Partimus Blog

On February 23rd Christian Einfeldt gave a talk at the Southern California Linux Expo on Successful Linux Labs in Schools.

Einfeldt writes of his talk:

This presentation is for a non-technical audience wanting to get the experiences of a simple end
user who has been involved in setting up GNU-Linux labs in schools. The single most important point
that I hope you take away from this talk is that for the Linux lab to succeed, there must be at least one
teacher on staff at the school who is given at least 3 quiet hours per week ON THE CLOCK to address
to the needs of the computer lab and who is passionate. Without this key ingredient, the lab will fail,
whether it is Linux or Apple or Microsoft.

The second point that I would like to impress upon you is that this teacher cannot do it alone. In
order for the computer lab to work, the teacher must have the support of at least one, but preferably two
or three, highly technical people who can come into the school to trouble shoot the machines. It might
be possible for some of these people to dial in to solve the problem, but for the most part, actual
physical presence at the school is needed, or the lab will fail, whether it is Linux or Apple or Microsoft.

During his presentation he shared photos from several of the Partimus schools, including the Prescott lab in Oakland, Creative Arts Charter School in San Francisco and he discussed his involvement with the KIPP San Francisco Bay Academy. He also focused on the people who make all of the work at Partimus happen, and how vital their commitment is to the success of our labs.

Slides from his presentation are available here: scale.11x.02.pdf (1.1M PDF)

Extensive notes from his presentation are available here: scale.11x.talk.pdf (75K PDF)