[OSGeo-Discuss] Sharing sad news from the web...
Randal Hale
rjhale at northrivergeographic.com
Fri Oct 28 07:47:41 PDT 2016
Ha - I can't even spell Briliant.
For instance - the school I work with has built a 2 week curriculum
around open street map. The teacher (a former college associate from
many years ago) knows the basics so the kids get a taste. The problem is
I don't like the curriculum because they need to interface with the OSM
community - and I can't interface with the OSM community without
cursing. So one week 3 years ago I burned a lot of time trying to teach.
I can't teach kids. Plus a week from work (while only an hour a day - I
work for me) was a bit much.
Kids know (I can only speak to the US) "GIS" - they have smart phones.
They know location ("How do I get to a Coffee Shop") and the phone
routes them there. So the lessons don't have to start at "this is a
computer" which in some cases I have to do while teaching QGIS to adults.
The lessons just have to be simple. Easy. Update-able. QGIS is at a 1
year LTR. So once a year we update the materials. Maybe GVSig?
Three giant buttons on the FOSS4G4Teachers website: Help, Download, More
Help.
What ESRI is missing with this rollout is it's internet based. The
school I work with - internet is sporadic at best (I live in a city
where we have the ability to have 1 Gigabit Fiber to the house but
schools are left out). So online lessons will not work. Give them a
bootable disk with Lessons and Community. Someone go bother Mapbox/Carto
for some "internet" based something - see if they want to help carry it
farther. Maybe we have USB Sticks for order? Something easy and small.
In 1 year you start to change the noise.
Don't get me wrong - GIS is my focus. I still have to use ESRI Software.
It's good software. I come here for Community. We have that nailed down
- it's a time issue. Maybe a language issue also (english, spanish,
and......) . We've got everything else.
On 10/28/2016 10:16 AM, Hogan, Patrick (ARC-PX) wrote:
>
> +++++++++1
>
> Randy, you are a brilliant voice of reason.
>
> I’m sure the cat wants you to be free to speak.
>
> Glad it didn’t get your tongue. ;-)
>
> *From:*Discuss [mailto:discuss-bounces at lists.osgeo.org] *On Behalf Of
> *Randal Hale
> *Sent:* Friday, October 28, 2016 6:55 AM
> *To:* discuss at lists.osgeo.org
> *Subject:* Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] Sharing sad news from the web...
>
> If I can just chime in (I told my cat I wasn't).
>
> The kicker in this is ESRI is deeply entrenched everywhere. They've
> entire groups of people just focused on "giving to schools". I was at
> the helm of rolling out a full ESRI rollout to a school in 2012. We
> had a 50 seat lab setup. I ended up moving them over to FOSS4G 2 years
> ago - and I need to go back and update their setup (they don't know
> how). The school is Title 1 (which means the school is very poor). The
> computers are better than what they normally get - BUT - they will be
> using them longer than what they need to. They will be unable to run
> the next version of ESRI Software. The computers can still run FOSS4G
> software.
>
> The teachers here in the US (and I have no doubt this is the case
> everywhere) are stretched thin. That's what makes ESRI so nice. They
> show up and go "here is a curriculum (of sorts) and here is 'free'
> software". It's a short term win. They have people targeted to do just
> that.
>
> So what would Randy do (and I've thought about this more than I care
> to mention) to introduce FOSS4G into the schools:
>
> A bootable disk with FOSS4G software (I am partial to QGIS - other
> things exist) and not everything like the OSGEO Disk. A few select
> pieces of software with a purpose:
>
> * 10 lessons of 1 hour apiece to work through that are student
> oriented (maybe pick an age range - 12-16)
> o Start globally and work down to locally. Maybe we have
> different local datasets.
> * An explanation for the teachers. They don't understand like we do
> - they need us there for hand holding and encouragement. They can
> manage kids - We need to help manage the lessons. I'm not a
> teacher. I can teach adults - but not kids - it's a whole
> different game.
> * A spot where teachers can get the lessons (NOT GITHUB) and the
> disk (maybe we combine all things into a bootable USB stick).
> * Help - a place where they can get help (NOT GITHUB). My town has
> 30+ schools. If more than 1 does this I can't be everywhere. ESRI
> put out a call for Geomentors. We put out a call.
> * We have COMMUNITY - I don't believe ESRI currently does. They have
> an advertising budget. 20 years ago they had community. We have
> momentum now. Community is greater than an Advertising budget.
> * Advertise it. Ask for help from the teachers.
> * Update it.
>
> I know I'm asking for a lot - it's time intensive - but I think it's
> 100% doable. I go to speak at 2 colleges on GIS Day on nothing but
> FOSS4G.
>
> We've got all the pieces to make this work except time. I'll carve out
> some time if this gets going.
>
> I wished the cat had stopped me. Now I'm in it.
>
> On 10/28/2016 09:16 AM, Jeff McKenna wrote:
>
> As if someone is reading this ha, a tweet just came across my
> desk: https://twitter.com/GIS4Teachers/status/791981572991746048
>
> So, we need to also get into that huge K-12 market, plant the open
> seed early :) A challenge indeed.
>
> Think on this over the weekend,
>
> -jeff
>
>
>
>
> On 2016-10-27 12:36 PM, SERGIO ACOSTAYLARA wrote:
>
> Sadly, only ESRI seems to exist for some in the USA...Imagine the
> consequences of
> this:
> http://www.pobonline.com/articles/100610-gathering-up-geospatial-pros-to-meet-massive-market-growth
>
>
>
> Sergio Acosta y Lara
> Departamento de Geomática
> Dirección Nacional de Topografía
> Ministerio de Transporte y Obras Públicas
> URUGUAY
> (598)29157933 ints. 20329/20330
> http://geoportal.mtop.gub.uy/
>
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>
>
> --
> -----------------
> Randal Hale
> North River Geographic Systems, Inc
> http://www.northrivergeographic.com
> 423.653.3611rjhale at northrivergeographic.com <mailto:rjhale at northrivergeographic.com>
> twitter:rjhale
--
-----------------
Randal Hale
North River Geographic Systems, Inc
http://www.northrivergeographic.com
423.653.3611 rjhale at northrivergeographic.com
twitter:rjhale
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