Private St. Louis school goes Linux

[LinuxMint-4]

Private St. Louis school goes Linux
Jul. 01, 2008

http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS5933193315.html

A private school in St. Louis, Mo. is increasingly choosing Linux for the computers it supplies to students and faculty, according to laptop supplier Lenovo. Students at the Whitfield School are using Linux about 86 percent of the time now, Lenovo says, up from 50 percent three years ago.


Lenovo has supplied about 600 laptops to the Whitfield School, it says, including systems that run both Linux and Windows. Whitfield started its PC program in 2005, and this year achieved its goal of supplying each student in grades six through 12 with their own laptop, it says.

Citing a study done by the Whitfield School, Lenovo says that by the end of 2006, "students using ThinkPads spent 50 percent of their time on the PC in the Linux environment." That figure reportedly increased to 75 percent by the end of 2007, and 86 percent by the end of 2008.

Mike Schmedlen, education industry executive for Lenovo believes that Linux adoption in schools is on the rise, in part because Linux PCs work well with educational management software like Blackboard and the open source Moodle course management stack. He commented, "We're seeing a groundswell movement toward Linux and open source in education. Schools want to supply a twenty-first century computing environment."

The Whitfield School is an exclusive private school, but Linux uptake is also happening in public school systems, according to Schmedlen. He said, "The San Diego Unified School District has a program for 1:1 computing [story], and it is migrating exclusively toward Linux."

Alex Inman, diretor of technology at the Whitfield School, stated, "Lenovo support for Linux has helped us achieve our 1:1 computing goals within the first three years of the Whitfield PC program."

Translation: The school was set on supplying Linux, and being able to buy off-the-shelf systems pre-installed with Linux enabled them to do so much faster. Lenovo began pre-installing SUSE on select ThinkPad models in August of 2007, just prior to the beginning of the school year.

[LinuxMint-4]

http://www.centredaily.com/business/tec ... 89787.html

Whitfield School Closes Books on First Year with Every Student Participating in Innovative 1:1 Linux ThinkPad Computing Program

Lenovo today announced that Whitfield School, an independent school for grades 6-12 in St. Louis, MO., has successfully completed its first school year operating a 1:1 computing program (one computer for every student, grades 6-12) utilizing more than 600 Lenovo ThinkPad notebooks to power the school's innovative use of Linux.

Whitfield's students and faculty utilize Linux on their Lenovo ThinkPads to access applications that enhance the student's learning experience. For example, 11th grade English classes use the notebooks to design book covers that visually depict a "truth" in the literature they are reading. Spanish and French classes at Whitfield use audio tools to record and listen to conversations in different languages.

"Lenovo understands the needs of educators to have cost-effective, reliable and manageable technology solutions, and has designed and tested its ThinkPad notebooks to meet these requirements while providing students innovative tools for a superior learning experience," says Alex Inman, director of technology, Whitfield School. "Lenovo support for Linux is the best we've seen, and has helped us achieve our 1:1 computing goals within the first three years of the Whitfield PC program."

Lenovo ThinkPad notebooks are being used to support student work conducted in both Windows and Linux environments. A study conducted by the school since the inception of its PC computing program in 2005 indicates by the end of the first school year, students using ThinkPads spent 50 percent of their time on the PC in the Linux environment. This increased to 75 percent in the 2006-2007 school year, and 86 percent the 2007-2008 school year ending in June 2008.

Whitfield deploys ThinkPad R61, R50e, R51 and Z60t notebooks running Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10.

About Whitfield School




Founded in 1952, Whitfield School is an independent, coeducational college preparatory day school for grades 6-12. Located on a 25-acre campus in west St. Louis County, Whitfield's demanding academic program coupled with the support of a dedicated, world class faculty prepares graduates for both the college experience and life beyond. With an average class size of 12 and a school size of 470, Whitfield is able to develop and maintain a community of families who value mutual respect and personal responsibility. Students are encouraged to take part in activities including visual and performing arts, 22 athletic teams, 20 clubs and organizations and community service. Visit: http://www.whitfieldschool.org

[allix]

Being a private school, they proberly have a higher budget that state schools therefore have an advantage. However its not worth knocking as the more that know linux, the better.