But we also need a breakthrough in K-12 tech adoption.
n=1: my girlfriend is a math teacher at a better district in California. The only technology they provide her is a desktop with Windows 98.
So she uses her own mac to admin a tumblog filled with photos of assignments and answers to problems she uploads from her iphone. She uploads PDF's to google docs and 'shares with everyone'. She links to Khan academy videos since the school bans youtube and none of the district computers support flash.
Then her students use their home computers (if they have them) to consume this content. They're excited about it (most never heard of Khan before this) and it seems to be effective.
Back in the late 90's IBM installed a token-ring network at my high school. It was obsolete before they finished the project and the computers we had could barely get IE3 to load a web page.
So I hope this incubator does a lot not just to foster edu focused startups but to also get the right people in education to push for decent technology at schools.
Many friendly Linux User Group members volunteer to install and administer Ubuntu at public schools in the Bay Area. Ubuntu's a decent experience even with 256MB of ram, so schools can even reuse those 8-12 year old computers.
Free software's great for all kinds of technical, practical and cultural reasons. It's existed my whole life, but I didn't really feel its presence until using Debian in a research lab 4 years ago.
We don't all need to be RMS, but it's a worthy thing to think about for anyone who makes a living off free software.
But we also need a breakthrough in K-12 tech adoption.
n=1: my girlfriend is a math teacher at a better district in California. The only technology they provide her is a desktop with Windows 98.
So she uses her own mac to admin a tumblog filled with photos of assignments and answers to problems she uploads from her iphone. She uploads PDF's to google docs and 'shares with everyone'. She links to Khan academy videos since the school bans youtube and none of the district computers support flash.
Then her students use their home computers (if they have them) to consume this content. They're excited about it (most never heard of Khan before this) and it seems to be effective.
Back in the late 90's IBM installed a token-ring network at my high school. It was obsolete before they finished the project and the computers we had could barely get IE3 to load a web page.
So I hope this incubator does a lot not just to foster edu focused startups but to also get the right people in education to push for decent technology at schools.