A momentary commentary on marking

Just finished off some marking I have done for the Open University T155 Linux: an introduction course. Whilst it would be imprudent to share the marks given or the quality of the work submitted by students. One subject I can comment on is the range of applications selected by students.

For half the marks, students have to select either two applications or a GUI improvement, the choices presented have been wide, varied, interesting and diverse. Admittedly I am aware of the manifold applications freely available for Linux, but unleashing 400+ students on a mission to make a personal choice and find an application (or two) that has not been covered on the course and install them has been refreshing.

The cunning plan behind the assessment is to guide the students learning on the course to a life post-study, having installed Linux, installed applications (solo, without guidance) and used the CLI. They are at least proficient users (and abusers) of the operating system.

Personally may blag some of the students ideas for my own distro.

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