Re: [Fsfe-uk] Membership

[ian]

On Wed, 2003-05-28 at 14:36, David Casal wrote:
> On Tue, 27 May 2003, ian wrote:
> 
> > Our initial link with Birmingham crossed the School HE/FE divide in the
> > following way. We were approached by a DTi scheme that gives grants to
> > small businesses. Birmingham Uni is the DTi consultant so we use our
> > small grant to get advice from them. In the course of that we got
> > talking about free software needs for schools so he said provide a wish
> > list for under-graduate projects - they are always looking for ideas. So
> > if we provide the prioritised needs list for education free software,
> > the universities can get their students to pick which ones they like the
> > sound of. They are then motivated by contributing something useful and
> > the school pool for free software grows. If there was some funding
> > available to co-ordinate this it would be a lot more effective. I even
> > had a US university E-mail me for the wish list so I guess there is
> > interest.We could keep track of which projects were being done,
> > completed etc on the schoolforge website making available rpms or
> > whatever for download when completed.
> 
> This is precisely what the JISC want the advisory service to take care of.
> Not only compiling and publishing (and maintaining) such a list, but
> actively promoting reviews, college/university involvement, etc.
> 
> If you don't mind, I'll mention your efforts (including theingots.org) in
> our presentation as a model for what could be done within a centralised
> FE/HE service.

Please do. I also have good links with the Specialists School initiative
which is a big DfES national project. Part of its remit is to improve
staying on rates and better prepare pre-16 pupils to be post 16
students. This network of schools could help provide anchor points for
this type of development as the Government White Paper singles them out
to provide leadership and innovation, particularly in IT, links with
industry and post 16 providers. 

More info http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/specialistschools/what_are/

If I can help in any way let me know. Harnessing student power could be
a very powerful ally for free software.

-- 
ian <address@hidden>