I must say, I was shocked! You should check out this article and the information collected by the US Justice Dept. It’s eye-opening….and not in the way you might think.
CAUTION: Childen at Play - The Truth About Violent Youth and Video Games
Consider opening your mind. No, this is not a comment about closed-mindedness or an insult directed toward anyone, but rather simply to let you know of an upcoming opportunity! First, this is not the official announcement as the website is not quite ready to begin accepting registrations, but…I’d like to give you a little heads up on the 2008 Open Minds conference in Indianapolis in September. Open Minds will bring educators from all over the US and Canada together to share knowledge and to learn more about Open Source technology in schools and classrooms. Think of it as FOSSED on the national scale. I’ll be sure to post more details and links as soon as they become available. 
Have a great 4th!
Technorati Tags: k12om2008
If you buy a computer, you often pay for Microsoft Windows even if you
didn’t ask for it and aren’t going to use it. This article shows you
how to return your unused Windows license and get your money back,
freeing yourself from the Windows tax.
Looking for an easy to use animation program to use in the classroom? If so, try Pencil. I downloaded Pencil and had my first crude animation going in just a few minutes! It’s very cool and easy to learn. Best of all, it’s available cross-platform! Linux, Windows, Mac OS X….installation is a BREEZE! Download it and play, learn, create! Check out the Pencil web site
Ok, this is pretty cool. I’m sitting here getting a haircut (actually my 13 year old son is in the chair…I’m next) and I’m connected to my Razr 2 bluetooth phone with my Nokia n800 and writing this blog post. I now have anytime, anywhere net access. It’s a bit slow, but “doable” for email, slow surfing, twittering, and blogging. I can also SSH into my servers and “fix stuff”. Truly mobile internet…very cool.
Hi all. Yet another snowy day here in Northern New England (darn it!). I love snow, but it’s APRIL! Enough already! Hard to play baseball when there’s 2 - 3 feet of snow on the field.
Last night I was in Staples buying some blank CD-R’s when I came across a “clearance table” where they had lots of things marked down, like external hard drives for $60 and other things like a Motorola H550 bluetooth headset for $17! Needless, to say…I bought the headset. I’ve always wanted to try using a BT headset with Skype. Here was my opportunity. I began by pairing it to my MacBook Pro running Leopard. Very simple and straightforward. I went into System Preferences and set my Sound output and input to use the headset. It worked fantastic with Skype as I had about an hour long conversation with a colleague.
Next was to try it with my little Nokia N800 and Skype. Pairing was a bit tricky and it could have been because my MacBook was nearby. Once detected it went very easily. I wasn’t able to test it beyond having conversations with myself by calling my own cell phone via SkypeOut. It was a bit choppy and overmodulated, but it could have been a network issue. I have to experiment more.
Last was my System76 Darter2 running Ubuntu. I had to install Stephan Graber’s BT headset pairing application (which works fantastic!), but once I did it paired and worked great. Skype defaulted to it right away. I use SkypeOut to call my wife at her work number and she sounded very clear and vice versa.
Why do this? Some of you may be like me. I have a weak cellphone signal here in my classroom and many times I can’t make or take calls depending on where I am, however, my building is completely covered with WiFi and accessible via WiFi from anywhere. So, I paid my $29 per year for an unlimited SkypeOut account (only calls to the US and Canada…I’d have to buy more credits for international calls) which allows me to call landlines (computer to computer is free) from my computer. Now that I have a bluetooth headset, I’m no longer tethered to my laptop. Skype is a wonderful VOIP tool and it makes life a bit easier for me when I’m unable to use my cellphone and still need to be able to move about my classroom or school.
You may think of Wal-Mart as a down-market PC seller, but as emails in
the Vista “junk PC” case show, Wal-Mart was furious at Microsoft’s
Vista Capable scheme, and thought that Vista Home Basic never should
have been developed, much less released. They’re not alone. Other
retailers, notably Office Depot, thought Vista Home Basic should have
been killed. Here’s all the dirt, including emails. Click below to read the entire article:
Wal-Mart: Microsoft should kill Vista Home Basic | Computerworld Blogs
I finally got it working! It was actually quite simple…basically a matter of me not following directions 
What am I talking about? I am making this blog post from my Nokia N800 internet tablet Click Here for more info. I’m using a neat little program called MaemoPY which is a blogging agent that allows you to post to your blog (WordPress or Blogger) and have all the features of a blogging client on a desktop computer.
I’m pretty excited now that my mobile blogging can be kicked up a notch. Of course, I could blog via email or via the web browser, but this is so much more powerful and better for me. Keep a lookout for more mobile blog posts! If you have an N800 or N810, I encourage you to give MaemoPy a try!
Chuck Syperski is working on an Open Source project that aims to make computer image deployment for companies and organizations very easy. Version 0.12 of FOG includes many new features including printer
management, inventory, client side registration, reporting, and a
client updater, just to name a few. I have yet to try it, but the screenshots look very intriguing. According to Chuck…It is a ghost-like imaging solution that can be used to image Windows PCs in large network environments. It does everything without boot disks/CDs, it also includes some pretty advanced features like multicast support, a client side service that does printer management, hostname changes, AD registration, user tracking and more. The FOG management suite does imaging plus hardware inventory, AV scan, memory testing, and disk wiping. It is all web based and can run on Fedora or Ubuntu. Sounds pretty cool! I’m looking forward to trying it!
There’s an awesome application out there called Miro. Miro is a free application that turns your computer into an internet TV video player. You can download it here for Windows, Mac, or Linux. Miro is open source…which has gotta’ make
you feel good, too! I’ve found that Miro plays just about anything, but its strength lies in that there are literally thousands of channels that you can subscribe to and
download internet TV shows.
So…how does this play into education? There are many channels dedicated to such topics as nature, science, history, space, tutorials and so much more! I just watched a very interesting show from NASA and a news show compiled from newscasts from Middle East TV stations! The video quality is superb! Students can download their own shows or better yet, the
teacher can download the content to a master computer and show the video up on a screen for the entire class! Miro is a powerful tool that can really enhance learning in your classroom…check it out today!
Many people know about OpenOffice, StarOffice, and NeoOffice, but few seem to know about one of the most powerful features of OpenOffice…extensions. OpenOffice has a built-in extension manager (go to “Tools” > “Extension Manager”) where one can add extensions to enhance the function and usability of OpenOffice. Visit the OpenOffice Extensions Page and download your favorite extensions…then use the extension manager to install them to OpenOffice. I highly recommend you grab the OpenOffice.org2GoogleDocs extension.
Export and Import your documents to Google Docs from OpenOffice.org, and from OpenOffice.org to Google Docs.
It can upload:
* Documents: OpenDocument Text (.odt), StarOffice (.sxw), Microsoft Word (.doc, but not MS XML), Rich Text (.rtf)
* Spreadsheets: OpenDocument Spreadsheet (.ods), Microsoft Excel (.xls), Comma Separated Value (.csv)
There are several template, clip art, and accessory extensions which will populate your OpenOffice installation with clips, templates, and more!
Today I stumbled across a blog post about voting for your favorite Firefox keyboard shortcut. I thought to myself, “I wonder just how shortcuts there are?” I know the old standby’s like CTRL-C to copy, CTRL-V to paste, and my favorite…CTRL-T to open a new tab. (Yes, I know more too, but these are a sample) Lo’ and behold…I found even more! Some of them have already changed my surfing habits! I’m much faster now. How about CTRL-L which highlights and selects the address bar….or try this…
Type a word in the address bar such as “openoffice” (no quotes)
Now press CTRL-Enter Voila! Firefox automatically puts in the www and .com for you! To use .org press SHIFT-CTRL-ENTER and for .net use SHIFT-ENTER. Pretty cool huh? Between CTRL-L and the others, I can pretty much avoid using the mouse or trackpad most of the time!
Find out all about the shortcuts and more on this page from the folks who bring you Firefox! Click Here
PC manufacturer Elonex is launching ONE,
an ultra-portable laptop, at this week’s Education Show at the NEC. The
machine provides a 7″ LCD screen, wireless Internet access and 1GB
on-board solid state memory (there is no hard disc to save on costs).
It runs Linux with what looks like OpenOffice for word processing and
is being aimed at the education market. It costs just £99. Read all about it and check out their page! Click the link below!
For those of you who know him, Trey Bachner actually sent me this link the other day. He figured I’d seen them already and he was right to a degree….I have seen some of them, but not all of them and not all in one place! This is an awesome resource! Linux newbie, OS X command-line junkie, guru, geek, or whatever….these cheat sheets can be VERY handy. Expect to see copies of them at FOSSED this year! Check them out! (also…looking around this site will yield other cheat sheets for networking and so forth)
Linux-Unix cheat sheets - The ultimate collection >> Scott Klarr
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While browsing around this evening I stumbled upon a fantastic article about those pesky proprietary programs that drive you nuts either due to feature overload, clumsy interfaces, or price and lock-in….and their Open Source alternatives that you can use to replace them! Jimmy Atkinson does a pretty good job of picking out some that really drive me nuts! These programs are not just for Linux, but rather they run the gamut of Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X. Number 35 is pretty interesting. It mentions replacing iTunes with Songbird. Just so happens that at this very moment I am listening to U2’s Joshua Tree album on my noise reducing headphones…using Songbird! Also…number 39 is pretty cool too! If you’ve never used Miro, then you owe it to yourself to check it out…it’s pretty awesome! For #42…I personally recommend Clonezilla. Clonezilla has proven to be a godsend for us at VCS and Union 52. Be sure to check the comment section as many folks have suggested even more alternatives!
The Top 50 Proprietary Programs that Drive You Crazy — and Their Open Source Alternatives | WHDb
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For lots of information about the FOSSED (Free & Open Source Software in Education) conference…visit the FOSSED site
Finally! I just finished a major project at another school and finally have some time to “come up for air”. Springtime is just around the corner and that means it’s time to get ready for another great FOSSED conference! I’m actually really excited as I feel I have a really good handle on some things this year that have given me trouble in the past. One of those things is the registration process. I have switched to a fantastic Web 2.0 solution some of you may be familiar with…Zoho Creator. The solution we had in the past worked well, but it was a bit cumbersome for me and very susceptible to SPAM. We had a lot of Russians who registered for the FOSSED conference last year and still are ;-) (in other words Russian SPAM sites…etc.) You’ll notice that I’ve added a “Captcha” (the little picture with letters and numbers you have to enter) to the registration process just before you submit to verify that you are indeed…human. I’m also excited about our new location! We have decided to move our second FOSSED conference location from UNH to The Governor’s Academy in Byfield, MA. The reasons are many, but suffice it to say…keeping the price reasonable was a large factor. We’re excited as we feel The Governor’s Academy will generate much of the same type of atmosphere we have at Gould Academy every June. The good news is that it’s only about 10-15 miles difference from the distance to UNH…for many of us… it’s a straight shot on the interstate. I’m hopeful that in addition to our colleagues from New Hampshire that we’ll also have many folks from Massachusetts and beyond.
Well that’s it for now. I gotta’ get up early in the morning and hit the slopes! Headed to Saddleback for what I hope will be a fantastic day of skiing. Check out the links above with regard to sending us session ideas! We need your input! After all, it’s YOUR conference! Wanna’ present or teach a session? Let me know! copperdoggy@gmail.com
Looking forward to another great year!
David
Recently I was able to purchase an interactive whiteboard called a “SmartBoard” for our school. I have several more in the budget for next year, but this one gives us an opportunity to learn more about how to use one. I was excited to find out when I ordered it that it would be compatible with Linux, but I had my doubts. Often times manufacturers make claims to be compatible with Linux, but generally with a loss of features or a very difficult installation. I was a little nervous when I stuck in the CD to the drive on my Edubuntu desktop….and I couldn’t get the installer to execute. So…I went to the web site and downloaded the installer from there. The installer was a breeze to work with! It’s an autopackage that simply asked me a couple yes or no questions…and then VOILA! That was it! Suddenly the SmartBoard software launched and we were in business! The total install time took less than 2 minutes! Guess what else? Everything works! Every feature from the notebook software to the screen captures and more! I’m truly impressed! The folks at Smarttech have really taken a look at the future of Linux and FOSS in Education. Today was simply my first day…all I got a chance to do was put it together, load the software and play around a little. I’m finding myself a bit excited to get to school tomorrow so I can really try things out. Just in the few chances I got to try it out today, I can really see how it will totally change the way I teach! I’m psyched!
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I found this while researching apps to help me keep my New Years Resolutions…bubbl.us. I often use graphic organizers when creating presentations and getting ready to teach a specific class. I just signed up for an account (FREE of course) and have found it to be remarkably easy to use! Flash-based mindmap creator bubbl.us allows you to quickly and easily
make effective, attractive mindmaps that can be exported as images or
as HTML outlines, or shared with others who can add new items or draw
new connections between existing ones. Check it out!
bubbl.us - free web application for brainstorming online
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I was just on Digg and found this great Open Source software archive! It’s quite comprehensive….lots if great cross-platform offerings. You oughta’ check it out! Maybe you’ll find something new and useful for your new computer that you got over the holidays
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Last week at the Ubuntu Developers Summit in Boston I was given a shiny new Intel Classmate PC loaded with Edubuntu 7.10! Aside from being a nice little tiny laptop that I could play around with, I was really excited to get it home and show it to the kids. I used it as a prop for a lesson on free vs. freedom in the world of computers and software. I also discussed with the kids how computers can play a vital role in opening up the world for kids who have never even seen a computer, especially kids in the developing world. It was a great discussion! Check out the excitement for yourself!
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| Classmate PC at VCS |
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Hey everyone! History has been made at UDS Boston! Last night, Halloween, four developers holed up in a room in the Hotel@MIT and hacked away on what would become a working version of local apps running on an Edubuntu thin-client! This is VERY big news. Normally in a thin-client environment, the applications all run on the server. This is fine except when you have a whole lab of kids using Firefox and Flash to access an educational web site or to (*gasp*) play games. What about YouTube? Well, with local apps you take advantage of some of the processing power on the thin-client itself (which largely goes unused). In essence we simply ask a particular application to run on the thin-client rather than the server. This will be something that can be defined for individual thin-clients or groups of thin-clients. As schools already have or possibly may purchase more powerful thin-clients, the choice to be able to run some applications such as firefox may become more desirable. Right at this moment I am watching a very smooth video running locally in Firefox on a thin-client. Normally it runs quite choppy on a thin-client, but when running locally it’s very smooth just like running it on a desktop or laptop. I just tried an educational subscription site called BrainPOP…the flash movies ran very well. I’m excited about this new development…it will revolutionize the whole Linux thin-client industry. It still has a ways to go before it’s fully implemented, but it won’t be long! Look for local apps on LTSP coming to a server near you!
Visit Scott Balneaves’ blog for more information
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Well here we are…working once again on the next version of Ubuntu. Today we got underway quickly as many of us have been to Ubuntu Developers Summits more than once and thus know the procedures. We’re at the Hilton at MIT (in fact the sign says Hilton@MIT which gives an indication of the age we live in). Nice hotel…very posh and a technological marvel. I’m actually headed home tonight to teach for the next two days, but will return Wednesday evening to begin the phase that I’m most involved in on Thursday and Friday. I took lots of pictures of today’s activities….check ‘em out!
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| UDS-Boston-2007 |
Wel, here I am. Once again at the semi-annual Ubuntu Developers Summit. Of all the exotic locales I get to travel to? BOSTON! For many this is truly an awesome place to be, but for me…I only live 2.5 - 3.0 hours (driving) from here, thus I make it to Boston several times a year for business, pleasure, and above all…Red Sox games! I will say, however, that we in an awesome hotel that is cutting edge, a technological marvel, and wired to the hilt…the Hilton at MIT in Cambridge.
Above, is a picture from the “pre-summit”. Folks are arriving today from all over the world in preparation for the Ubuntu Developers Summit which begins in earnest tomorrow morning. That’s when the real work begins. Today it’s getting reacquainted…making plans…working on pet projects and catching up. In the image above you’ll see on the left (black shirt) Oliver Grawert from Germany (Education Technical Lead for Ubuntu), Richard Weideman from South Africa (middle…Education Program Manager for Canonical/Edubuntu), and Colin Watson from Cambridge, England (blue sweater…Ubuntu Platform Manager aka “big cheese of Ubuntu”). This is truly an open and international effort. Me? I’m holding the camera and I’m from Maine, USA. Stay tuned…lots more happening as the week gets started. (oh…and GO RED SOX!)
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Windows/Mac/Linux: Add clip art, advanced PDF functions, and in-editor Wikipedia searching to open source office suite OpenOffice.org with OxygenOffice Professional, a modified installation package and extension. Along with adding roughly 3,400 clip art files and templates, OxygenOffice’s extensions also add support for Microsoft’s Visual Basic for Applications in the Calc spreadsheet program and conversion tools for the Office Open XML format used in Office 2007. Combined with the Writer’s Tools package, this gives OO.org a number of exclusive features.
To install, download the extension, open OO.org, go to Tools -> Extension Manager and click the “Add” button in the My Extensions section, or download a binary to make a fresh OO.org install. OxygenOffice is a free download that runs wherever OpenOffice.org does. (via Lifehacker.com)
Featured Download: Extend OpenOffice with OxygenOffice
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As of this post, the release of Ubuntu 7.10 is only 3 days away. This past weekend I blew away my Feisty Fawn installation on my old Dell laptop and replaced it with a shiny new installation of Gutsy Gibbon, other wise known as Ubuntu 7.10. I used the latest “release candidate” which is essentially the finished product minus some tweaks which I’ll grab with the Update Manager anyway. In fact, over the past couple of days I’ve noticed some artwork changes and things like that. When I first installed Gutsy the OpenOffice splash screen was the default OpenOffice blue and white, but as of yesterday it had been changed or “upgraded” to the familiar Ubuntu brown and orange. I suspect that there are many little things, or finishing touches, like this that are being applied each time I update over the next few days until the release (on October 18th).
So…what do I think? I’m lovin’ it! First thing that really jumped out at me was the easy screen and printer setup. Setting up multiple screens is a snap! There’s a nice GUI for setting up most of your video settings. Very cool. My printer? The easiest I’ve ever encountered. Last night I needed to print something here at home. I have a networked Xerox Docuprint N2125 Laser Printer. In the past I would have had to input the IP address, port number, and so forth. This time? The printer dialogue asked me to select whether it was a local or networked printer. I selected “networked”. It then asked me if I’d like the computer to search my network for the printer…I clicked “Yes”. Next thing I know, it has found my printer with the correct IP address and port settings…AND it then offered to find the correct driver for me! Which it did…and that was IT! Off to work I went….printing and printing some more!
Next stop…F-Spot Photo application. The new F-Spot is AWESOME! Now I know that’s not an Ubuntu issue, but it is included as part of a default installation so I feel it’s part of the “package”. I was able to easily grab photos off my digital camera, import them to F-Spot and then easily upload them to my PicasaWeb account! So far I am very impressed with the polish and improvements in Gutsy Gibbon.
I have ordered a new laptop from System76 which should be here soon. I’m very excited and look forward to “moving in” to my new laptop. What’s different about this one? System76 only sells Linux based laptops…more specifically Ubuntu laptops. The nice thing is that I’ll always know that my hardware will work with Ubuntu as I have a company standing behind it. I can’t wait to see how Gutsy flies on my new System76 Darter laptop. I’ll write a review as soon as I get a chance to “move in”! In the meantime, download Ubuntu 7.10 and give it a try!
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Friday at the annual MaineEd conference I got a chance to play with an iPhone for a few minutes. I also had the opportunity to talk to several people who have iPhones. The general consensus was that it’s the very best cellphone they’ve ever owned…period. I was pretty amazed by the capabilties. While I think my Nokia N800 has greater capabilities overall, it is limited to a Wi-Fi connection where the iPhone can access the internet and so forth from either a Wi-Fi or cellular connection. That’s pretty amazing. I often imagine what it would be like to be able to surf the net while waiting for my wife to come out of the grocery store, while getting the car fixed, while waiting in a parking lot for my daughter to get out of practice…and so forth. What I often wonder about is some of the other phones that supposedly do similar tasks, such as the Nokia N95. Have you had any experience with the iPhone? How about one of the others? How does it impact your daily life? Do you use it for your job or school? Let me know…I’m toying with the idea of getting an iPhone at some point…or maybe something else?
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Many folks are wondering about the OLPC laptop that is soon to be distributed to thousands of children (eventually millions) worldwide. It’s an ambitious project. I have been fortunate to have held and played with the OLPC on a couple of occasions. Once while at Google and again while in Spain. It’s a very rugged piece of equipment and I see great promise for the project….but if you want a kids take on the laptop…read the article below. (click to make the jump to the article)
Freedom to Tinker » Blog Archive » One Laptop Per Child (New Version), Reviewed by 12-Year-Old
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Ok, this is just plain cool. I saw this and had to share. Imagine, a projector built in to a common cellphone so that you can make short presentations, share photos with a group and more… There are pics and a video…click the link below.
Hands-on with Texas Instruments’ cellphone projector - Engadget
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Need help making the jump to Ubuntu? Check this site out! This web site attempts to create an “Ubuntu for Dummies” blog to help people with ZERO experience with Linux get through the day. The site is “human readable” and a great help for those migrating from the Windows world. The most recent post deals with migrating Outlook to Thunderbird and Evolution. Check it out!
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I recently stumbled upon portableapps.com (literally I was using StumbleUpon)…again…as I’ve been there before, but this time I noticed they have the Portable Apps Suite! Sweet! You can download and install all the apps at once to your USB drive and truly have a “portable” suite of apps!
PortableApps.com - Portable software for USB drives | Your Digital Life, Anywhere™
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Mac user Ali Karbassi
demonstrates how to set two different volume levels on your Mac: one
for when the headphones are plugged in, and one not - crucial
information for those of you toting your Macs to the library. Check it out!
Mac Tip: Set headphone-specific volume level - Lifehacker
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The good folks at FOSSwire have created a really cool Unix/Linux Command Cheat Sheet! I’m by no means a command line newbie, but there are often commands that escape me and thus I have to turn to Google for my answers….this cheat sheet may just save the day! Check it out…and while you’re there…check out the FOSSwire site! I’m adding it to my Google Reader! Great job!
FOSSwire » Unix/Linux Command Cheat Sheet
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Well, the summer is beginning to wear on and I have to get back to work at getting things ready for the upcoming school year. I’ve been in to school a couple times, but for the most part I’ve stayed away. No longer. I must return and begin another adventure. I’m actually looking forward to it. This year I am rolling out Edubuntu (click here for more info) throughout the entire school. I’m also taking a major step at breaking our dependence on Windows (even more). Up until now each classroom has had a Windows machine (or a Mac in some cases) in addition to a “mini-lab” of Linux thin-clients”. This year I’m replacing them with Edubuntu machines. Now…before you gasp too loudly…Windows will still be available in two forms. One is via our Windows Terminal Server and the other is quite unique if you ask me (go ahead…ask me) Ok I’ll tell ya’. I’m installing the free VMWare Player on the Edubuntu desktops and creating a Windows XP Pro virtual machine to push out to these desktops. So…if the users MUST use Windows, they can. My hope is that by having the base operating system as Edubuntu…they will see that they can do more than 90% of their tasks right there without having to go to Windows. I will also be using Edubuntu on all of the thin-clients…so the transition around school will be effortless for the users. I also will be using Samba/LDAP as my central point of authentication regardless of platform. Matt Oquist has created a fantastic installer for Samba/LDAP called “smbldap-installer” (click here for more info) which makes it a snap to install and configure a Samba/LDAP server in minutes. I’ll be running mine on an Ubuntu server so it’ll be nice and stable…and lightweight. My mind is racing with new ideas and that’s kind of exciting. I’ll keep ya’ll posted on my progress!
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Ok, this is very cool…if you use a lot of Web 2.0 services like I do (I’m a major Google user…PicasaWeb…GoogleDocs…iGoogle…GMail) then you’ll love this article. These shortcuts really make things go a lot faster! Enjoy!
230+ Keyboard Shortcuts for Top Web Services
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Hey all…I’m taking a bit of a hiatus for the next couple weeks as I’ll be on the road with the next FOSSED conference…taking in a Red Sox game in Boston…and heading off to camp for a week. So…I will have my N800 in case I get inspired, but at the moment I’m storing up all sorts of cool ideas for the months ahead. Stay tuned!
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Below is a video of what my computer lab looked like (kinda’ messy too) after allowing my 7th graders to use their class period today to disassemble the lab. In less than 40 minutes they unhooked, unstrung (cords), cleaned, dusted, and packed my entire 22 unit computer lab. Gosh I love using Linux thin-clients! You’ll notice the box in the video…that has 22 thin-clients in it. It easily fits into half of the backseat of a car. I could easily get my entire lab into a minivan! Check out the movie!
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I’ve been back from Sevilla for a few days now. The jet lag has
cleared and I’m “back in the saddle” so to speak. I return with
renewed vigor and excitement for the future of Linux and Open Source in
education. I had several fantastic opportunities while I was in
Sevilla. I had a chance to visit the CGA (Centro de GestiÓn
Avanzado)and a classroom at IES Azahar in Sevilla (a local school).
The CGA visit was quite an eye-opener. I was amazed at both the
simplicity and the efficiency of their operation. The CGA has charted,
developed, and deployed nearly 200,000 computers to schools all over
the region of Andalusia. Supporting this massive project is about 50
people! At any one time there are 16 people manning the call center.
Each school has an appointed ICT Teacher (technology integrationist)
who acts as the single point of contact between the school and the CGA
as well as the person who supports the rest of the staff with regard to
integrating technology into the everyday curriculum. If a teacher has
a computer issue…he/she contacts the ICT teacher who does some
initial troubleshooting. If the problem goes beyond the capabilities
of the ICT teacher, he/she calls the CGA for assistance. Most of the
problems can be solved with the help of the call center personnel. The
call center technicians can remotely access the computer in question
via ssh or vnc and correct the problem. In the rare event of hardware
failure, the CGA dispatches a technician from another government agency
or contractor that handles the hardware side of things. The system is
so simple. Each school has a server which has the “master image” on
it. The hardware is delivered. The ICT teacher goes into the BIOS and
sets the machine to boot from the network via PXE. The computer boots
via the network and deploys an image via an unattended installation.
Once the computer is imaged, the ICT teacher simply resets the BIOS and
voila! The computer is ready. When a new image is ready, the CGA
pushes it out to the individual school servers and alerts the ICT
teacher via their own customized web page that the image is ready. The
CGA monitors the servers in each school using graphical tools like
Nagios. If a server goes down at a school, chances are the CGA knows
before the school does! Authentication is handled centrally. User
accounts are stored on the master server using LDAP at the CGA and
synchronized to the school that the student attends. The user accounts
are used for computer logins as well as the SIS (Student Information
System). VERY COOL!
I also got the chance to visit IES Azahar, a middle/high school in the
“inner city” of Sevilla. I was amazed at the integration and use of
technology in this school. Every classroom has computers on every
desk. The desks are set up to seat two students with one computer
mounted in the middle. This was done by design to encourage
collaboration and teamwork. Each teacher has a master computer that
utilizes ITALC to manage the computers. The teacher can share their
screen, watch the students, and even blank the screens to get the kids
to pay attention. They can also control logoffs and reboot/shutdown as
well. In the US we normally see this type of deployment and control in
computer labs, but in IES Azahar, they utilize it in EVERY classroom!
I had a chance to visit a couple of classrooms and interact with the
kids. It’s an amazing situation in Andalusia and a model to the rest
of the world.
On Thursday, May 3rd, I had the opportunity to present at the Ubuntu
Education Summit. Folks from around the world attended, presented, and
collaborated on ideas concerning the use and advancement of Linux and
Open Source in education. This meeting of the minds was an
invigorating experience.
Once UES was over I had a chance to once again participate in the
Ubuntu Developers Summit (UDS). Everyone should experience this at
least once. The energy, organization, and flow of ideas is truly
amazing. This is why Ubuntu has become one of the top Linux
distributions in such a short period of time. Specifications for the
next release of Ubuntu are proposed in the weeks leading up to UDS.
The process for submitting specs is very specific. Your spec needs to
be well thought out. This prevents wasting time on frivolous things
that tie up development time unnecessarily. Once the spec is approved
it is put on the schedule for discussion at UDS. At the UDS, there are
BOF’s (Birds of a Feather) meetings where developers of a particular
project and those affected will meet and discuss the implementation of
the spec. Once the details of the spec have been ironed out, the spec
moves from discussion to drafting. Once the spec is written up
properly it is submitted for review. if all the requirements are met
it is approved and the developers are assigned the task of implementing
the spec for the next release. It’s a very solid and effective process
from what I’ve seen over the past couple of years.
Now…Edubuntu. This is the release I’ve been waiting for. Feisty
Fawn or 7.04 is definitely ready for prime-time. I’m totally
impressed. I’m also very impressed at the improved functions of the
Student Control Panel or Thin-Client Manager. Now you can view student
sessions, send messages, launch or kill programs, logoff users, and
much more! Ease of setup…ease of management…and ease of
deployment. Edubuntu is ready. Now…what’s really exciting is the
upcoming features for Gutsy Gibbon (7.10). Local apps, thick clients,
and so forth are a hot priority. This will change the landscape of
educational computing.
Also of note is the upcoming Edubuntu web portal. This will feature a
whole lotta’ links, blogs, interactivity, lessons, and so much more.
You are encouraged to become a part of it! The beta site is located
here: http://beta.edubuntu.ch Join! Contribute! Together we will
grow the site into a premier source for information for educators
around the world. I want to thank Richard Weiderman, Oliver Grawert,
Mark Shuttleworth and the rest of the Edubuntu/Ubuntu team for allowing
me to be a part of this exciting venture. This is an exciting time for
technology in education…hang on….it’s going to be a great ride!
Visit to CGA in Andalusia
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The work is done (for me at least….everyone else has 3 more days). I take off for the airport in a hour or so. It’s been one heckuva’ week. So much is going to happen in the next few months…what a ride it will be. I’m excited. I’ve learned so much…have so many new ideas…and have had the chance to see education in a new light. If anyone else ever gets a chance to visit another classroom in another part of the world, I highly recommend it. Anyway, this evening we went out with some of the gang to another cafe and had a terrific meal. After the meal I made a special trip to see the bridge that my students and I had seen on the Wikipedia page about Seville. It’s truly amazing. Last, I was a witness to quite a technological feat….a video conference between Sevilla and Detroit Michigan using nothing but a laptop, a projector and a web cam. It didn’t cost a dime. Mark Shuttleworth, Jono Bacon, and Oliver Grawert were “guest stars” in the video conference and answered questions posed by the audience in Detroit. Very cool…and it illustrates the power of the internet and how small our world is becoming. With that…I leave you for now. I will be travelling all day tomorrow (almost 24 hours), so I will not post for a bit, but in the meantime…here are some pics to tide you over:
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| Last Day Sevilla UDS |
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Today was AMAZING! I had the opportunity to visit a school here in Sevilla, Spain. The school was more of an “inner city” school, but it was a shining example of what the “junta” (government) of Andalusia has accomplished with technology in schools. ALL the schools in the program (and soon it will be ALL the schools…it takes time)…have a 2:1 ratio of kids to computers. Some schools have laptops as well. I was particularly intrigued by the reasoning of the 2:1 ratio and the desks designed around that purpose. The intent is to foster teamwork and collaboration. Students learn to work together and collaborate in the learning process. This is not to negate any effectiveness of a 1:1 deployment, but the educators of Andalusia feel that working together is also quite important. It was made clear that it was a conscious decision that had nothing to do with cost…there was enough money for 1:1, but it was decided to do the 2:1 in most cases. The computer desks were made in Portugal specially for the project. They are RUGGED! I was impressed. EVERY single classroom has computers on every single desk. By building them into the infrastructure, they have essentially built them into the learning process. Very cool idea. Every teacher uses the computers as a tool in the classroom (this was stated repeatedly) in nearly every lesson. When I asked the kids how they felt the computers had helped them, they felt more connected and felt that the school had merged the old ways with the new in a manner that would better prepare them for college and work.
On a more personal note…I had a BLAST! I was a bit of a celebrity as word got out that I was an American, a teacher,…AND a DJ. One of my Spanish colleagues is a local DJ as well and he told everyone else about me. The kids gathered around us during a break in the cafeteria….peppered me with questions….and then I offered to help them practice or try out their English. (fortunately I had a translator) We listened to music that I had on my n800 and the kids danced a little and laughed. Turns out they are big fans of the music style “reggaeton”. It was very fun. Later in the morning I had the opportunity to observe a high school philosophy class with the group. Good kids. We got the chance to check out how they use computers in their lessons and they in turn were proud to show off their skills. Through it all though…even part way around the world….kids are more alike than they are different.
In the end, the thing I really learned the most about is the need for and level of technology integration in today’s classroom. The region of Andalusia is a shining example of where most of us should be headed (including myself). Technology is part of everyday life now…the Spanish have taken the “bull by the horns” (an apt analogy given the art of bullfighting in Spain) and are working to move their entire society forward. The school/home connection is very strong…even with regard to technology. Hopefully, soon we can all learn from the lessons of Andalusia and find better ways to integrate technology as a tool in today’s classroom.
Pics and videos below:
My gallery from the school visit:
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| A Day in a School in Seville |
Videos from the visit:
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Today was a very exciting day! I was invited to tour the CGA which is essentially the Andalusia region Department of Education’s Computer nervous center. They administer, deploy, develop, and so forth…for the entire region of Andalusia in Spain. They use Linux exclusively….50 people are able to support almost 200,000 computers! Very cool to see in action. This deployment in Spain is a perfect example. They have a ratio of 2:1 in primary schools….moving up to 5:1 in high schools with many laptop deployments as well. All easily rolled out with automatic unattended installs…tech support…call centers for tech support…etc. Very cool and very well managed. A server goes down…the center knows before the school does! Each school has an ICT Teacher (in the US it might be referred to as a Technology Integrationist). The folks from CGA were very explicit in the fact that the ICT Teacher is not a technician, but rather a pedagogical leader who assists teachers with integrating the computers into the existing curriculum as a tool for learning. The ICT Teacher does have a small amount of troubleshooting training and is also the single point of contact to the CGA should anything require support. The ICT Teacher simply calls the tech center and a support person either walks them through the issue, remotely fixes the issue, or dispatches a technician. The tech support center fields about 900 calls a week with an average wait time of 12 seconds! Given that there are 16 people in the tech center (phone support) at once…(40 in all)…it figures out to about 56 calls per week or 11 calls per day. The CGA develops their own applications for things like system management, database administration, SIS, and so forth. The users are all managed via LDAP from a central server which then synchronizes to the individual schools and is tied into the Andalusia student information database as well. Very cool and extremely efficient. (In Maine it would be like having the user accounts authenticating via MEDMS) Kids move…the username and so forth moves with them. I could go into SO much more detail, but I simply want to close by indicating that the people who work in the CGA and the teachers who are served by the CGA are all very happy to be doing what they do. The operating system is a locally modified version of Ubuntu called Guadalinex. (They have a very cute mascot 
) Tomorrow I am going to a local school here in Sevilla, Spain for a tour and a chance to interact with the teachers and students! I’m so psyched! I have posted pics from today see them by clicking below:
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| Visit to Andalucia Computer Center |
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