[Author Prev][Author Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Author Index][Thread Index]

Re: [school-discuss] M$ Elevate America



Well said, Lee. ;-) Honestly, in many cases, my experience corroborates your statements.

One more effort enroute: http://flossed.org (aka http://opensourceschools.org) --

We are establishing an NGO but we are already a working community with projects, especially this: A School System Admin Training and Cert (based, by the way, preferably, on LPI).

We have also discussed teacher and student certs, but I personally think the need for sysads is the hot spot.

When I contacted LPI, they wanted, quite rightly, to know the books, syllabus and credentials of any trainers.

Anyone interested in working on this sysad training and cert specifically?

We've had some strong voices against certifications (many point out that they don't mean much), but most of us see that they fit with how school admins think and will go a long way toward making FLOSS a standard part of the repertoire.

We'll do a second flossedbk conference in Thailand this year but don't know when yet.

Best,

David Bucknell

----- Message from sregdoreel@xxxxxxxxx ---------
    Date: Sat, 23 Jan 2010 06:34:22 -0800 (PST)
    From: lee rodgers <sregdoreel@xxxxxxxxx>
Reply-To: schoolforge-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
 Subject: Re: [school-discuss] M$ Elevate America
      To: schoolforge-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx



This is the kind of discussion that I've been looking for, the reason I joined this mailing list years back.

For K-12 schools what is missing is a stable, working clearing house & interest from the FL/OSS community. It would also require some real funding, working disk images, how-to's & hands-on laboratories, & a plan to get it into the hands of school users & admins.

From what I see the education profession is talking out of their butts about digital media. The school districts IT dept's have it sweet. The districts go for weird frills like smart boards & expensive drawing tablets instead of understanding ubiquity. If you pin them down on using commercial software & the problem of homework & bootleg software, their eyes glaze over.

As a teacher at a small school I ran into a real need that - as far as
I know - has not yet been met. I was able to roll up my sleeves &
improvise, building a digital media lab with a mix of Linux &
Windows. It was a rough ride in
spots but it was doable, I did it for a charter school. I saved easily
a few thousand dollars in server, workstation & software licenses
on 70 workstations & 3 servers. I would restart the project again -
I also did a lot of development at a private school a couple of years
back - but instead it looks like I'm going back to SQL database
administration for now. If I could find interest locally or funding I'd
be back in it.

From what I can see the revolution will have to come from small schools, from below, the small districts, indep. private & charter schools. If someone can come up with a plan, endorsements & some funding, I'm interested in working on the effort again.

/Lee




________________________________
From: Bryant Patten <opensource@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: schoolforge-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Fri, January 22, 2010 5:06:20 PM
Subject: Re: [school-discuss] M$ Elevate America


On Jan 22, 2010, at 4:02 PM, Tim Dressel wrote:

Being one that has both feet intermingling with FLOSS and the
commercial side, I think you are right, it is important that the FLOSS
community step up to the plate to put together a comprehensive
training package, course list, and promotional materials.

In the K-12 space, there are several of us scattered around the U.S. that are trying to bring the INGOTs program ( www.theingots.org ) to the U.S. This would cover the student certification.

Does anyone know the current state of the Red Hat Academy initiative?

After the Open Minds conference, Vern Ceder and I talk with Jim Lacey, the head of the Linux Professional Institute, about some kind of teacher certification for FOSS experience. He seemed open to exploring the idea and maybe now is the time to pursue it.


I would enjoy being part of a group that could create a package
similar to the Elevate America portal

Count me in.

Bryant

*****

Bryant Patten
Executive Director
The National Center for Open Source and Education
www.ncose.org


----- End message from sregdoreel@xxxxxxxxx -----



--
* Flossed.org -- Free and Open Schools -- Free and Open Minds
* IKN (International Knowledge Networks, Co., Ltd. Thailand)
* http://intknowledge.com
* Web Ideas, Tools and Sites for Teachers, Schools, Businesses and You.
* Sustainable Learning Technologies
* Cell: +66(0*)84 329 1183; Office: +66(0*)2 980 9464 (*No "0" if calling from
overseas.)

----------------------------------------------------------------
This message was sent using IMP, the Internet Messaging Program.