Open Source Technologies in Science Education: What's Your Geek IQ? (slides)

8/8/2019 Open Source Technologies in Science Education: What's Your Geek IQ? (slides)

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Open Source Technologies inScience Education: What's Your

Geek IQ?

Stephen L Arnold

Assoc. Faculty, Allan Hancock College

Gentoo Linux Developer

Sci, dev-tools, comm-fax herds

[email protected] [email protected]


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Overview

Definitions What is Free and Open Source Software?

Overview of the technology

Examples

My View from the Trenches Specific applications

Student scores

Results and Conclusions

What works and what doesn't

Open source to the rescue

Gentoo Linux (extra)


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Why Open Source?

User Freedom - Examine, use, and extend to fityour needs.

Life-cycle costs - Reliability, Availability,Maintainability (RMA)

Pedagogy - Internals open to all, supportsmultiple levels of instruction, verifiability.

Citing everything from insufficient education and training,

to the perceived but unrealized benefits of technology, and

concerns about the risks to society, the NRC reports a needto get more value from information technology and

education (NRC, 1999). NRC report also directly links

wages to technology skills and education.


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Open Source Technologies

Earth Sciences Meteorological Analysis & Modeling

Image Processing, GIS, & Mapping

Data Formats & Transports

NetCDF, HDF4/5, LDM General Scientific Software

Numerical Computing/Libraries

Cluster/High Performance Computing

Analysis/Visualization Desktop Tools

Document Production SGML, XML, PDF

Graphics Manipulation too many to list

Archiving & backup tar, gzip, bzip2, zip


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Some Real-World Examples:RedHat with Gnome


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Gentoo Linux GnomeDesktop


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Open Source Technologies(cont.)

Operating Systems and Hardware Platforms Linux Numerous distributions that run on x86, PPC,

HPPA, MIPS, ARM, Sparc, Alpha, s390

BSD OpenBSD/NetBSD/FreeBSD (at least x86)

Various Embedded Devices Sharp Zaurus, Ipaq, etc

Network Services

Web Application Servers, other services

Internet clients web, email, messaging

Security tools and services


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Software Development

Programming Languages Ada, Python, C, Fortran, C++, Java, Perl, Ruby, AWK,

SmallTalk, Lisp (and more)

Development Tools & Libraries

GCC, SourceNavigator, Eclipse, Doxygen, Emacs,bugzilla

Glade/Python, GTK/CORBA (Gnome), Qt (KDE)

Udev/sysfs, HAL

Configuration Management

CVS/RCS, subversion, arch


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View from the Trenches

Gnome Desktop provides integrated yet independent components and

applications (CORBA, XML)

Nautilus file manager for local and remote resources FTP, SSH, SMB, WebDAV

OpenOffice productivity suite Open documentformats, import/export

Mozilla/Firefox Browsing, email, chat, XMLtools

Accessories, games, multimedia, system tools

GIMP GNU Image Manipulation Program


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Gentoo with Gnome 2.8.2


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Network/Web Services

Apache/Zope Web servers: Documents, Applets, Discussion Forums; Future

Directions: Content Management and Portal services

Real-time Chat and Conferencing:

IRC as Virtual Office Hours, Video conferencing withGnomeMeeting

Third-Party Web Services:

Blackboard, textbook companion sites, otheracademic web sites

Gentoo Linux: Supports scientific & high performance computing,

as well as general education, with a huge collectionof cutting-edge applications


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In-house Web Hosting

Scalable and flexible

Author's geography courses currently hosted onpersonal web server on home DSL connection(dedicated geography server in purchase orderqueue; total cost $600 plus build time)

Additional planned services include livemeteorological data, web-based analysis tools, aswell as web-based GIS & mapping tools (requiresadditional network infrastructure and bandwidth)

Low Cost

Hardware and bandwidth only OS and network servers freely available

Test on the desktop, deploy on the LAN

Some Zope Examples


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Zope Web Application Server


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Zope Management Interface


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Editing a DTML Page


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SquishDot: An ExampleProduct


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Managing SquishDot


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Zope CMF: The ContentManagement Framework


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Assessment Types

Exams, group/individual assignments - on-lineapplications, some traditional

Required: Open-book exams, group and individualassignments and activities, semester project (eg,contributing relevant articles and comments on aweb-based discussion forum)

Optional: Additional articles, web-based quizzes andexercises provided by textbook publisher

Successful assessment methods combinepeer-interaction and community

Discussion forum project

Migration research project

Focused group discussion (non-virtual)

Simply using the WWW is not enough


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Assessment Results

Student Geography Scores by Semester

Semester LOW HIGH MEAN MEDIAN STD-DEV N

Fall 2001 45 84 70 76 13 16

Fall 2002 50 87 68 67 12 14

Spring 2002** 35 95 82 87 16 12

Spring 2003*,*** 35 97 84 89 16 23

Fall 2003* 82 94 90 91 7 9

Spring 2004* 61 100 90 92 17 26

Fall 2004 21 99 76 84 32 17

* includes web-site extra credit

** first use of Squishdot discussion forum project

*** migration research project

T i i d L i i


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Training and LogisticsIssues

Student Technology Proficiency Medium on average, however, with a very broadspread (ie, from very low to very high). Universaltechnology courses recent and not wide-spread

Basic Skills

Also highly variable in all areas (student populationhigh in recent immigrants and other ESL students)

More Training Required

Schools beginning to require freshman technologycourses

Faculty/Staff professional development


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Technological Conclusions

Excellent overall Low cost, reliable, stable, cutting-edge tech

Everything you've seen today was created withGNU/Linux and other Open Source tools

Philosophically compatible with public education and

research Open and verifiable

Highly secure and flexible

Puts the user back in control

Ideal for Students and Educators Freely available and distributable

Runs on older hardware of many varieties

Compatible with other platforms


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Pedagogical Conclusions

Standard assessment tools not very good Seductive and seemingly easy, but very little toengage students

Several semesters of low scores speak forthemselves

Open Source tools foster creativity Customized and targeted web applications in just a

few mouse clicks

Allows for both automation and exploration

Appropriate technology use is key Importance of technology and environment

Real-world vs. virtual

Connecting course topics to the customer

Peer Interaction and a place of their own


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Fini

Thanks for coming, and thanks for bringing someweather to San Diego... :)

Further reading:

http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/index.xml

http://www.python.org/moin/BeginnersGuide

http://www.python.org/sigs/edu-sig/

http://www.stgray.com/quotes/python.html

http://www.zope.org/

http://www.zope.org/Documentation/Books/ZopeBook/


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Gentoo Linux Features

glibc 2.3.4+, gcc 3.4.x, ext3, ReiserFS, XFS,JFS, ALSA, pcmcia-cs, SELinux,PaX/Grsecurity, Propolice

Xfree86 4.3 (and xorg 6.8.0-r4), OpenGL, KDE3.3.1, Gnome 2.8, iptables, QoS

qmail (with mysql and LDAP), postfix, courier

udev/hotplug, sysfs, GRUB, lilo, milo, silo, palo,yaboot, BootX

Multiple kernel possibilities Vanilla 2.4.26, 2.6.8.1 (stable), aa-, ac-, acpi-, mm-,

openmosix-, ppc-, ppc-benh-, redhat-sources

Gentoo kernels with preempt, low latency, EVMS

Prelinking, ccache, distcc


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Gentoo Portage Features

Provides functions/scripts which download,patch, compile, and install packages

Modeled on the ports-based BSD distributions

Dependency checking, extreme customization

Original source tarballs are downloaded The user specifies what they want, and the

system is built to their specifications

Compiles are optimized for your specific hardware

E.g. Altivec on G4 PPC chips Pentium versus Athlon

Specify settings once, and all packages are built tothose options


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Portage Ebuild Scripts

Easy to read format, clear separation ofphases

KEYWORDS, DEPEND

Stable versus testing

CPAN/Portage integration Install and manage dependencies via Portage

Package management for perl modules(including uninstall)

Ebuilds are automatically created for CPANpackages


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Portage USE Flags

Globally defined list of features Configure yours in /etc/make.conf

USE="-gnome kde qt arts -nls python perloggvorbis opengl sdl -postgres jpeg pngtruetype dvd avi aalib mpeg encode fbconmmx"

Each one defines specific functionality foreach package to support

USE flags generally map onto --configureoptions

Install only what you want. No need to trimdown a default installation

Opt-in versus opt-out


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Installation Process

Currently no graphical installer Just follow the detailed install documents

Briefly:

Boot from CD, setup networking, partition Unpackstage 1, stage 2, or stage 3

Chroot, bootstrap or emerge system

Compile kernel, install system logger, cron

daemon

Setup bootloader.

Set timezone, configure additional users


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Stage Tarballs

Stage 1 install Bare-bones. Need to bootstrap, compile gcc, glibc,

system (make, perl, etc.), kernel, and userenvironment

Stage 2 install

Already bootstrapped. Compile system, kernel,and user environment

Stage 3 install

Base system included. Compile kernel and boot

manager GRP install (Stage 3 add-ons)

Precompiled packages with the default MAKEOPTSand USE flags for your architecture


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Binary Packages

Build your own, distribute packages to yourmachines

emerge --buildpkg

FEATURES="buildpkg"

PORTAGE_BINHOST=http://local-server

GRP (Gentoo Reference Platform)

Pre-built binary packages using default options

Including Xfree86, Mozilla, Gnome, KDE, Emacs,OpenOffice.org, Apache, MySQL, PostgreSQL,

Samba


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Try Gentoo Linux

Download from www.gentoo.org 95-600mb iso images, plus 10-85mb stage files

Unreal Tournament 2004 demo for x86/NVIDIA

Does not touch your hard drive

Live CDs for x86, PPC (NewWorld andOldWorld), Alpha, AMD 64, HPPA, Sparc

All live CDs are also install and rescue CDs


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Documentation

Gentoo Handbook

Installation, FAQs

Portage user manual

USE flags, ENV.D, Security guide

Desktop configuration guide, rc-scripts,ALSA, DRI, Java

AFS, OpenMosix, Diskless/LTSP, Printing,UML, IPv6, Virtual Mailhost

Developer documentation Ebuild creation, eclass

Documentation guide (XML syntax)


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Gentoo Community

Close contact with end users Many ebuild scripts are submitted by users

IRC channels (on irc.freenode.net) - #gentoois the largest on the network with 900+ users

Web-based forums (on forums.gentoo.org),1000+ posts per day, 100,000+ topics

Fully-public bug tracking (bugs.gentoo.org),20,000+ hits per day

Gentoo Bug Day Linux World Expo in Boston, SoCal Linux

Expo in Los Angeles (Feb 2005)


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Staying Informed

News on www.gentoo.org Gentoo Linux Security Announcements

(GLSA)

RDF feed of news. GLSA feed coming soon

Multiple mailing lists (each architecture,documentation, security)

Gentoo Weekly News (GWN)

Informal Discussion and Announcements

Gentoo forums on forums.gentoo.org

Gentoo IRC channels on irc.freenode.net

Open Source Technologies in Science Education: What's Your Geek IQ? (slides)

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