Edubuntu must review its core focus

I’m saying this because it seems there is a lot of enthusiasm on reviving Edubuntu as a project. Obviously this is not a bad thing but with the onset of excitement of jump starting the project anew, it might not be able to focus on what the project aims to achieve, if its still intact. There is no need to change its name nor its technology features, but there are some improvements that can be done.

It should also review how it wants to play in the world of technology in education. Before, having it focus on LTSP was a valuable proposition because it enabled organizations with old hardware to still deliver an educational environment. But with the spread of cheap netbooks in the market, and a unique deployment model established by outfits like OLPC and Sugar Labs, a new model of delivery model is available.

I was involved with Edubuntu from the start and did some contributions, but I can say that one of the things that made me inactive to the project is because I felt it has lost focus on what it wants to achieve. Jordan Erickson pretty much summarizes what the community aspect of what Edubuntu should be.

My experience with Edubuntu locally has been mixed; nobody had any use for LTSP because most organizations didn’t even have the budget to have a server and only have decent desktop hardware then. I am not undermining the amazing work that the LTSP folks have done in Edubuntu. But a big majority over here agreed that its all about the mix and matching applications and how curriculum can be enhanced with such. That’s one big reason why there is a growing interest on Sugar and Sugar on a Stick. We’ve had some success in deploying such, but we are still in the process of shaping the learning environment with constant communication between the technologists and the educators. This shaping feature is very vital to us in knowing what will work rather than accepting a boxed solution. Of course, we currently have the tools to do this environment shaping, but there could be a more optimized solution for this that can be used by the non-techs. Other environments may have a use for LTSP and could even be the core feature if necessary.

The last point of argument aside from the delivery model and customization options is of course the educators that would be involved. Edubuntu is a great piece of technology that still attracts a lot of interest from educators (I still receive emails about it, locally and abroad giving suggestions), but it lacks the best practices of educators (which other projects have already established – K12LTSP has tons). There are definitely some things Edubuntu can pick up from other projects and learn.