Free educational software inspires youth

Free open-source educational resources and educational software are now being used in Sandy Lake, Pikangikum, Kingfisher Lake, Fort Severn and Poplar Hill.
“There are a lot of positive responses, not just from the teachers who are pretty surprised there is this amount of software available for free, but also from the kids,” said Michael Mak, the McMaster University global health student who installed the resources and software in the five communities as part of the ELDERS project he developed with Keewaytinook Okimakanak, K-Net and Kwayaciiwin Education Resource Centre over the past three months. “The kids are really engaged in using the computers for learning instead of just going onto Facebook or going onto other sites on the Internet. Now they have actual games they can play, not only as fun but it can also help to promote learning in a particular way.”
Mak said the resources and software are all designed to operate on a Linux operating system and available for free on the Internet.
“Hopefully this educational software will be used in the classroom for teachers,” Mak said.
But there are also fun activities, he added, such as Tux Math, a math arcade game, Tux Paint, a children-oriented paint game, and Tux Typing, a typing arcade game.
“Hopefully this software will promote literacy, numeracy and IT education,” he said.
Mak and members of the ELDERS team installed a Linux operating system called Ubuntu on computers at schools in the five communities while also updating and repairing some of the One Laptop Per Child computers in the communities. They also repaired some old school computers to operate on the Linux platform to give the schools more equipment to use the software on.
“A lot of the teachers find it very useful to have this kind of software,” Mak said. “So we’re trying to get the kids to play the activities and learn to use the software and develop computer skills, not necessarily just going onto the Internet.”
Mak said the ELDER project will run for as long as people are willing to install the Linux operating system and open-source resources and software onto computers.
“In January, we will be training the youth workers on how to install the software in the computers,” Mak said. “You don’t need to pay for this software so it builds the type of capacity where there is no dependency on corporations or corporate software.”
Brain Beaton, K-Net’s coordinator, said the ELDER project provides community members with new choices and strategies for delivering different programs and teaching options.
“Michael’s work in developing the www.ELDERproject.knet.ca site supported the development of a great online sharing resource for using these tools in the classroom as well as supporting the use of these tools in several First Nations,” Beaton said.
The ELDER project is just one of the six new web-based initiatives Mak developed while on his three-month placement at KO-K-Net. The other projects were DiabeTEXTS (see related story), One Laptop Per Child Little Green Machines, Here for You, KO Health Careers and the KNET Videoconferencing Site.
The OLPC Little Green Machines project assists educators and students to maximize the learning potential of the XO laptop, which was designed and built especially for children in developing countries, in their classrooms as well as promoting the five principles of the One Laptop Per Child organization: child ownership, low age range from six to 12, digital saturation in a given population, connection with other nearby computers and free and open source tools.
The Here for You project is a sexual health and wellness circle which contains: workshop materials for educators; sexual health information for First Nations teens and parents; HIV and Me, a First Nations guide to HIV and AIDs for youth; a collection of useful print outs for health professionals as well as educators; an anonymous question form that goes directly to a nurse at Northwestern health clinic; and links to important organizations and other websites for more extensive info.