[Aust-NZ] Re: Schools

[Jody Garnett]

There has been a move in South Africa OSGeo list to pull high-school 
course materials around a desktop application. I was a bit sad not to be 
able to submit a proposal since I am not from that country. My 
understanding is a QGis developer has gone ahead with the work here 
(http://www.gissa.org.za/sig/education/school-gis).

I would love to put together something similar for the Australian market 
where lots of publica data appears to be available :-)
Jody
While not as easy to use as Arramagong you will find that 
http://www.gisvm.com/ is slightly more up to date.

Cameron Shorter wrote:
> Hello Graeme from the Australian/New Zealand chapter of the Open 
> Source Geospatial Foundation.
>
> We have had interest in education from a number of sectors in 
> Australia, including Universities and TAFE. I'm currently seriously 
> considering developing material for TAFE and Universities commercially 
> (as part of http://lisasoft.com ).
> I hadn't thought about high schools yet. I'm not sure what sort of 
> material you would be looking for to teach the children?
>
> As a start, you might want to download and try the Geospatial Open 
> Source LiveDVD, which runs off the CD without effecting your computer 
> (similar to Ubuntu linux). Download the latest Arramagong iso image at:
> http://download.osgeo.org/livedvd/
>
> This shows a number of powerful open source applications which you can 
> play around with and give to your class.
>
> Tyler Mitchell (OSGeo) wrote:
>> Dear Graeme,
>> It's great to hear of your interest in GIS and related technologies.  
>> I have a few ideas for you, depending on your level of interest and 
>> time you have several options.
>>
>> As you are likely aware, our organisation is solely focused on Free 
>> and Open Source software - without proprietary licensing and at no 
>> cost to use or develop.  We believe that learning to use these tools 
>> is beneficial to any student for several reasons.  With this in mind 
>> we started an Education Committee to help find/catalog and promote 
>> curriculum for use in schools.  This is still a young initiative, but 
>> worth following and introducing yourself.
>> Join the discussion list here:
>> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/edu_discuss
>> Also many links here to our education projects:
>> http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Education_and_Curriculum_Committee
>>
>> You might already be aware but we have an active Australia-New 
>> Zealand local group. I encourage you to also discuss with them:
>> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/aust-nz
>>
>> They are part of organizing our major conference event for next year, 
>> to be held in Sydney.  If you would like to connect with that group, 
>> please let me know.  I'm cc:'ing a couple of our involved Aussies to 
>> this email.
>>
>> Also, we have an international network of service providers who might 
>> be able to help, if you are in need.  You can search for them based 
>> on technology or country here:
>> http://www.osgeo.org/search_profile
>>
>> I hope this helps, don't hesitate to ask for more information.
>> Best wishes,
>> Tyler
>>
>> Tyler Mitchell
>> Executive Director
>> Open Source Geospatial Foundation
>> tmitchell at osgeo.org
>> P: +1-250-277-1621
>> M: +1-250-303-1831
>>
>> On 11-Nov-08, at 1:52 PM, Karabar Distance Education Centre wrote:
>>
>>> Good morning,
>>> I am a high school teacher at Karabar High, a public high school in 
>>> NSW, Australia.  We are currently looking at developing basic 
>>> knowledge, understanding and application of GIS for classroom use 
>>> and educational purposes.  There are many things happening in GIS 
>>> and education in NSW but most of it is go and find out for yourself 
>>> or buy this software application or data.
>>> I am wondering if you are able to assist me with my request for 
>>> basic introductory information on GIS to allow me and my faculty to 
>>> develop this level of understanding.  We have numerous ideas about 
>>> GIS in the classroom however, our base level knowledge is almost 
>>> non-existant.
>>> Any assistance would be appreciated.  Many thanks and I look forward 
>>> to your response.
>>>
>>> Regards
>>> Graeme Sixsmith
>>> Head Teacher Social Sciences Faculty
>>> Karabar High School