Using Ubuntu Linuxat the

American International School

Kevin Miller, Jr.American International School

http://www.ais.edu.vn

About American International School

AIS is a private college-preparatory school providing an American education to students in Saigon

Offers American curriculum in English

Student makeup includes Vietnamese and International Students

I currently teach 8th, 11th and 12th graders as a part-time ICT teacher

Why Linux at AIS?

Gives AIS students an opportunity to use another operating system

Makes students less dependent on Windows

Prepares them for US overseas study

Many US universities use Linux

Personal bias

I want my students to learn Linux

History of Linux at AIS

In the 2007-2008 school year, my 10th and 11th Graders used PCLinuxOS with VMWare Player

Students learned to SSH'd my PC-BSD Apache server for a couple web projects

Virtualbox (Linux Mint)(Ken using PCLinuxOS)

All in Command Line

Students not allowed to use the GUI

All tasks must be completed in the Command Line

All images were edited with Imagemagick

(My students got used to Konsole)

How I got then interested in Linux?

iPhone released at beginning of school year

Convinced students that they could unlock iPhone on their own

They succeeded!!!

Got them hooked when I explain iPhone (BSD) and Linux similar

Initial Problems

VMWare Player was slow on the laptops

Not allowed to install Linux on school laptops

Virtualbox slow on shared school server at new campus

20 minute bootups

Students forced to use Putty

SSH to PC-BSD server

2008-2009 School Year

11th and 12th Graders required to use laptops or netbooks at AIS

Asus promotion for studentsEee PC 1000 discounted at $450 US

Not popular with faculty, students, and parentsNobody knew how to use Linux

EXCEPT ME!!!

2nd Quarter return to Linux

With Ubuntu

My Class Requirements

11th and 12th Graders must bring laptops or netbooks to class

Students must install Ubuntu Linux 8.10:

Inside Virtualbox (with Window systems),

As a dual partition with Windows, or

As a dual partition in their NetbooksUbuntu eee 8.04.1

Students must keep Window partitions

Other AIS teachers use Microsoft applications

Why Ubuntu Linux?

They already know about Ubuntu

Easy to install

Great Disk Partitioner

Nice eye candy

Compiz really sells

Easy to use

Can use it at home to work on class projects

Students Installing Ubuntu (I)

Ubuntu 8.10 install on laptop with LiveCD

Ubuntu eee 8.04.1 install onEeePC 1000 with unetbootin

LiveUSB

Students Installing Ubuntu (II)

Will need two full weeks to install Ubuntu on all laptops

What will they use Ubuntu for?

Command Line

Install LAMP

Web development with XHTML and CSS

GIMP

Python

Popular last school year

DjangoStudents working on Python projects

Conclusion

11th and 12th Graders will have two full school years of Linux experience

Hope to introduce Linux to 8th Graders

Use web development and netbooks as carrot

Kids love to make websites

Other AIS ICT teachers interested in using Linux in the classroom

Kevin Miller, Jr.

Director – Research & DevelopmentVinaConsulting

http://www.vina-consulting.com

Managing DirectorVscapeone

http://www.vscapeone.com