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SchoolTool 1.0 released
SchoolTool 1.0 Released: A Free Student Information System for Schools Around the World PROVIDENCE, RI--April 30, 2009--The international SchoolTool development team and the Shuttleworth Foundation are proud to announce the release of SchoolTool 1.0, a web-based open source student information system and calendar server for primary and secondary schools around the world. SchoolTool includes customizable student demographics, parent/contact management, attendance, gradebook, calendaring, resource booking and report card generation. SchoolTool can be used in a wide variety of contexts. An individual teacher can run a personal gradebook on their desktop or laptop computer. Individual schools can use SchoolTool as his or her primary student information system or a complement to other systems. SchoolTool is also scalable to multi-school deployments, as the Commonwealth of Virginia (US) is piloting at eight career and technical academies. Schools, service providers, government agencies, vendors, hackers and other interested parties are invited to test, use, deploy and offer feedback on SchoolTool in coming months. Development of SchoolTool will continue at a brisk pace in preparation for deployments in the 2009-2010 school year. SchoolTool is 100% free and open source software, built with the Python programming language and Zope 3 framework. It is fully translatable via the Rosetta service on Launchpad.net, with several languages already fully or partially available. SchoolTool is licensed under the GNU General Public License version 2. On Ubuntu Linux, schools can have a SchoolTool server running with a three-step installation process. For more information see http://schooltool.org Contact: Tom Hoffman, SchoolTool Project Manager hoffman@schooltool.org 00 1 401-785-3648 About SchoolTool: SchoolTool is free administrative software for schools around the world. The goals of the project are to create a simple turnkey student information system, including demographics, gradebook, attendance, calendaring and reporting for primary and secondary schools, as well as a framework for building customized applications and configurations for individual schools or states. About the Shuttleworth Foundation: The Shuttleworth Foundation is a South African organisation that invests in social, technical and policy innovation in the fields of education and technology. The Foundation works through active partnerships with local and international organisations. The Shuttleworth Foundation is founded in an open philosophy that includes the promotion of open source, open standards and open information access with the belief that sharing stimulates change and broadens horizons. It is the further belief of the Shuttleworth Foundation that in an African context this open philosophy is key to progress and an enabler for education. (Log in to post comments)
SchoolTool 1.0 released Posted May 1, 2009 17:18 UTC (Fri) by clugstj (subscriber, #4020) [Link]
Who came up with this name? Some "tool" no doubt. According to the "New Dictionary of American Slang" (c. 1986), the first three definitions are: 1) the penis, 2) a pickpocket, 3) a stupid and gullible person.
SchoolTool 1.0 released Posted May 1, 2009 17:27 UTC (Fri) by pboddie (subscriber, #50784) [Link]
Because the first dictionary everyone turns to is the "New Dictionary of American Slang"? There are other dictionaries, you know.
(Of course, schoolchildren are prone to prefer the slang definitions of words, but one would imagine that the desired connotations would have something to do with the popular 1990s term "cool tool".)
SchoolTool 1.0 released Posted May 1, 2009 21:01 UTC (Fri) by clugstj (subscriber, #4020) [Link]
I quoted the dictionary because it was nearby. The connotation of the word "tool" in the name struck me before that.
SchoolTool 1.0 released Posted May 1, 2009 21:10 UTC (Fri) by amk (subscriber, #19) [Link]
Sure, there's a slang meaning, but people also use the word 'tool' in its usual sense all the time. "Unix Power Tools". "Unix Backup Tool". Kernighan & Plauger's classic book "Software Tools" (not a rollicking satire of software development). SchoolTool seems an unobjectionable choice for a name.
SchoolTool 1.0 released Posted May 2, 2009 2:24 UTC (Sat) by k8to (subscriber, #15413) [Link]
In the american scholastic context, tool is primararily a derogatory term for overachievers, bookworms, what have you. It suggests a certain social nonfunctionality to working hard. The word is sometimes knowingly self-applied or used as a verb.
Really, tool as insult is more common in many scholastic environments than tool in the sense of "power tools".
That said, I think the name doesn't matter that much. It's for teachers, not students.
SchoolTool 1.0 released Posted May 10, 2009 18:48 UTC (Sun) by oak (subscriber, #2786) [Link]
> tool is primararily a derogatory term for overachievers, bookworms, what
have you. It suggests a certain social nonfunctionality to working hard.
Well, doesn't the name then fit the program well? Programs definitely
SchoolTool 1.0 released Posted May 3, 2009 19:56 UTC (Sun) by MattPerry (guest, #46341) [Link]
> Of course, schoolchildren are prone to prefer the slang definitions of words
School children aren't the intended audience for this software. They likely will never know it exists. I had never heard of the slang definition and I thought that SchoolTool was a descriptive and fitting name.
SchoolTool 1.0 released Posted May 1, 2009 18:50 UTC (Fri) by jspaleta (subscriber, #50639) [Link]
It looks like SchoolTool has been working on supporting the SIF specification for interoperability with other applications so thats a very good thing to see. http://www.sifinfo.org/us/index.asp
But its not clear how far along that SIF support is. Hopefully Schooltool can be SIF certified sooner rather than later.
-jef
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