Category: Primary School

Scholarpack (Open Source) review

Posted on by John McLear

Blue = Scholarpack’s response

Orange = my response to Scholarpack.

Scholarpack is an open source alternative to Serco CMIS and Capita SIMS.  The main advantage to an open source project is cost of licensing & that any developer can easily jump in and add modules/make changes. The cost saving to an average school moving from CMIS to SIMS is £1000 per year (Excluding training and transfer costs).  I wrote this review and passed it over to Scholarpack to respond to inline.  I felt like it was an unfair review and wanted to give them a chance to respond so you have a balance arguement!  Enjoy!

Do Scholarpack really know what open source is?

I get the feeling Scholarpack doesn’t understand how to work with open source communities.  There is no sense of community around the project..

Scholarpack: I would be interested to see the clause in the GNU Affero license that
dictates that we build and maintain a community around the software. We provide the open source release pro bono and are very busy with our main business activities – providing a free MIS to UK schools.

I responded: True Open source is dependent on a community supporting and maintaining it. This is the fundamental core of successful open source project.

and the documentation is confusing and incorrect (as you can see in this video — note this video is one hour long and extremely boring):

Scholarpack: There were a few errors in the docs., I admit that. Those errors would not have prevented you logging into ScholarPack had you maintained a positive attitude from the outset. Bland statements like ‘having so many dependencies is ridiculous’ are misleading to your audience. The reason for the dependencies is simple, don’t install them all, and some or all parts of ScholarPack won’t work – simple. An MIS is a complex beast.

My Response: My point was that each dependency had to installed individually and that made the installation task a poor experience..

Scholarpack: If all else fails, ask us for installation support, which we offered you publicly via Twitter but you appear to have ignored the offer.

My response: The docs should cover how to do an install without any additional support.

So I spent 3 hours making this video and shared it with Scholarpack.  Scholarpack promptly responded with updated docs so I went ahead and tried the install again and low and behold, still wont install as you can see in the video below:

Scholarpack: Look John, if I had no intention of ever getting software installed I could make it look un-installable too. The fact that you didn’t get it installed is, well, frankly meaningless to me and I suspect to many in
your audience.

My Response: I can be the judge of what is meaningful or not for my audience thanks.

Scholarpack: You also failed to ask for installation help as I offered you over Twitter, which we provide FREE even to the point of doing it for you via SSH, as we did in the example you quote below in Colombia. If you had asked us, you would now be reviewing the functionality of Scholarpack and not posting this irrelevance. The very fact that you did not ask for help on installation only strengthens our belief that you never had any intention of getting ScholarPack installed successfully.

My response: I will quote myself: “The docs should cover how to do an install without any additional support.”

The docs only work for one OS and are painfully complicated..  How about a nice apt-get/yum install scholarpack installation?

Scholarpack: How about you do it and release it, that’s the ethos of OS you know, take it and run with it. We don’t HAVE to do it all for you. That would be nice of course, but so would having extra time to spend with my wife – there’s always a trade off.

My Response: I’m afraid until I can actually use Scholarpack there is no incentive for developers to on the project. Also because you have decided to focus the hosting internally there is no incentive for third parties to fund any development as there are fewer opportunities for revenue stream. It’s a carrot/stick thing.

Scholarpack: Since all our servers are on Centos and we can guarantee that ScholarPack works perfectly on that platform it makes sense to only release for that platform – and support for that. I don’t believe we are the first developers to try to guarantee QOS. Perhaps a contributor could adapt for an apt-get install. Or is it our job to provide software that will run on every distribution known to man?

My Response: Again.. Carrot. None. Plus c’mon. rpm, apt, msi. 90% Done.

But why would scholarpack make it difficult to install scholarpack?

Because it appears that Scholarpack don’t want you to install and host your own version, Scholarpack want to host it for you.  Oh and charge you for the convenience..

Scholarpack Bearing in mind our target market is UK schools:

1/We offer FREE installation support for the open source version, we
have no commercial interest in schools not being able to use ScholarPack. – Free installation support is great!

2/We do NOT sell software – Really? What are the modules then?

3/We do NOT charge schools for hosting – You don’t charge schools for hosting? So a school can ring up tomorrow and can get Scholarpack hosted absolutely free? This is the case as confirmed by Scholarpack, free hosting and free support!  This is excellent.  Just remember Scholarpack open source doesn’t have the modules with it so you will need to pay for those separate….

4/We do NOT take any money AT ALL from schools – /me scratches his head.. I could swear I have seen a price list from you guys…  Yep, here it is.  This isn’t the case for enterprise however this is a tie in so approach with caution.

I hope that’s clear now. Yes we want schools to host with us. We can guarantee quality of service as well as first class support. But they won’t be invoiced by ScholarPack for such services. – I think I see where this is going….

What is the point in open source if you can’t actually access the source on a dev server to make the changes?  There is none and it is because of this that Scholarpack fails to deliver at being an open source project.

John, you are an awful guy.

So I guess you have read this thinking “Wow, John really hates Scholarpack”.  Far from it. We need it, seriously, we need an open source MIS.  ICT budgets are in crippled by Serco and Capita’s relentless historical greed for profits and the closed source model has seriously stifled creativity and new business models (See the SMS gateways as a perfect example of small business’ being pushed out of the market).

Scholarpack: That’s why we have developed a totally new business model for this type of software.

I really want Scholarpack(or any open source MIS) to be successful.  Seriously, I think the Scholarpack team have some work to do..  Their sales pitch based on it being an open source MIS is a bit of a joke..

Scholarpack: We do NOT have a sales pitch based on it being an Open Source MIS. We advertise it as a FREE MIS for schools and also happen to have a pro bono open source release.

..and historically this has been the case, some of you may know about the spat I had with Scholarpack because they didn’t actually release any source code for a long period of time.

Scholarpack: We were rewriting some large parts of the application. Why would we release a half-baked solution? When we were happy with the changes, we put up a download ASAP.

Change in this field is needed and change should be transparent and challenged by people like me so that schools don’t run into these conflicts at a later date.

Scholarpack: There are no conflicts here. All ScholarPack have done is give away years of development for free. We fail to understand why we are being attacked for doing so.
Please stop distracting us from our main business – providing a FREE MIS to schools.

I shouldn’t really of published this review because it’s pretty obvious I upset Scholarpack…  I feel bad that they feel distracted and not benefited by my feedback or requests..   I do quite a few frank reviews and have never sugar coated important issues or given a positive review to something based on an idea or principle but this time I think I might just do that..  The way I see it is that Scholarpack are missing things but all the things Scholarpack are missing could be provided by a good open source community.  Yes I say that hosting is now biased to Scholarpack but only biased, not impossible.  That is a huge step forwards in any stretch of the imagination and Scholarpack should be praised for that.

So my advice to you if you are an educator is to keep an eye on scholarpack and my advice to you if you are a developer or open source contributor is to have a go, try to build a community.  I personally don’t see Scholarpack being the correct home for me but I think it could be a fantastic project..

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Did the xbox 360 just become a useful writing tool?

Posted on by John McLear

I’m not sure how much support for html5 the xbox 360 web browser has? It would be cool to try it out with something like PrimaryPad

I would love to see if kids are quicker are typing with a keyboard or an xbox 360 controller.

More info at http://circboard.info

Would a “kinnected” classroom damage the OLPC goal

Posted on by primaryt

The Microsoft Kinect device has various practical uses in the classroom. I have blogged about it a few times but some thinking today has made me question if the focus we should have in a classroom is towards many to one or if we should be putting more focus and investment into OLPC.

I was thinking if you were given a choice to control the teachers white board would you rather do it with a device in front of you or would you rather do it with some sort of augmented control on your desk/in the air?

One to many or many to one?

I think that personalized learning dictates each child should have their own device but that only really currently makes sense if the kids have learned fine motor skills to control the devices.

Story telling etc. can receive additional immersion with real time physical space feedback. That is where the Kinect comes into it’s own IMHO.. Before any Apple fan girls start moaning that I’m jumping on the MS bandwagon I think you should remember that I’m talking about the Kinect like it is the only space aware tool available because IT IS. The depth perception market isn’t an iPod style market where Apple out-market Sony even though there product is inferior. If there were other options I would be considering them.

Problems with space

The huge problem is that Kinect requires a huge amount of physical space in the room for the user. Sure it can handle 2 or 3 people but it would struggle to differentiate between different users(pupils) in a reception/nursery class.

So where does a Kinect style control fit in?

Are classrooms too small?  Various Educational Technology Leaders are currently experimenting with it’s place in the classroom.  Consolarium up in Scotland powered by the mighty Derek Robertson are doing some fantastic things and I’m looking forward to their feedback.

Is the Kinect unable to differentiate between enough users?  I think this is more likely the case.  So if it could that would be awesome..

Is 1 kinect per child an unrealistic expecation?

Of course it is, initially..  But in the future when Kinect type technology is included with OLPC why not consider the entire desk space virtual space?  How about multiple kinects in a classroom (one in each corner) being able to compute 3d space.  With this type of connectivity the kinect could figure out which desk a pupil is at and turn that desk into a control mechanism to either a) collaborate with the teacher on the IWB or to collaborate with other pupils…

What is the likely first step for Kinect outside of the XBOX world?

I have given the PT Installs team a budget to develop a new product that is useful for EYFS as we think that is the initial location where the Kinect plugged into a PC will be most fruitful.   We want to move away from the console lock ins for various obvious reasons.   I can’t say for obvious political reasons what our first project will be but expect to see something in and around the 2013/14 period.

I would expect the initial cost to be around the £500 mark which is roughly the cost of 2 devices per child and should (in theory) be able to leverage a large amount of content already available on the market.

So will a “kinnected” classroom damage the OLPC goal?

In theory it should aid it by giving kids a more natural way of interacting and becoming confident with using technology.

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Comedy in Primary Learning

Posted on by John McLear

Russell Howard is funny right? At least I think so.. I also think that Billy Connolly is funny but is his “strong” use of English appropriate for Primary age kids? Probably not.. This has posed a new problem for our Safe Search filter..

Sure we can check meta content such as comments and categories for profanities but most video content doesn’t have subtitles completed yet and let’s face it no engine Google can write will ever be able to detect curse words delivered by the Glaswegian king of comedy..

So what are my options?

I can block comedy..  Here are the current search results on Primary School TV For Billy Connoly.  Kudos to Paul Scott for pointing this out.  I’m tempted to email Billy to see what he thinks.  Would he deem his stand-up appropriate for 5-12 year olds?  I doubt it.

Or I can block stand-up..  Blocking either of these makes me feel a little dead inside..  I mean, as a kid..  I LOVED comedy & stand up..  Yep it was a bit offensive at times but non of it made me a lesser person..  So here is my compromise..  If a kid wants to get to video content containing stand up they can still search for it using Safe Google Search and find it through there but I am removing the video content from Primary School TV…

To summarize.

Stand-up is being removed from Primary School TV.  Sorry, I know this sucks..  I will review it in a few months to see if any useful edu content has been filtered….

Note:  TED talks for example are not classified as stand-up.

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10 useful free services for UK Primary School ICT Co-ordinators

Posted on by primaryt

In 2010 I worked on a bucket load of free projects that should be useful for ICT leaders in Primary Schools. Here they are..

1. Important Dates – A simple way to find out any important events coming up in the UK.

2. Satpin – Satpin is a simple way to share links with KS1 children. That is all. No fuss, no hype.

3. Primary School TV – The easy way to find and watch TV / video clips in your classroom. Primary School TV has over 1 million videos specifically filtered from youtube, bbc iplayer, bbc learningzone, howthingsworks and more!

4. ICT Freebies Mailing list – Join 4000+ other ICT co-ordinators and get your weekly free ICT service here!

5. Primary Games Arena – The easiest way to find a suitable Game to support your pupils learning.

6. Primary School Blog Feed – Looking for inspiration for how to get started blogging? Just steal/borrow ideas from other schools. Don’t worry, we won’t tell anyone 🙂 If you want to get started blogging you might want to check out PrimaryBlogger

7. My School Holidays – Looking for your school holiday dates and want an easy way to share them?

8. Searchypants – Looking for a way to increase your e-Safety whilst promoting the image of your school and easily sharing links to websites?

9. Safe Search – Safe Search engine for Primary school relevant Video, Games, Websites and Images used by 8000 schools worldwide.

10. Classdroid – The easiest way to record pupil assessment, this app is for Android devices and is currently in its infancy.

11. ICT Leaders blogs. Okay so I went over 10. Whoops. Ever wondered what other Primary School ICT leaders are up to? This is a collection of all of the known ICT leaders blogs.

12. Yipes.. I forgot another great one.. This list of great free web2 alternatives for primary schools should help you find a web based free alternative to applications such as Microsoft Word and other germs.

That’s all folks.. Enjoy!