SGV Linux Users Group Monthly Meeting

Retired schoolteacher John "Juan" Slayton will share his cool hardware/software project, Desknet, which is aimed at allowing children to do computer-aided drills using one laptop and multiple wireless keyboards.

BEHAVIORAL OBJECTIVES:

1. The learner will use the Logitech wireless keyboards, observing the eccentricities resulting from the Desknet decoding strategies.
2. The learner will demonstrate proficiency in addition and multiplication by engaging in real-time competitive activies with his/her peers.
3. The learner will recognize and appropriately place his/her fingers on the home row keys, and will gain speed and accuracy in reaching for non-home-row letters.
4. The learner will use the Desknet system to check his/her written calculations derived from the 3rd grade math text.
5. The learner will create and edit coherent text, using the Desknet word processor.
6. The learner will anecdotally recount the development of the Desknet hardware and system code to peers as occasion demands.

BIOGRAPHY:

John Slayton is a native of Kansas City (Missouri side), but mostly grew up in California. He received an MA from UCLA in Linguistics.

In the early 80's he became increasingly dissatisfied with his kids' experience in the public schools and went back to school (Cal Poly Pomona) to get a California teaching credential. He tried to get a job with El Monte City Schools, and wound up spending the next 21 years teaching bilingual classes at LeGore School. His class became his lab in which he could try new things, not all of which turned out well. But some worked. The Desknet project is one of these.