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→Mike LeVan talks about "Developing a Linux Administration Course for Beginners"
Mike is the Associate Professor of Math at the university and he was a very comfortable and well organized speaker. He started off [http://sparc.senecacollege.ca/pub/fsoss/2007/Oct25/9AM/MikeLevanLinuxAdmin.ogg the presentation(video)] by asking Why Linux? Why should we be teaching open source? Why is it important? To Mike, it appears that the importance lies in the way that open source can take you away from more conventional and potentially problematic business models. His example was WalMart – sure things are affordable but when you look under the hood there are some unsavoury practices. In a classroom situation, explaining to students how using Linux is a great way to move away from corporations and monopolies can often spark their interest since college students are often learning for the first time to re-examine previously uncontested beliefs about how things are. Another great way to get a student’s interest in Linux would be to have examples where they are already using it and perhaps not aware. Pointing out a cell phone or website where Linux is already in use is a good way to show students the practical application.
The talk progressed into textbooks and resource material. Although the textbook used is totally dependent on the type of class, Mike recommends choosing a book that covers the historical, philosophical and technical aspects of using Linux. While [http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue3_3/raymond/ “The Cathedral and the Bazaar” ] can offer a student insight into the theory of Linux it doesn’t go into enough of the practical details. His weapon of choice was [http://www.amazon.com/How-Linux-Works-Brian-Ward/dp/1593270356 “How Linux Works” ] by Brian Ward (which I promptly ordered and am now diving into along with the new release of Ubuntu) and he found it to be quite adept at covering a bit of history and a lot of the inner workings of Linux. The importance is placed on a student learning how to figure out things in the Linux environment because they understand why it does what it does. Mike then holds up the book “The complete guide to Linux system administration” and reads from the back – it sounds good but when you start to read the software requirements? Windows! You can’t even use the software included with the book on a Linux distribution.
The next point is distribution. What flavour of Linux you choose is also dependent on the type of class – Slackware can be great for teaching complete customization all the way up to Ubuntu which is more than likely the easiest Linux to use. Live CDs can be a great option for letting students try a variety of flavours without having to install.