Re: [school-discuss] Looking for an international lecturer on free

[jwaddell@xxxxxxxxxx]

[Forwarded to the list from a non-subscribed address...Doug]

Hello,

> Hi,
>
> My name is German Bustos, I'm contractor for Computadores para Educar, a
> Colombian government program which has brought computers for thousands
> of Colombian public schools since 2001, this program offers also
> teacher?s training in the use of computers in classes.

My name is Jeff Waddell.  I am currently traveling the US with my family.

> All these
> computers are running MS Windows, but there is a growing interest in
> free software.

That's great to hear.

> Packages like OpenOffice.org and Mozilla are been tested
> to be used on those machines.
>

Great!!

 > A national meeting of teachers using computers will take place at June
> 28th, 29th and 30th in Bogotá, it is expected that at least 500 teachers
> from all the country would participate y that meeting.
>

That sounds great.

> We are looking for an international lecturer who can teach Colombian
> educators how to use free software in their classes and schools, what
> are the advantages of this kind of software specifically for education.

There are many advantages.  I assume with a three day meeting you are
looking to give an overview that would cover the most advantageous
applications for these teachers.  I assume that they teach all areas
including Language Arts (primarily Spanish, I presume), Math, Science,
History, Art, and Music.

> We have special interest in the use of computer technologies in teaching
> subjects like math, language and science.
>

Ok.

> We are also contacting national groups that promote free software to
> participate in the meeting.
>

I hope that you will be able to attract them.

> Can you please help me to find such a lecturer?
>

I would be interested in coming to Colombia and doing this with you.  I
have a degree in Computer Science as well as Spanish (my Spanish is quite
rusty as I haven't used it much in more than 10 years).  I prefer Open
Source solutions and have used them to solve problems in a variety of
settings over the past 10 years.  As there would be many details to work
out, please let me know your level of interest to have me come soon.

> Thanks a lot,
>

You are welcome,

Jeff Waddell
jwaddell@xxxxxxxxxx