education April 2006

education@lists.fedoraproject.org

13 participants
12 discussions

Fedora Education Initiative Launch
by Warren Togami 31 May '06

31 May '06

I met David Trask and Matt Oquist at LinuxWorld Boston last week and we had a great discussion with a few other Red Hat folks about the current successes of K12LTSP and ways to improve the software and community around it. This is significant because this is the first time we got other Red Hat people aware of and excited about the K12LTSP project, which today exposes Fedora to hundreds of schools and countless thousands of students worldwide. We came up with some objectives and action items from this meeting to further the goals of both K12LTSP and the Fedora Project. I believe that we have a huge opportunity here to work closer together and better the software for the education community. Goals for us on this list are mainly development and administration of Fedora related education initiatives. I envision keeping k12osn as mostly educator end-user support for now, and we can later reorganize the community infrastructure around K12LTSP when we have a clearer picture of what it becomes. Strawman Objectives for the next six months include: ==================================================== - Development discussion related to merging K12LTSP to become an official supported part of the Fedora Project. This means that more contributors will help K12LTSP development goals. - Perhaps K12LTSP can be a "mode" to enable in the standard Fedora. - Eventually convert K12LTSP to use the Muekow framework. Muekow potentially aligns with the basic building block goals of the Fedora Stateless project, so hopefully we can combine resources from multiple Fedora projects and achieve this by FC6 in a clean and Fedora supported way. - Collaborate on Samba and LDAP related integration possibly with Fedora Directory Server in order to achieve out-of-the-box centralized authentication between mixed platform school networks (Linux, Mac, Windows). - Plan Fedora's involvement in Open Source in Education conferences coming up, like the ones in ME and NH during June and July. - Reorganize the community to better support educators in the use of K12LTSP. - Design messaging for the promotion of the K12LTSP model. - Write more documentation to promote the K12LTSP model, and make it easier to setup a K12LTSP lab. - Professional production of an educational documentary video demonstrating the success of the K12LTSP model. A well made video would make it easier for LUG's worldwide to convince schools to try K12LTSP. http://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-education-list Please share your ideas, comments, or questions here on fedora-education-list. http://k12ltsp.org/contents.html K12LTSP Home Page Warren Togami wtogami(a)redhat.com

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Development Focus
by Warren Togami 03 May '06

03 May '06

Since opening this list I was surprised by the enthusiasm especially for educational conferences. However I strongly believe that both my and Red Hat's efforts, time, and resources going toward K12LTSP at this point should be focused mainly on developmental priorities at first. 1) Development work to get K12LTSP merged as an official part of the Fedora distribution. - Submit all K12LTSP packages to the Extras review process - Adapt to the MueKow framework in order to eliminate lots of the redundant OS building. - Make K12LTSP into a "mode" you can enable and configure from a GUI interface after you install Fedora. - Write improved tools like selection of interfaces and it tells you what it will happen. That way you aren't surprised when a DHCP server pops up on an existing network, causing all kinds of fun conflicts. =) 2) Development work of marketing, promotional and educational materials in order to allow the message to scale to greater audiences with less effort and low marginal cost. - Educational videos - Pamphlets - Books I *will* participate in the New England Linux education conferences because I am relatively nearby. If we have a hack-a-thon I will probably want to participate in that too. Maybe we could set aside some private time for K12LTSP integration or MueKow integration design discussion sessions at one or both of the NELinux conferences? Warren Togami wtogami(a)redhat.com

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Looking for Anyone Doing Training on Open Source Software in Education
by Steve Hargadon 25 Apr '06

25 Apr '06

Another resource I am interested in tracking is any individual or organization doing training on Free and Open Source software in education. Please let me know who you are aware is doing this. -- Steve Hargadon steve(a)hargadon.com 916-899-1400 direct

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Looking for Blogs on Open Source in Education
by Steve Hargadon 25 Apr '06

25 Apr '06

I'm interested in knowing who is blogging on the topic of Free and Open Source Software in education, even if it's not the primary focus of their blog. I'm trying to list them on my blog's sidebar, and also to capture their FOSS posts and related news stories into a single feed. If you are aware of any, could you email them to me? My blog: www.k12opensource.com My blog feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/K12OpenSource Feed for blog postings and news stories on FOSS in education: http://feeds.feedburner.com/opensourceposts -- Steve Hargadon steve(a)hargadon.com 916-899-1400 direct

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Open Source Lab Details for NECC 2006
by Steve Hargadon 19 Apr '06

19 Apr '06

We've just finalized the speakers schedule for the Open Source lab at the National Educational Computing Conference 2006 in San Diego. Very exciting. We'll have 15 hour-long sessions that will be held in a lab setting with 25 computers, with some GREAT speakers: David Thornburg: "When Best is Free: An Educator's Guide to Open Source" Michelle Moore: "Use Your Noodle, Learn Moodle: An Open Source Learning Management System" (3 sessions - boy is she popular!) Will Richardson: "Learning With Blogs: Bringing the Read/Write Web Into the Classroom" Jeffrey Elkner: "A Tour of Ubuntu with Free CD" Jenny Horn: "Hello World: Starting at the Very Beginning with PHP" Bryant Patten: "Open Source Technology: Why Teachers Should Care" Tim Frichtel: "Great Web Sites with Open Source Content Management Systems" Steve Hargadon: "K12LTSP: Low-cost, Stable, and Reliable Computer Labs" Chris Walsh: "Content is STILL King: FREE Blogging & Content Management Systems" James Klein: "Creating Communities with Open Source Tools" Tom Hoffman: "SchoolTool: a Free, Open Source SIS and Calendaring System" Vernon Ceder: "Computer Programming for Everybody: Teaching Programming with Python" We'll also have a "birds of a feather" meeting on Open Source software in K12 schools, to be followed by a proposed dinner event with those interested in talking about the future of Open Source software in Education. Mike Huffman from Indiana has also said that he will be attending, and we're going to try and find a venue for his participation as well--many of us are very interested in an update on the Indiana ACCESS program! In addition to the Open Source lab, we'll have a "Playground" area with 6 booths to showcase different Open Source technologies real-time. Currently planned are booths for: SchoolTool & CanDo 2006 (A FREE, Web-Based, Competency Tracker) Ubuntu & Fedora Core Moodle & Moodle e-portfolio Open Office & Firefox Gimp Asterisk & Mambo/Joomla We do need people/students who can help staff these booths! Please let me know if you might be able to help organize some booth support! -- Steve Hargadon steve(a)hargadon.com 916-899-1400 direct

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FOSS and Schools - No Valid Objection Left - Norway Report
by Bryant Patten 13 Apr '06

13 Apr '06

[cross - post from schoolforge. Traditional duplication apologies apply] From: knuty(a)SKOLELINUX.NO Subject: [school-discuss] [IIEP] Report: Experiences with Centralised operated Skolelinux installations Date: April 13, 2006 12:46:32 PM EDT To: ELEARN-OPENSOURCE(a)LST.IIEP-UNESCO.ORG Reply-To: schoolforge-discuss(a)schoolforge.net By Knut Yrvin - Skolelinux / DebianEdu - April 12th 2006 The Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research has founded a report about free software in schools. It covers planing and deployment of Skolelinux/DebianEdu that currently includes 234 Norwegian schools, 33,000 client machines, and 101,000 pupils and teachers. The focus is on technical issues, economy and organisation. There is also some feedback on how the teachers use free software in their teaching. The main conclusion is that no pedagogic, technical, or economical objections using free software in schools remained valid. The numbers show that the municipalities save more when running and maintaining the schools ICT equipment centrally at many schools. The savings are considerably lager with GNU/Linux then with Microsoft Windows. Market prices show that the most cost efficient alternative are Skolelinux diskless workstations. This is at least 40 % cheaper than to operate traditional workstation pools (with thick clients). Experiences from the municipalities show that the cost of running thin clients (ltsp) is more cost efficient than thick clients because it increases the lifespan on the hardware. Surprisingly, the cost of running graphical terminals such as Citrix is the most expensive solution. It is at least three times more expensive than Windows thick clients when comparing prices in the market. When using graphical clients such as Free NX the schools would get around the same expenses with operating the system. The ICT coordinators in the different municipalities say that there are considerable challenges when introducing computer tools in the school. The management at every school must establish a maintenance regime and the teachers must learn to use computer tools actively in the learning process. The activity have nothing to do with the operating system in use. But the schools running free software can afford more equipment, and the lower cost of maintaining the system allows more resources to be used in teachers and the learning process. The 17 page version for the report in English (that sums up the 65 pages report in Norwegian): http://developer.skolelinux.no/artikler/2006-04-02-debconf6.pdf The 65 pages report in Norwegian (also with a short one page version): http://d.skolelinux.no/ressurssparing.html Sincerely Knut Yrvin -- Project manager (cel: +47 908 95 765) Skolelinux Norway. Office: IT-Staff Akershus County Council, Schweigaards gate 4, 0185 OSLO, NORWAY.

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Soliciting Contributions for "Open Source In Education" Book
by Steve Hargadon 12 Apr '06

12 Apr '06

I posted this to some other FOSS in Education lists a couple of weeks ago, but not to this list. Sorry for the duplication if you have seen it already. ISTE, the International Society for Technology in Education (www.iste.org), has asked me to coordinate the writing of a book on Open Source Software in Education, which they will publish. I'm interested in: 1. Ideas, feedback, brainstorming, etc. What topics should be covered in this book? What specific programs? Who is the audience? Are there books already written that we should look at? 2. Contributors. Would you like to contribute? Can you think of someone I should make sure has a chance to contribute? Please post this to any other lists you feel could help in this effort. Thank you. Steve -- Steve Hargadon steve(a)hargadon.com 916-899-1400 direct

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Re: national OSS-ed summit & barnstorming
by Jon maddog Hall 12 Apr '06

12 Apr '06

Tom, tom.hoffman(a)gmail.com said: > I do, however, get the feeling that there is a bit of a Fedora/Ubuntu/Debian/ > K12LTSP vs. Novell/Linspire schism, although it is hard to say. >From my experience in both the commercial and free software world, little things tend to make big differences. I think that Red Hat and Fedora sponsoring a portion or even all of the effort is fine, and giving credit where credit is due is fine. But naming the effort after only one of the distributions is slapping people in the face. This, however, is the last I will say about it. md -- Jon "maddog" Hall Executive Director Linux International(R) email: maddog(a)li.org 80 Amherst St. Voice: +1.603.672.4557 Amherst, N.H. 03031-3032 U.S.A. WWW: http://www.li.org Board Member: Uniforum Association, USENIX Association (R)Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in several countries. (R)Linux International is a registered trademark in the USA used pursuant to a license from Linux Mark Institute, authorized licensor of Linus Torvalds, owner of the Linux trademark on a worldwide basis (R)UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group in the USA and other countries.

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Re: national OSS-ed summit & barnstorming
by Jon maddog Hall 12 Apr '06

12 Apr '06

Hello, There are (at least) two methods of attacking any computer audience: Horizontally and Vertically Horizontally means going to "computer" trade shows and events like Linuxworld, the old Comdex, MACWorld, etc. You write for blogs that are oriented toward computers, magazines that are oriented toward computers, etc. The further away from your core technology you are, the harder it is to get recognized, but the easier it is to reach the "unwashed". Vertically means going to events like EDUCAUSE and speaking with those educational types that make policies for Universities, or attending any of the educational conferences that go on. You can find out more about EDUCAUSE at http://www.educause.edu/ For the past thirteen years I have been going around and speaking about FOSS in a horizontal method, but which often heavily included education. I was a former college professor for eight years (3.5 full time, and 4.5 part time), so I understand what FOSS would mean to education and research. The problem is that from a horizontal perspective, there is so much about FOSS that it is impossible to talk about all of it in a 45 minute "keynote". Therefore often the educational part of FOSS takes a back seat to government and commerce. Lately I have been purposely requesting that the conference people that pay my travel expenses (note, I do not often require an honorarium for my speaking, and never ask for one from Universities) to also line up speaking sessions at local Universities. This happened in Oman recently, and I addressed the CS staff of the University of Oman (their ONLY public university) for about an hour on the benefits of FOSS in teaching. In a tour of their labs I showed them how they could teach two more effective courses using FOSS. I think my speech had a deep impact on their thought processes. They are currently completely a Microsoft shop other than one professor who is "FOSS". But again, this is only one university. Unfortunately to attack something like EDUCAUSE it takes almost a full time (or at least half-time) job. Their membership is only made up of academic institutions and corporations in the "educational domain". Microsoft is a member (Platinum) and Novell is a member (Bronze). EDUCAUSE has no individual memberships. EDUCAUSE has an "Open Source" panel at their upcoming conference in Washington D.C. (which overlaps with Linuxworld Canada, where I will be), but no listing of who is on the panel. And that is just EDUCAUSE. There are many other "Educational" events, magazines and groups in the world. >That's a good example. We need something like Linux (in schools) >International. Well, it actually should be "FOSS (in schools) International". :-) There is a third method of reaching the audience that you are talking about and one that I am executing with Linux International. That is of the "grass roots" method. Don't catch fish, but teach thousands of people how to fish. LI will have a "Special Interest Group" devoted to Education. With LI as the "corporate umbrella" they will have access to groups like EDUCAUSE as well as others. LI will supply them with the materials necessary to convince people at all levels of education that FOSS is better than closed source, proprietary code. I note, by the way, that your email list is "fedora-education-list(a)redhat.com" This is a recipe for failure. It is the same philosophy that killed Unix. It should be "FOSS-education-list", or better yet "FOSS-education-list@some-neutral-body". That way groups from Novell, Ubuntu, Debian, Slackware and others can join you. Grow the pie, then cut it up. Warmest regards, maddog -- Jon "maddog" Hall Executive Director Linux International(R) email: maddog(a)li.org 80 Amherst St. Voice: +1.603.672.4557 Amherst, N.H. 03031-3032 U.S.A. WWW: http://www.li.org Board Member: Uniforum Association, USENIX Association (R)Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in several countries. (R)Linux International is a registered trademark in the USA used pursuant to a license from Linux Mark Institute, authorized licensor of Linus Torvalds, owner of the Linux trademark on a worldwide basis (R)UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group in the USA and other countries.

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some thoughts and an idea
by Lucy Ringland 12 Apr '06

12 Apr '06

Greetings, This group has been discussing mostly school-based linux initiatives, but there is an active non-formal (think Scouts or 4-H, or church groups, etc. here) community out there that is just as excited at the possibilities of linux in their work - just as underfunded, in many ways even less supported. Can there be cross-discussion about both sides of this? May I throw out the idea of: LIFE / LINE (LIFE = Linux in Formal Education / LINE = Linux in Non-formal Education) This could be the "summit" we have been talking about. Or an umbrella group that provides research, support, training - whatever - for educators and kids interested in open-source/linux - all flavors and colors. Gather interested parties together and look at the current puzzle pieces, and how the fit, what's missing, who's playing, and get a sense of what the picture looks like now and what we want it to look like in the future. Also, there seem to be several big chunks to the question "what do we need to do to get linux/open source into education?" There is the software side - how to make it better, faster, lighter, easier for kids, teachers, parents, administrators (both system admins and school admins :-) ). There is the support side - how can we provide good tools for people wanting to put linux into their school/after-school programs - mentors, documentation, case studies, etc. There are surely other sides I haven't thought about. And, how can we tie linux into teacher training at the college/university level, so teachers come into school settings already familiar with open-source? Wouldn't matter what distribution, just matters that they are exposed to alternatives that allow for community interaction. Sorry these aren't fully developed thoughts, yet. Feel free to beat on them. Lucy

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education April 2006