Hello
I am organizing this year's Open Source and Education mini-conference
at the Australian National Linux conference (linux.conf.au 2007) in
Sydney NSW Australia. I wanted to extend an invitation to everyone on
this mailing list to speak at this FOSS and Education gathering. Last
year, we had an incredible group of speakers from all over the world
and I am hoping we can do even better this year. If you have ever
wanted to travel to Sydney, this could be your chance!
The details and call for presentations at the mini-conference can be
viewed at:
http://www.fossed.org/lca07/index.html
The general conference website is:
http://lca2007.linux.org.au/
Unfortunately, there is still no money available to assist with travel
but the good news is that speakers no longer need register for the main
conference - though you are encouraged to do so! If you have
recommendations for other people that I should invite, please let me
know. Looking forward to hearing from you.
Thanks,
Bryant Patten
White Nitro, LLC
______________
About linux.conf.au 2007
linux.conf.au is Australia's annual technical conference for the Open
Source
and Free Software developer community. Now in its eighth year,
linux.conf.au
is regarded as one of the premier global FLOSS technical events and
attracts
many international open source software developers and users.
Returning to Sydney from the 15th to 20th of January, linux.conf.au
2007 is
supported by our Emperor sponsors, HP and IBM, and hosted at the
University
of New South Wales. For more information about linux.conf.au 2007 visit
our
website at: http://lca2007.linux.org.au/
About Linux Australia
Linux Australia exists to serve and promote the Australian Linux and
Open
Source community. The organisation aims to do this best by taking
enthusiasms within the community, such as FOSS issues, projects,
education,
advocacy just to name a few, and help them flourish, to succeed. The
lifeblood of this organisation is the people in the community, and Linux
Australia strives to be both relevant and useful to the community. For
more
details about Linux Australia visit: http://www.linux.org.au/
I'm hoping to find ways to create broader awareness of the interviews
that I have been doing on educational technology, and specifically on
Free and Open Source Software in K-12 schools.
I've posted a story to www.digg.com, a popular news website that where
stories are ranked by user interest. Users click on a story's "digg
it" button to indicate their approval or interest in the story, and
the higher the number of "diggs," the more likely a story will be read
by other users.
Might I encourage you, if you have been following my interviews, to
"digg" the story I have posted on the series? Here is the link to
start:
http://digg.com/linux_unix/Stallman_Raymond_Others_on_Free_Open_Source_Soft…
The story itself links to
http://edtechlive.wikispaces.com/Recordings+List and reads:
----
Stallman, Raymond, & Others on Free/Open Source Software in K-12 Schools
Over the last couple of months I have recorded audio interviews on the
use of Free and Open Source Software in K-12 schools with Jim
McQuillan (LTSP), Mike Huffman (Indiana's Linux Implementation), Eric
Raymond (ESR), John "maddog" Hall, Doc Searls, Richard Stallman (RMS),
and Martin Dougiamas (Moodle). All available for download in .mp3 or
.ogg.
----
If you are not registered with www.digg.com, you will have to do so in
order to click the "digg it" button by the story. Thanks for that in
advance.
If you have any other ideas for publicity, or if you want to suggest
individuals for me to interview, please let me know.
--
Steve Hargadon
steve(a)hargadon.com
916-899-1400 direct
www.SteveHargadon.com - (Blog on Educational Technology)
www.K12Computers.com - (Refurbished Dell Optiplexes for Schools)
www.EdTechLive.com (Podcasts, Workshops, & Conferences)
www.TechnologyRescue.com - (Linux Thin Client Solutions)
www.LiveKiosk.com - (Web Access and Content Delivery Solutions)
www.PublicWebStations.com - (Disaster & Shelter WebStation Software)
www.K12OpenSource.com (Public Wiki)
www.SupportBlogging.com (Public Wiki)
http://educationbridges.net/k12opensource/wp-content/uploads/moodlemd.mp3http://educationbridges.net/k12opensource/wp-content/uploads/moodlemd.ogg
If you look at the "stats" page for the Open Source program Moodle,
you will see the incredible growth taking place in the use of this
e-learning program. Martin Dougiamas, the creator of Moodle, spent an
hour with me talking about Moodle, what is is, where it is being used,
and how a large Open Source program like Moodle is sustained. Martin
is thoroughly engaging, and the interview goes by much too fast.
Some notes:
* Martin grew up in the desert of Australia, and his own schooling
as a youth was from "The School of the Air." Through CB (Ham?) Radio,
he and four or five other youth talked with a teacher who was 600
miles away, and every other week an airplane would stop by with school
materials. Seems quite appropriate that someone with that background
would 1) of necessity become a self-learner (again, reference the Doc
Searl's interview and the "self-learner" aspect of the Open Source
world), 2) understand the value of e-learning, 2) understand the
nature of distance learning, and 3) see the value in
learner-participation that lies at the philosophical heart of Moodle.
* It was a test of Martin's patience for me to ask him to explain
Moodle as though he were talking to a teacher who knew nothing about
it, but he did a very good job, and I hope it makes the interview a
better resource to the teacher community. There is a skill involved in
not only managing a project as complex as Moodle, but also being
willing and able to communicate its value in basic terms to new users.
This impresses me about Martin.
* Moodle isn't just for distance-learning situations. It is also
built for and used in "face-to-face" learning or "blended" learning
environments, and he mentioned its value in homeschooling.
* The Moodle community that works on the actual software project
is a model of the "community of practice" or "collaboration" that
Moodle strives to help create for learning environments. They are
their own best "customers" of the project, as they work to extend this
core value of participation. For several months I have been wrestling
with the two values of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) to
schools. The first is "FOSS in Education," which is essentially the
use of FOSS programs that, for the most part, are just replacing
proprietary programs which were already in use or which weren't in use
because of their financial cost. The second is "FOSS as Education,"
where the use of FOSS programs introduces the student to the Free and
Open Source world, and allows them to participate in collaborative
programming. Jeff Elkner's work teaching FOSS programs like Python to
students at Yorktown High School in Arlington, Virginia, is an example
of this. What makes FOSS more than just a "cheaper" replacement of
proprietary programs is this second opportunity--to engage students in
very real-life aspects of a world that is becoming more and more based
on collaborative work. The fascinating value that Moodle seems to
bring to this picture is the ability that Moodle has to bring these
collaborative opportunities into the regular classroom, bridging the
gap between the worlds of regular computer use and Jeff Elkner's
computer lab--because if "FOSS as Education" were only to take place
in the computer lab classes, it's impact would be limited only to
those technically-minded students. (Coming up for air now...)
* Moodle is most definitely having a unique impact on the
awareness and understanding of Open Sources software in schools. This
is largely, I think, because it is viewed as "free" (as in cost)
competitor to very expensive proprietary programs. Our Moodle
demonstrations at the NECC and CUE shows have literally been
standing-room only. But Martin is quick to point out (as was also
clear about OpenOffice in my recent interview) that it is the
combination of features and the benefits of the Open Source community
that are driving the adoption of Moodle, and not the low cost.
* The Moodle.org project is financially self-sustaining because of
the commercial partnerships that Moodle has under the Moodle.com
website. There are 40 Moodle partners who provide hosting, support,
consulting, training, and certification (and some 200 additional
applicants) who pay royalties into a Moodle trust. Funds from that
trust go to pay developers to work on Moodle.
* There are some very large deployments of Moodle, including the
upcoming use of Moodle by the Open University of the UK, where they
anticipate it being used by 200,000 students. Large organizations that
use Moodle also help the project by devoting staff to maintain or
improve Moodle, and Martin said that the Open University will be
working on helping to maintain the "quiz" module, as well as funding
directly some upcoming developments.
* Martin wasn't sure he wanted to get into the fray over "Free
Software" and "Open Source Software," but he admitted he uses the
phrase "Open Source" himself.
* Maintaining a project with some 20,000 scripts is a big job, but
Martin still finds time each week to do some actual coding himself. He
loves his job, and wishes that everyone would have something exciting
to work on so that they want to jump out of bed each morning, like he
does.
--
Steve Hargadon
steve(a)hargadon.com
916-899-1400 direct
www.SteveHargadon.com - (Blog on Educational Technology)
www.K12Computers.com - (Refurbished Dell Optiplexes for Schools)
www.EdTechLive.com (Podcasts, Workshops, & Conferences)
www.TechnologyRescue.com - (Linux Thin Client Solutions)
www.LiveKiosk.com - (Web Access and Content Delivery Solutions)
www.PublicWebStations.com - (Disaster & Shelter WebStation Software)
www.K12OpenSource.com (Public Wiki)
www.SupportBlogging.com (Public Wiki)
Interview with Martin Dougiamas and Two-day Moodle Workshop
This Thursday, October 19th, I'll be interviewing Moodle (www.moodle.org)
creator Martin Dougiamas at 8:00 am Pacific Daylight Time (the show is early
to accommodate the time difference between here and Australia). The
interview will be broadcast live as a "Skypecast," and details will be
posted 30 minutes prior to the interview at
http://edtechlive.wikispaces.com/Upcoming+Interviews. The recorded show will
later be posted at EdTechLive.com.
Also, don't miss my recent interviews with Doc Searls, Ragavan Srinivasan,
and Richard Stallman--all available for download or to listen from your web
browser at http://edtechlive.wikispaces.com/Recordings+List.
Cheers,
Steve Hargadon
--
Steve Hargadon
steve(a)hargadon.com
916-899-1400 direct
www.SteveHargadon.com - (Blog on Educational Technology)
www.K12Computers.com - (Refurbished Dell Optiplexes for Schools)
www.EdTechLive.com (Podcasts, Workshops, & Conferences)
www.TechnologyRescue.com - (Linux Thin Client Solutions)
www.LiveKiosk.com - (Web Access and Content Delivery Solutions)
www.PublicWebStations.com - (Disaster & Shelter WebStation Software)
www.K12OpenSource.com (Public Wiki)
www.SupportBlogging.com (Public Wiki)
Below are the links and notes on two interviews I did last week--the
first one with Ragavan Srinivasan from HP, and the second with Richard
Stallman, the founder of the Free Software Movement.
-----
http://educationbridges.net/k12opensource/wp-content/uploads/RagavanHP.mp3http://educationbridges.net/k12opensource/wp-content/uploads/RagavanHP.ogg
"Ragavan Srinivasan from HP Gives a Primer on Open Source Licenses"
An extremely well-prepared Ragavan Srinivasan of HP gives an overview
of Free and Open Source Software (FLOSS) and the Free and Open Source
Licenses. He provided a PowerPoint presentation to go along with the
interview, which I have converted both to flash and Open Documents
formats. Click on those links and you can follow along with him. Some
other links from the interview are here.
For me, one of the real high points of the discussion was his
description of the two different ways in which FLOSS is used in
schools: "FLOSS in Education," and "FLOSS as Education." "FLOSS in
Education" is the use of FLOSS for regular computing tasks, whereas
"FLOSS as Education" is the teaching of programming--and collaborative
programming--by using FLOSS. Thank you, Ragavan, for giving me a
better vocabulary for something I end up talking about a lot..
Another sigificant aspect of the interview was Ragavan's descriptions
of where HP as a company has seen significant value in the use of
FLOSS internally. HP and IBM are both visibly posturing to show the
world their support for Linux and FLOSS, but to hear how HP is
actually benefiting from FLOSS itself is pretty compelling evidence of
the real-world impact of FLOSS.
-----
http://educationbridges.net/k12opensource/wp-content/uploads/rms.mp3http://educationbridges.net/k12opensource/wp-content/uploads/rms.ogg
"Richard Stallman on Free Software in Education"
Richard Stallman and I emailed back and forth several times before he
agree to an interview with me on Free Software in Education. Not that
Richard is not passionate about Free Software in Education, but he has
some strict requirements about the presentation of his material. As
the founder of the Free Software Movement, he is both passionate and
principled, and doesn't want to dilute his message.
When I called him last Saturday to start the interview (and yes, the
date I give in the recording is wrong...), he asked if I remembered
his two conditions for the interview. I said that I did, but he
repeated them for me: to avoid common errors, I needed first to use
the term "Free Software" only and not "Open Source," so as not to
associate his work with that label; and second, to not confuse GNU and
Linux. As you will hear in the interview, Richard cares very much
about being exact with language. And, I think, for good reason.
In the interview, Richard defines the use of the word "free" in the
context of software. He also defines the four essential freedoms that
are behind the Free Software Movement, and the four reasons that he
believes that schools should use exclusively Free Software (see also
his essay on this topic). And lots more--including the fact that he
likes Wikipedia, which makes A TON OF SENSE since all text at
Wikipedia is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation
License--which Richard wrote! That might help to explain why Eric
Raymond was so vocal about not liking it in his interview with me...
I think you will find this interview interesting listening.
--
Steve Hargadon
steve(a)hargadon.com
916-899-1400 direct
www.SteveHargadon.com - (Blog on Educational Technology)
www.K12Computers.com - (Refurbished Dell Optiplexes for Schools)
www.EdTechLive.com (Podcasts, Workshops, & Conferences)
www.TechnologyRescue.com - (Linux Thin Client Solutions)
www.LiveKiosk.com - (Web Access and Content Delivery Solutions)
www.PublicWebStations.com - (Disaster & Shelter WebStation Software)
www.K12OpenSource.com (Public Wiki)
www.SupportBlogging.com (Public Wiki)
On November 7th, from 7:00 - 8:30 pm, at the Plano ISD Sockwell Center
(just outside of Dallas), I'll be speaking on the use of Free and Open
Source Software in K-12 schools. This is free and open to the public.
Details are available at http://edtechlive.wikispaces.com/Workshops.
I will cover the use of Linux, Open Office, and many other programs
that can be used by K-12 schools to decrease their software licensing
costs, provide stable computing solutions, and introduce students to
collaborative programming. I run the Open Source labs for the CUE.org
and NECC ed tech shows, am currently working on a book for ISTE on
this topic, and have a weekly web radio show on educational technology
at EdTechLive.com.
I'm looking for other school or district venues where you think this
topic would be well-received, and to see if I might be able to
demonstrate enough interest to find a sponsor for a more national
tour. Please let me know if you feel your local school community
might be interested in this type of a presentation.
Thank you.
--
Steve Hargadon
steve(a)hargadon.com
916-899-1400 direct
www.SteveHargadon.com - (Blog on Educational Technology)
www.K12OpenSource.com (Public Wiki)
November 6 & 7, Plano, TX: Two-day intensive Moodle Training with
Michelle Moore
November 6 & 7, Plano, TX: Two one-day workshops on the use of blogs,
wikis, and podcasting in the classroom with Andrew Pass