> 1. Ideas, feedback, brainstorming, etc. What topics should be
> covered in this book? What specific programs? Who is the audience?
> Are there books already written that we should look at?
Other books: "The World is Flat" is the only one that comes to mind.
Audience: "Technology coordinators", as they're sometimes called. Tech directors. Tech-savvy teachers.
Topics:
Here are a few things that come to my mind. In any case, I think
the entire text should be liberally sprinkled with case studies and
real-life examples.
0. Intro, what "Free Software" is, etc. Oh, and/or "Open Source."
(Oh, boy.)
This doesn't need to be too detailed or get into the contentious
areas, but it is a good place to start emphasizing how the
founders of the FOSS community simply thought that ideas should
be free and open. This seems like something that folks in
education should be drawn toward.
1. Educating instead of training
- We need somebody who knows education really well to explain
better than I could why teaching kids where to click in
PowerPoint menus is training but not educating. Then we can
explain how to use multiple software platforms and applications
in the curriculum to teach students how to be computer users
and not Microsoft Office drones. This is the first point
I make in this open letter: http://tinyurl.com/eaa99
2. Increasing access to technology
- This is where we talk about software that [mostly] replaces
proprietary alternatives. The advantages are lowered costs and
[arguably, in some instances] quality improvements.
A. More-better computers at school
- LTSP, obviously
B. Free software provided to parents and families by the school.
C. Computer resurrection through the school, to take donated
computers too slow for the newest Windows, install Linux and
provide them to low-income families.
D. All the regular why-OSS-is-good arguments.
- security, remote management, stability, low risk of viruses, etc.
3. Pushing the envelope
- FOSS ideologies and open standards birthed Internet
technologies in the first place, and they continue to lead the
way with blogs, wikis, podcasts, RSS, etc.
- Maybe here is a good place for discussion about how students
can communicate with other students in other classrooms around
the world, learning collaboratively and as part of a global
community.
- Moodle probably belongs in here
4. Education & Development in Community
A. Users can participate in the Open Source development model, by
communicating with the development community in forums, etc.
B. Schools (and consortiums of schools, etc.) can actually /hire/
developers to produce needed software and influence existing
projects in helpful directions. For example: the Seacoast
Professional Development Center (spdc.org) has had me working
on electronic portfolios for Moodle since January, in order to
create an Open Source answer to new NH state standards. There
aren't any guarantees, but it's possible that some of my work
will make it into Moodle 1.7, targeted for release next fall.
Exeter could have paid less money for a proprietary portfolio
system for themselves, but they had a greater vision and
instead, we now have publicly-funded GPL work that will
benefit everyone around the world.
This is really about regaining local control, which is one of
maddog's core messages every time I've heard him speak. You
don't have to call up Redmont, WA, or even Dell or HP. If you
need some software tweaked (or modified heavily) you can call
up somebody you know who can do it for you and contribute the
work back into the community so that the school down the road
doesn't have to duplicate your effort.
C. Teaching software development
- Lots of schools have "intro to programming" courses, and an
unfortunately high number of them are actually just training
people in Visual Basic. Jeff Elkner's the man to talk to
here; he's been teaching HS kids Python since at least 2000
or so, and he's brining a group to NELS this summer to
participate in Tom Hoffman's SchoolTool development sprint.
FOSS was birthed in universities, and working on FOSS is the
ideal way for kids to learn what real programming is like.
I don't know how best to say it, or whether or not it would
be appropriate, but starting people off in programming with
a visual tool really sets them up for disappointment later
on. Programmers need to understand logic, algorithms, and
program structure, and starting with VB makes it waaaay too
easy to spend most of one's time arranging GUI elements
instead of actually /thinking/.
5. Objections
A. "We've got to face the reality that it's a Microsoft world."
Yes, and in 1989 it was an Apple world, and a Word Perfect
world. An astonishingly tiny number of today's professionals
ever touched Microsoft Office when they were in high school;
to imply that we have to teach it or our kids won't be able to
cope is an insult to our children.
B. "We don't have time to try new things, we can just barely keep
up with what we have."
a) System Administrators -- Such a response usually indicates
a preoccupation with firefighting and a lack of forward
thinking. Properly and appropriately implemented FOSS
/saves/ time and effort.
b) Teachers -- As Dave Trask has put it: "Look -- the
second-graders have it figured out. What's your problem?"
C. "It's not REALLY free..."/"It won't stay free..."
> 2. Contributors. Would you like to contribute? Can you think of
> someone I should make sure has a chance to contribute?
Sure, I'd love to contribute if I actually can.
I was going to name some other people, but I think all of them are
already on this list. :)
--matt
--
Open Source Software Engineering Consultant
http://majen.net/
718 Fox Hollow Drive
Hudson, NH 03051 U.S.A.
+1 603.236.1054 (cell)
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