[Year 12 IPM] Database software for 2007

[Fitzpatrick, Michael]

A word of warning - BASE is not a mature piece of software.

I have trialled Open Office BASE this year with year 11's and found it
to be a bit buggy. Some data disappearing, not saving properly and not
displaying reports properly - students certainly expose the bugs quickly
as they do not use the software in the proper and correct way.  And also
it is not a complete relational database (basic stuff only). You cannot
do a lot that you could easily do with Access - experiment extensively
yourself first.

Mike

-----Original Message-----
From: ipm-bounces at edulists.com.au [mailto:ipm-bounces at edulists.com.au]
On Behalf Of Cameron Bell
Sent: Thursday, 12 October 2006 1:00 PM
To: Year 12 Information Technology Processing and Management
Teachers'Mailing List
Subject: Re: [Year 12 IPM] Database software for 2007

Couldn't agree more, the more I use Open Office, the more I like it. 
Once you get over the "Office doesn't do it that way" you appreciate 
that a lot of the differences are actually more productive (IMHO)
The persistent data sources for mail merges are very handy and context 
sensitive dialogs are only just starting to be a part of MSOffice with 
the upcomming version.
The major benefits I see are:
the open file formats - long term accessibility.
multi platform (Win, Mac AND Linux)
Oh and did you mention it was free for the whole school community?   ;)

Far more beneficial for students to be able to access the same apps at 
home than only at school. If they can do more exploration/ development 
at home, you break the mindset that some have of only learning and doing

in the classroom with the teacher.
Cheers
Cameron


Mark Kelly wrote:
> [7th attempt - our whole school has been blacklisted by SpamCop - and 
> we hope we are now off the blacklist!]
>
> Hi all.  Here's a frisky cat to throw among the pigeons.
>
> I'm curious what database management software will people be using for
> ITA Unit 3 Outcome 1 next year?
>
> At the VITTA presentation I did on ITA in August, I recommended that
if
> we got organised and agreed on a standard tool we could be much more
> efficient when sharing tutorials, sample tasks, tips and hints, sample
> outcomes etc - all of which will be a big in 2007 as we adjust to the
> new course.
>
> The main DBMS contenders I see are:
>
>
> --- MS Access
> - Access is not a standard part of the average MS Office suite
(AFAIK),
> so many kids are unlikely to have it at home, so it would be hard to
> assign homework or practice tasks using it.
> - It costs big money if kids have to buy it for home.
> - It costs big money for non-government schools.
> - For most people, it's not as easy to learn as Filemaker is.
>
>
> --- Filemaker
> - Even fewer kids are likely to have Filemaker at home, so assigning
> home practice would be nearly impossible.
> - It's easy to learn (especially creating programming scripts) and
easy
> to use.
> - It costs big money if kids had to buy it for home.
> - It costs big money for schools to buy.
>
> (Having said that, it's the database I use for McKinnon's reporting
> package, and the database I'm most skilled with.)
>
>
> --- OpenOffice.org Base
> - It's FREE for students and schools.
> - It's compatible with MS Access (and can read Access database files)
> - It's pretty much as easy to use as Access.
> - There's some online support for it, but more is coming and we can
work
> as a team to develop all we need!
> - Did I mention it's FREE?
> - It comes with other open source replacements for Word, Excel,
> Powerpoint, drawing software etc.
> - It even has its own equivalent of VBA for programming macros.
> - Oh yeah - and it's FREE!
>
>
> --- MySQL
> I only include this because I've heard of one school planning to use
it.
>  I would not recommend it because it's far too complex for kids to
> learn from scratch in VCE: too much programming required to get the
job
> done.  Way overkill, IMHO.
>
>
>
> If you get some time as the year winds down, how about getting a copy
of
> (http://openoffice.org) - it's about 50M to download, and is available
> via WWW and Bittorrent.
>
> Have a play, see what you think.
>
> Cheers
>
> Mark K
>


Important -
This email and any attachments may be confidential. If received in
error, please contact us and delete all copies. Before opening or using
attachments check them for viruses and defects. Regardless of any loss,
damage or consequence, whether caused by the negligence of the sender or
not, resulting directly or indirectly from the use of any attached files
our liability is limited to resupplying any affected attachments. Any
representations or opinions expressed are those of the individual
sender, and not necessarily those of the Department of Education &
Training..
_______________________________________________
http://www.edulists.com.au - FAQ, resources, subscribe, unsubscribe
IPM Mailing List kindly supported by
http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au - Victorian Curriculum and Assessment
Authority and
http://www.vitta.org.au  - VITTA Victorian Information Technology
Teachers Association Inc


DISCLAIMER:This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify the system manager. Please note that any views or opinions presented in this email are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the School. Finally, the recipient should check this email and any attachments for the presence of viruses. The School accepts no liability for any damage caused by any virus transmitted by this email