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Today we will discuss some free programs that teachers can use at the level of baccalaureate, especially in the area computers. |
The legal part
As everyone knows well in government institutions, all software that is installed on a computer must have original licenses in order to avoid sanctions by state or federal auditing bodies. Fortunately there is also another alternative, one that is free, inexpensive and offers the same quality as proprietary programs.
Free software
It is the name of the software that respects the freedom of all users who acquired the product and, therefore, once obtained, it can be freely used, copied, studied, modified, and redistributed in various ways. According to the Free Software Foundation, free software refers to the freedom of users to run, copy, distribute, study, modify software, and distribute modified software.
It guarantees the following freedoms:
- Freedom 0: the freedom to use the program, for any purpose.
- Freedom 1: the freedom to study how the program works and modify it, adapting it to your needs.
- Freedom 2: the freedom to distribute copies of the program, with which you can help your neighbor.
- Freedom 3 - The freedom to improve the program and make those improvements public to others, so that the entire community benefits.
The business behind free software is characterized by the offer of additional services to the software such as: its customization and / or installation, technical support, donations, sponsorships or as an element of corporate social responsibility; as opposed to the predominant license-based business model in closed source software.
GNU / Linux
It is one of the terms used to refer to the combination of the free kernel or kernel similar to Unix called Linux with the GNU system. Its development is one of the most prominent examples of free software; all its source code can be freely used, modified and redistributed by anyone under the terms of the GPL (GNU General Public License) and other free licenses.
Linux can work both in graphical environment and in console mode. The console is common in server distributions, while the graphical interface is geared towards both the home and business end user. Likewise, there are also desktop environments, which are a set of programs made up of windows, icons and many applications that facilitate the use of the computer. The most popular desktops in GNU / Linux are: GNOME, KDE, LXDE, Xfce, E-17, etc.
With all these brief definitions now we know that we are not pirating software so we can rest easy and install free programs on the machines we need.
Lack of knowledge or laziness
Ignorance is a factor that influences so that free software is not used to a greater extent. In the educational field, it is mainly due to the fact that higher institutions never use a live CD of a Linux distribution in basic computer science subjects. You simply just mention other operating systems in mere theory and work with Windows, Office, C ++ compilers, etc.
Another cause is laziness. By not giving them practice with live CDs because you think that it will not work in the student's work field, since proprietary programs are used at work. However, in this way the young people would have basic notions of computing and would not learn the steps to follow by heart. Believe me they will thank you infinitely.
What can we do?
In the subjects that make use of word processors, spreadsheets and slide presentations, the optimal solution that I recommend is to download LibreOffice from your Official Site and install it on the machines you need.
In the same way, for vector drawing subjects if the school has a CorelDraw license in your laboratory practices, I recommend working with Inkscape. Can download it Or use it as main software when you do not have a CorelDraw license.
If you teach basic computer science subjects, it is recommended that you download the ISO image and burn the CD or DVD of one of these projects:
- fedora: http://fedoraproject.org/es/get-fedora
- Ubuntu: http://www.ubuntu.com/download
- Linux Mint: http://www.linuxmint.com/download.php
Do not forget that there are also distributions specifically oriented to the educational field, as is the case of Edubuntu.
The activities that you are going to develop can be in pairs or thirds, depending on the number of students you have in a classroom and what you want to spend on CDs. Another activity that could be carried out is to assign a documentary research on the Linux operating system, distributions, advantages, etc. In case the school has obsolete computer equipment, they can rehabilitate these machines by doing light distribution installation practices such as Lubuntu o Puppy Linux.
In case of an animation elaboration subject give an opportunity to Synfig studio that can be considered a program as good as Flash.
Another of the subjects that come into play is the creation of HTML pages. In it you can follow two paths: the notepad or a web design software. If you choose the first alternative, there is no crime to pursue since all operating systems natively include a plain text editor. But if you want to use an application like Dreamweaver for ease, I suggest you try Bluefish, which will do a good job of creating HTML pages. You can also complement the subject with PHP programming (download XAMPP) to make dynamic pages that will serve your boys in their future projects.
If you are the terror of programming and want to teach a language, the recommended options for those who are just starting out are Python and Rubí, which are characterized by their ease of syntax, they are fast to learn and cross-platform.
But if you are one of those who prefer to teach the old way with C or C ++ you can teach your kids in the same way as they would in Windows. It is enough to install the appropriate compiler and a text editor that allows quick and easy editing of the code, as is the case with Gedit or Kate.
As for programming fundamentals, you can make use of the tool DAY for the elaboration of flow diagrams and thus dispense with the use of paper and pencil.
As my esteemed readers can appreciate the alternatives are given, what remains is to give free software a chance, get all the game you can from them and remember that the limitations are up to you.
Very true that of laziness, I feel at first in that group of people but that changed since the beginning of last year. I have learned a lot about Free Sw (but not enough) and that motivates me to keep learning. Apart from that, this ideology (if that is what it can be called) has opened many doors for me and has made me meet great people with whom I share my tastes for computing 🙂
As OScar Gonzalez says, there will be time for people to realize how wonderful the world of Free Software is!
: )
PS: By the way the post is very good!
It is an excellent article, the bad thing is that schools do not allow that, for my part, when I was a speaker at Flisol, Escom, IPN, the computers that were in them had ubuntu, but of course, a very old version, in My schools that pass, a bachelor and currently vocational, the computers have only Windows, in my current school it offers me to install Ubuntu and Windows 64 bits in dual boot, since they use 32 in with 8GB of ram, it simply is not used thanks to windows, for all 50 computers, they just didn't accept. With this I want to get to the point that, even if they do not accept, we have to fight, one day we will get to spread more free software in schools and everywhere.
With every attempt and word we spread more.