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Re: [school-discuss] Re: Best Educational conference - Open Admin for Schools



Sorry, the link:
http://fsoss.senecac.on.ca/2008/

On July 24, 2008 11:35:06 pm Les R wrote:
> Hi Marc,
>
> Would they have folks from ATutor coming, too?   It's likely time to
> start integrating things between applications, if that makes sense.
>
>
> Les R.
>
> 2008/7/24 Marc Lijour <marc@xxxxxxxxxx>:
> > There is one at Toronto (Canada) in Fall, at Seneca College.
> >
> > Marc Lijour
> >
> > On July 24, 2008 06:02:55 am knowtree@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
> >> > Hi All,
> >> >
> >> > I was wondering what would be the most useful educational conference
> >> > to attend to talk about open source educational software (and in
> >> > particular Open Admin for Schools)?
> >> >
> >> > I'm at the Linux Symposium, and it's very interesting, but not really
> >> > what's of most interest to me...
> >> >
> >> > Any ideas?
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > Les Richardson
> >> > Open Admin for Schools
> >>
> >> Les --
> >>
> >> This is a very good question. I don't think it has an easy answer, which
> >> is probably why you bothered to ask :-)
> >>
> >> (I hope you don't mind that I cross-posted this to the Open Slate
> >> mailing list.)
> >>
> >> There are so many different kinds of gatherings. IT conferences.
> >> Open-Source conferences. School administrative and governance
> >> conferences. Teacher conferences. Success is more likely when all sides
> >> are addressed. Visit a FOSS conference and you can dazzle your audience
> >> with the technical design of your software, but you won't find many
> >> educators there. Visit a teachers conference and the people you meet
> >> will not comprehend what your software does, or the significance of it
> >> being FOSS. The trick will be to convince the FOSS folks that
> >> educational software is a good thing, and at the same time get the
> >> teachers and administrators to appreciate the value of FOSS. The bridge
> >> across that divide has yet to be built.
> >>
> >> The biggest obstacle I see in dealing with public schools is the
> >> resistance to change. Even when I find a teacher who is interested, they
> >> are not the decision maker. Neither is the Principle. Neither is the
> >> PTA. It is a lot safer for them to keep their head down and continue to
> >> do what has been done. Or, even more frustrating, to only do things that
> >> studies have shown are of value. No study, no data, no chance.
> >>
> >> In the face of this I have turned my attention to homeschoolers. My
> >> project, like yours, was designed for a typical brick-and-mortar school,
> >> so naturally I find myself having to reinvent it in the environment in
> >> which homeschooling operates. It's too soon to say how successful this
> >> approach will be. I'll be the first to admit that homeschoolers have a
> >> tendency to be mothers seeking an old-fashioned, home spun, nurturing
> >> environment for their children, a situation that is as distant from the
> >> technical nature of Open Slate as a teddy bear is to a PS3. The good
> >> news is that many homeschoolers I have met are concerned that their
> >> children won't get enough IT skills to be successful out in the world,
> >> and are looking for ways to introduce more IT into their curriculum. The
> >> problem I have with that is that I want Open Slate to be a lot more than
> >> an opportunity to learn *about* computers. I want it to be the essential
> >> basis for how learning takes place.
> >>
> >> This is not to say that I have turned my back on big schools. What I am
> >> counting on is the success of the Open Slate concept with homeschoolers
> >> to generate a ripple effect, so that the big schools come to us.
> >>
> >> As for Open Admin, I suggest you look for homeschoolers who join
> >> together to form a loosely knit cooperative. This approach seems to be
> >> very popular. The coop would set up and manage an Open Admin system.
> >> Obviously things like time and attendance will be different. You might
> >> offer to host these little groups rather than rely on them having a
> >> Linux guru available. Give it some thought.
> >>
> >> Gary Dunn
> >> Honolulu
> >> Open Slate Project
> >>     http://openslate.net/
> >> 73 BMW E9 (3.0 CS) 2213583 (rust repair research project)
> >>     http://e9erust.blogspot.com/