[Year 12 IPM] Database software for 2007

Mon Oct 23 09:01:05 EST 2006

Sorry to touch base with this old thread again Michael .. We had a go at
using BASE and I will admit to not spotting any problems. Perhaps you were
using an older beta copy or release candidate? I rather liked its SQL
integration with the other applications so that a mail merge can be directly
assembled by dragging and dropping fields from the database.

It was good to be able to give away the software for students to use at home
and I was suprised how many of my old Access notes could be recycled. Some
Melbourne authors are working on some BASE tutorials and worksheets.

I guess it isnt so much a race to try and pick the 'winning' horse but
finding one that best meets our local needs and gets our students over the
line.

Regards Roland

On 12/10/06, Fitzpatrick, Michael <michael.fitzpatrick at carey.com.au> wrote:
>
> A word of warning - BASE is not a mature piece of software.
>
> I have trialled Open Office BASE this year with year 11's and found it
> to be a bit buggy. Some data disappearing, not saving properly and not
> displaying reports properly - students certainly expose the bugs quickly
> as they do not use the software in the proper and correct way.  And also
> it is not a complete relational database (basic stuff only). You cannot
> do a lot that you could easily do with Access - experiment extensively
> yourself first.
>
> Mike
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ipm-bounces at edulists.com.au [mailto:ipm-bounces at edulists.com.au]
> On Behalf Of Cameron Bell
> Sent: Thursday, 12 October 2006 1:00 PM
> To: Year 12 Information Technology Processing and Management
> Teachers'Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [Year 12 IPM] Database software for 2007
>
> Couldn't agree more, the more I use Open Office, the more I like it.
> Once you get over the "Office doesn't do it that way" you appreciate
> that a lot of the differences are actually more productive (IMHO)
> The persistent data sources for mail merges are very handy and context
> sensitive dialogs are only just starting to be a part of MSOffice with
> the upcomming version.
> The major benefits I see are:
> the open file formats - long term accessibility.
> multi platform (Win, Mac AND Linux)
> Oh and did you mention it was free for the whole school community?   ;)
>
> Far more beneficial for students to be able to access the same apps at
> home than only at school. If they can do more exploration/ development
> at home, you break the mindset that some have of only learning and doing
>
> in the classroom with the teacher.
> Cheers
> Cameron
>
>
> Mark Kelly wrote:
> > [7th attempt - our whole school has been blacklisted by SpamCop - and
> > we hope we are now off the blacklist!]
> >
> > Hi all.  Here's a frisky cat to throw among the pigeons.
> >
> > I'm curious what database management software will people be using for
> > ITA Unit 3 Outcome 1 next year?
> >
> > At the VITTA presentation I did on ITA in August, I recommended that
> if
> > we got organised and agreed on a standard tool we could be much more
> > efficient when sharing tutorials, sample tasks, tips and hints, sample
> > outcomes etc - all of which will be a big in 2007 as we adjust to the
> > new course.
> >
> > The main DBMS contenders I see are:
> >
> >
> > --- MS Access
> > - Access is not a standard part of the average MS Office suite
> (AFAIK),
> > so many kids are unlikely to have it at home, so it would be hard to
> > assign homework or practice tasks using it.
> > - It costs big money if kids have to buy it for home.
> > - It costs big money for non-government schools.
> > - For most people, it's not as easy to learn as Filemaker is.
> >
> >
> > --- Filemaker
> > - Even fewer kids are likely to have Filemaker at home, so assigning
> > home practice would be nearly impossible.
> > - It's easy to learn (especially creating programming scripts) and
> easy
> > to use.
> > - It costs big money if kids had to buy it for home.
> > - It costs big money for schools to buy.
> >
> > (Having said that, it's the database I use for McKinnon's reporting
> > package, and the database I'm most skilled with.)
> >
> >
> > --- OpenOffice.org Base
> > - It's FREE for students and schools.
> > - It's compatible with MS Access (and can read Access database files)
> > - It's pretty much as easy to use as Access.
> > - There's some online support for it, but more is coming and we can
> work
> > as a team to develop all we need!
> > - Did I mention it's FREE?
> > - It comes with other open source replacements for Word, Excel,
> > Powerpoint, drawing software etc.
> > - It even has its own equivalent of VBA for programming macros.
> > - Oh yeah - and it's FREE!
> >
> >
> > --- MySQL
> > I only include this because I've heard of one school planning to use
> it.
> >  I would not recommend it because it's far too complex for kids to
> > learn from scratch in VCE: too much programming required to get the
> job
> > done.  Way overkill, IMHO.
> >
> >
> >
> > If you get some time as the year winds down, how about getting a copy
> of
> > (http://openoffice.org) - it's about 50M to download, and is available
> > via WWW and Bittorrent.
> >
> > Have a play, see what you think.
> >
> > Cheers
> >
> > Mark K
> >
>
>
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-- 
Roland Gesthuizen - ICT Coordinator - Westall Secondary College
http://www.westallsc.vic.edu.au

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change
the world; indeed it is the only thing that ever has." --Margaret Mead
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