[Offtopic] GIMP

[Jim Maunder]

At 09:31 AM 8/03/2007, you wrote:

>This has been an issue in every school I have worked in.
>
>Still don't know what the solution is?
>
>Shoot them all, maybe?
>
>Mark
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: offtopic-bounces at edulists.com.au
>[mailto:offtopic-bounces at edulists.com.au] On Behalf Of Jim Maunder
>Sent: Thursday, 8 March 2007 9:25 AM
>To: Information Technology Teachers' Offtopic Mailing List
>Subject: RE: [Offtopic] GIMP
>
>Now all you've got to do is stop them wingeing about not having Macs.

Look at it the other way - if it was an all-Mac school the IT 
teaching staff would winge about not having PCs. I think it's about 
what the users perceive is the standard for their industry. The 
reality is that Macs and PCs are functionally interchangeable. It's 
just that PCs are easier to look after.

Now about MS Publisher - you teachers need to think about what you 
are teaching/fostering - is it DTP skills, or subject research 
skills. I'm sure that when I was in primary school doing a 'project' 
the main purpose of the task was not learning to cut out pictures and 
glue them onto cardboard. However, there are probably useful skills 
to be gained from laying out text and pictures on a mark-up board, 
working out how to centre text without using the 'justify' button etc.

On a similar vein there are plenty of bookkeepers and accountants who 
were drawn to their professions because they loved the physical 
process of writing numbers in columns and adding them up in their 
heads, and plenty of Engineers and Architects who love drawing plans 
with pencil and tracing paper. (I was one of these in a previous 
life) They have had these processes removed from their lives by 
computers, and while some have taken to the new way of working, 
others still like the old way. So it is with publishing.

Just this old fart's waffle - now get back to work!

rgds
Jim




-----------------------------------------------------------
We have to use this Disclaimer

This message, including any attachments, is provided without
responsibility in law for its accuracy or otherwise and without
assumption of a duty of care by the School. Whilst every attempt has
been made to ensure material in this email message is free from
computer viruses or other defects, the attached files are provided,
and may only be used, on the basis that the user assumes all
responsibility for use of the material transmitted. This email is
intended for the use of the named individual or entity and may
contain confidential and privileged information. Any dissemination,
distribution or copying by anyone other than the intended recipient
of this email is strictly prohibited. If this email has been
received in error, then please notify Ruyton Girls' School
immediately and destroy the original message.

Views, opinions, etc. expressed reflect those of the author and not
Ruyton Girls' School
-----------------------------------------------------------

Jim Maunder
Ruyton Girls School
Melbourne, Australia