ELDER Project - Helping classrooms in First Nations develop effective IT learning opportunities
ELDER -
Educational Linux Distribution Electronic Resources
Another KO-KNET project that dedicates itself to providing curriculum ready, user friendly, supported and most importantly FREE educational software tools for teachers, parents and students.
http://elderproject.knet.ca
A meeting place where new information and discussion regarding the ELDER project will be posted. If anyone has ever wondered what to do with their older computers. then the ELDER project is a great source of information for making these tools into great learning environments for your children! If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the facilitator Michael Mak at makamizz@gmail.com
Michael Mak is a Bachelor of Health Science Student in the Global Health Specialization from McMaster University. He is also part of the One Laptop Per Child project, an international program that seeks to provide the world’s poorest children with rugged, low cost, low power connected laptop to create self-empowered learning and connectivity. With the determined belief that education is the key social determinant for health, Michael with Keeywatinook Okimakanak (Northern Chiefs), K-NET and the Kwayaciiwin Education Resource Center created the ELDER project in hope to not only provide greater educational opportunities for students in remote and rural communities, but to also make learning more interactive and most of all enjoyable for students across Canada.
With ELDER, we hope to provide educators and students with the educational software tools necessary to transform their classroom computer into a healthy learning environment where everyone can learn, create and share for life. The ELDER project also extends beyond software – it is about creating better access to educational and job opportunities, creating a medium for health information dissemination and health literacy for youth, finding ways to preserve First Nations culture and language, and providing tools to direct attention to other social determinants of health such as poverty and inadequate housing conditions. ELDER is community owned and with generous support by KO-KNET, we hope to see the software delivered or installed in communities which request it. Most of all ELDER will remain free to everyone and open source, so that everyone can contribute, have access to, and improve for generations to come!
The aim of ELDER is to provide educators, parents and students with learning systems that contains the best free software available in education and child-friendly entertainment. Currently, the ELDER project is working to:
- Install open-source educational software in interested rural and remote First Nation schools in Ontario
- Create lesson plans for teachers and video tutorials on how to install and use available open source software
- Develop, promote and distribute the Portable Learning Environment (PLE), a USB that carries children’s software that can be easily booted from one computer to another
- Explore Linux Terminal Server Project (LTSP) which allows many students to simultaneously use the same computer. This technology is important as it allows the school to provide pupils access to computers witout purchasing or upgrading to expensive desktop machines.
Linux is an operating system for computers – an alternative to the Windows or Mac OS that may already exist on your computer. However, the main difference is that Linux is open source, which means that the source code (the language that the operating system is written in) is publicly available for inspection and even improvement. This means that Linux and its programs can be distributed freely for everyone to enjoy!
Just like how there are different flavours of ice-cream available, there are also different “flavours”, or “distributions” of Linux available for use. Some Linux distributions are light-weight, designed specifically for older computers but with maximal performance. Some other distributions include more comprehensive collections of software applications, and also support a wide variety of hardware devices. The ELDER project currently utilizes the Edubuntu/Ubuntu, SUGAR, and QIMO distributions.