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