Objectives

Ubuntu Education Programme : Objectives

Context

Current Objectives : May 2007 to Year End 2007

Note:

  • each objective should link directly back to the goal it supports

  • this section is the finalised list of objectives to concentrate on for the current period.

  • this finalised list is being prepared from consolidation of input objectives which will be assessed in terms of how they support the goals.

  • objective: Deliver an improved Edubuntu product and build process

    • action: deliver on the following specs:

    • reference: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Edubuntu/Devel/RoadMap

      • high: ltsp-boot-performance

      • high: ldm-improvements

      • high: edubuntu-application-review

      • high: edubuntu-artwork-procedures

      • high: edubuntu-documentation-procedures

      • high: edubuntu bundled moodle

      • medium: ltsp-update-manager-integration

      • medium: ltspfs-virtual-hal-devices

      • medium: edubuntu-addon-enhancements

      • medium: edubuntu-menus-completion

      • other: extract off wiki page list

  • objective: Bring more teaching capability into the project

    • reason: so we have more input and contributions from people who know how to run classrooms.

  • objective: Free Oliver from core Ubuntu distro responsibilities

    • reason: so he can really focus on edubuntu as a teaching platform

  • objective: Grow the community of developer-contributors

    • reason: so we have more development capability

  • objective: Position *buntu as a platform for a complete education solution over a large education district/region

    • reason: so we can engage with decision makers

    • action: provide a blueprint for large scale deployments

    • action: determine what features / applications are required within Edubuntu

    • action: determine what features / applications are required within Ubuntu

  • objective: Standardise the interactions we have with government education authorities

    • reason: so we have an engagement plan we can present to the ones that come knocking

  • objective: Extend Edubuntu product to address Secondary schools & universities

    • reason: so that we can bring these existing Ubuntu users into the education community proper

  • objective: Unify a large education community under an Ubuntu Education umbrella to:

    • reason: so we can improve the education related products

    • reason: so we can attract partnerships:

      • in the application development space
      • in the service and training space
      • with communities and schools

    • reason: so we can stimulate and increate the buzz and interest in *buntu to increase adoption and support company goals

  • objective: work with the Ubuntu Community Programme to secure the appointmen of an additional community staff member to create and lead a specific Ubuntu Education Community focus in partnership with the Education Programme and our existing (mostly technical) community.

    • reason: Support the education community outreach & growth

    • should this be an action: Create an education community outreach & growth programme

    • comment: Would see this role as reporting to Jono Bacon, with a 50% time availability to the Education Pogramme.

  • objective or action? : UES 2007 Boston

    • comment: expand this and consider

  • objective or action ? : Define and map a clear team structure

  • objective or action ? : Create a mentoring programme

    • developement
    • documentation
    • application review
    • others ?

  • objective or action ? : Edubuntu Recipes wiki space

  • objective or action ? : Produce a forward looking spec view across the next 18 months

  • objective: Get more exposure

    • reason: so we have more visibility and hence more engage more people

      • action: internet sites - press - news - review

      • action: internet sites - in house

      • action: internet sites - partners

      • action: internet sites - schools

  • objective: Create an Academic Partner Programme

    • reason: so that our partners or participants can see a path forwards

  • goal: Gain more users/customers

    • objective: promote existing successes

      • action: identify use cases and generate

Input for Objectives : May 2007

Input Objectives from: Mark Shuttleworth

  1. (included above) Bring more teaching capability into the project, so we have more input and contributions from people who know how to run classrooms.

  2. (included above) Bring in a new developer to replace Ogra, who can really focus on edubuntu as a teaching platform. Grow the community of developer-contributors.

  3. (included above) Standardise the interactions we have with government education authorities, so we have an engagement plan we can present to the ones that come knocking.

  4. (discuss with Mark) More traction traction in the K12-LTSP community

    • to gain market share in the K12-LTSP physical territory ?
    • to gain market share in the K12-LTSP distro territory ?

Input Objectives from: Richard Weideman

(included above) In the context of positioning *buntu as a platform for a complete education solution over a large education district / region:

  1. (extract to actions) Produce and market to large education clients:

    • (extract to actions) An overhauled education web presence

      • (extract to actions) education solution space on www.ubuntu.com

      • (extract to actions) edubuntu product site on www.edubuntu.org

      • (extract to actions) edubuntu wiki areas on wiki.edubuntu.org

    • (extract to actions) Case studies of existing successes

  2. (included above) Extend Edubuntu product to address:

    • (included above) Larger deployments

    • (included above) Secondary schools & universities

  3. (included above) Harness a large education community under an Ubuntu umbrella to:

    • (included above) Improve the education related products

    • (included above) Attract partnerships:

      • (included above) in the application development space

      • (included above) in the service and training space

      • (included above) with communities and schools

    • (included above) Stimulate and increate the buzz and interest in *buntu to increase adoption and support company goals

Input Objectives from: Oliver Grawert

  1. (discuss with Oliver) Produce a single, standard, educational, "plug-n-play" product, i.e. an edubuntu solution that can meet the requirements out of the box.

    • (partially included above - revisit) grow the team

    • (included above) gain more users/customers through generating and identifying use cases

    • (partially included above - revisit) take off load of my shoulders by effectively maintaining new team members

Additional from Richard to merge in above

* NOTE: some of these may move to Goals

  1. (included above) Reinforce the positioning of Ubuntu and Edubuntu as a platform for large scale education deployments. Introduce:

    1. (partially included above - revisit and extract action) further technical features required for network installation management

    2. (partially included above - revisit and extract action) administration applications required for school administration

    3. (partially included above - revisit and extract action) education applications required for secondary school and university

To be acheived:

  1. (partially included above - revisit and extract action) as an internal work effort, in partnership with the distro team with a view on Ubuntu as well as Edubuntu

  2. (partially included above - revisit and extract action) by identifying existing applications, and engaging partners to integrate with Ubuntu

  3. (partially included above - revisit and extract action) by identifying existing applications, and engaging partners to integrate with Edubuntu

Input Objectives / Comments from: Miscellaneous

  • (included above) define a team structure

    • (partially included above - revisit and extract action) current members

    • (partially included above - revisit and extract action) related members

    • (partially included above - revisit and extract action) new roles required

  • more face time at expo's + school visits etc

  • LaserJock: my hope is having more full-time devs means better interaction/mentoring

  • in general, when he has the time, oliver is pretty good as a mentor
  • he and dholbach really got MOTU on it's feet
  • Philipp: I think it would help if Oliver can really do (technical) mentoring
  • more, rather than just plowing away on implementation by himself... I
  • wonder if he agrees.

  • (included above) create a mentoring programme

    • (included above) developement

    • (included above)documentation

  • LaserJock: I really think you gotta get more community involvment before the community will showup

  • LaserJock: people have a much easier time hopping on board when they know where the train is heading

  • (included above - ask Jordan to expand) Edubuntu Recipes wiki space

  • (included above) produce a forward looking spec view across the next 18 months

    • (partially included above - revisit and extract action) <RichEd> The actions page has HIGH & MED spec categories

    • (partially included above - revisit and extract action) <RichEd> I am going to categorise rather as: 7.10 | 8.04 | 8.10

    • LaserJock: I really like the idea of setting the Objectives for 7.10, 8.04, etc.

    • LaserJock: people have a much easier time hopping on board when they know where the train is heading

Input Objectives from: Philipp Schroder

  • Ubuntu Education Community Site

    • Manage expectations
    • Provide help for self-help
    • Provide tools for all levels of involvement (enable community contributions)
    • Foster interest and engagement for the project (articles, both editorial and community authored)
    • Support marketplace around education and foss (partners)

    • Notes

      • classify these criteria as goals / objectives

      • they are not true goals in the top level sense
      • more like objectives that are fulfilled by the community site
      • may spawn off top level objectives ... that are satified by the community site action

Comments from: Philipp Schroeder

Comments on Mark's objectives:

  1. I'm glad to see Mark wants input from people who have *real* classroom experience
  2. I support freeing up Ogra to allow for a education focus
    • reduce his core ubuntu responsibilities such as LTSP
  3. Makes sense from a company perspective, but I think this is perhaps a too narrow objective in the overall context? This is a marketing question really. Personally, I think we should have a positive base message, but not oversell. For example it could be argued that the Schooltool project was oversold . IMHO, we should try to keep a more humble tone about what edubuntu / ubuntu education can deliver today, as opposed to tomorrow ...

Comments on Richard's objectives:

Several questions pop up in my mind:

  • Why large as opposed to medium or small? ok, "think big", winning a large region sends a loud message, but does it mean it will pave the way for medium and small deployments? It might create a perceived gap "this is not a solution / possibility for us ("SME's"), this is only for the "big boys" / for rare cases where a government overhauls a whole region...
  • "positioning ... over *a* large region": As seen with the Spanish regions, or Munich, if a large region chooses / migrates to Linux, they make their own derivative (Guadalinex, mEDUXa, etc.), or at least have their own people manage the process, with contracted assistance (Munich). How does Canonical position itself/its services in this respect?
  • I think we really need to be clear about the strategic approach. Basically, at the moment we see adoption in places (small or big) that mostly know how to "help themselves". How and where will be the breakthrough for places that need outside help?
  • Produce and market to large education clients [...]
    • Case studies with existing successes.
  • Well, for *large* education "clients", we now know the Guadalinex success story - but that's it.
  • For *medium* education "clients", we have the other Spanish distros (we heard about Canary Islands' mEDUXa, but only little known about the others).
  • All of these success stories aren't really "clients", but more or less independent organisations, cf. comments above about adopters that know how to help themselves.
  • So, how do you think this will develop over the next year? Will there be any actual/direct education *clients*? Is the project ready for that?

Is Canonical ready for that? Do we need to remain a "grassroots" project for longer, before Canonical can step up as a education service provider? Would it possibly help to position the project as a grassroots project for the next year still, rather than doing the marketing thing and shouting "we can provide enterprise solutions!"?

Comments on Input Objectives: Oliver Grawert -

  • Hmm. Oliver's objectives are very solution-oriented, however, I suggest we need to focus more an the actual needs ("use cases"), the rest (growing of team) will follow?
  • Comments about growing the development team:
    • I do see a need to engage more face to face at community events, like existing open source conferences... it's important to build partnerships and grow the community, i.e. the group of people engaging with the product and us. I think there might be open source developers out there that would join the effort if they get to interact with Oliver more (ideal: face to face), for example. I suspect there are lots of hidden "soft factors" around how the project is perceived by other developers, e.g. Ubuntu vs. Debian, Gnome vs. KDE. We want Debian and KDE people engaging with us...!
  • I think it would help if Oliver can really do (technical) mentoring more, rather than just plowing away on implementation by himself ... I wonder if he agrees.

Input Objectives from: Jordan Mantha

  • requested: to add when received

Comments from: Jordan Mantha

  • requested: to add when received

Input Objectives from: Jonathan Carter

  • requested: to add when received

Comments from: Jonathan Carter

  • requested: to add when received

NOTES

  • MISSION -> GOALS -> OBJECTIVES -> ACTIONS

  • Label the objectives so that the actions can link back.

Past Objectives : History

  • Historical versions of this document will be listed here.

[ document details ]

[ document purpose ]

Outline the current objectives for the Ubuntu Education Programme.

This page is a planning and discussion document for open discussion.

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[ document editing ]

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Education/Objectives (last edited 2008-08-06 16:15:03 by localhost)