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Jonathan Moore | 12 Jul 2004 23:35

[OS:N:] MoodleMoot

I thought this would be of interest to the list. 

***** Forwarded From Michelle Moore contact info below ******
Are you looking for a quality open source alternative to Blackboard and WebCT?
If so, I would like to encourage you to check out Moodle. Moodle is an open
source online course management system. Moodle is full-featured, user-friendly,
and currently experiencing tremendous growth. You can preview and download
Moodle at http://moodle.org, but I am would like to tell you about another
opportunity to learn more about Moodle.

This summer, in coordination with the MACE (Mid-America Association for
Computers in Education) conference, I am hosting the first US MoodleMoot.
MoodleMoot US will be a conference for both experienced Moodle users
and Moodle “newbies” interested in learning more about this powerful tool. The
highlight of the day will be a presentation via the Internet by Moodle developer
Martin Dougiamas. Participants can also anticipate an "Introduction to Moodle"
session as well as sessions to discuss Moodle implementation, mini-workshops
focused on specific Moodle modules, and roundtables to share different Moodle
sites. There will even be a session to help you learn how to set up your own
Moodle server.

MoodleMoot US will take place on July 28th at Blue Valley Northwest High School
in Overland Park, Kansas.  

To register for MoodleMoot and the MACE conference, please visit http://mace-ks.org.

To learn more about MoodleMoot, please visit
http://usd465.com/~michelle_moore/moodle.

If you have questions, please email me at michelle_moore at no-usd465.com-spam
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OpenSourceFan | 23 Jul 2004 05:45

[OS:N:] OSCON and OS Eduction BoF

Hello All -

I was wondering if anyone was going to the Open Source conference in 
Portland OR next week.

I am new to the Open Source community but have 20+ years designing 
educational software and I am very interested in learning about success 
stories in K-12 using OS solutions.

As a method to learn more, I suggested to the O'Reilly crew running the 
conference that they offer a Birds of a Feather (BoF) session on Open 
Source and Education.  Here is the blurb I submitted:

"With K-12 schools chronically short of funding and Open Source 
solutions being largely 'free', why have OS solutions not taken over 
the high school environment?  Is it lack of understanding or the 
traditional worries of support?
How are Open Sources operating systems, tools and applications 
currently being used in high schools and colleges beyond the 
traditional LAMP server uses?  Macintosh and Wintel computers fill most 
high school labs but there are success stories for OS solutions.  What 
are they and how can we get the word out?  Come and share your 
successes, failures and hopes for the future."

After having submitted this suggestion, and having it accepted and 
scheduled, had the horrible, sinking feeling that people might show up 
expecting *me* to know something or at least be able to open the 
discussion with some basic facts, URLs, etc.

Panic.
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M. Fioretti | 23 Jul 2004 09:17
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Re: [OS:N:] OSCON and OS Eduction BoF

On Thu, Jul 22, 2004 23:45:03 PM -0400, OpenSourceFan
(opensource <at> whitenitro.com) wrote:

> 2) What are the top 3 reasons that OS systems are not more widely 
> adopted?

The first one is being locked in proprietary formats: you might adore
the FLOSS philosophy, learn Unix by night and adapt to a different
interface, but if you lose your Access DBs, Outlook addressbook, the
formatting of all your Word and Spreadsheet files is less than perfect
and the embedded macros don't work anymore *you* and your business are
blocked.

> 3) Would people be interested in contributing chapters to a book if
> we could find a publisher interested in releasing a book about the
> subject?

Maybe, please keep me posted. And consider listing RULE (see sig) as a
resource, for those cases where k12/ltsp solutions simply cannot be
used.

Ciao,
	Marco Fioretti

--

-- 
Marco Fioretti                    mfioretti, at the server mclink.it
Red Hat & Fedora for low memory   http://www.rule-project.org/

I doni ricevuti dal Padreterno, servono se utilizzati: chi li
contempla gode, ma chi ne fa uso probabilmente aiuta altri a godere.
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Bob Houghton | 23 Jul 2004 20:33

[OS:N:] OSCON and OS Eduction BoF and the future

Bryant,

Thanks for pulling folks together on this topic. I look forward to
hearing the wisdom you collect there. Please share when you return.

Cost is the primary factor in the spread of innovations. But that does
not mean that other factors are not important. One must have access. It
is not yet sufficiently accessible. Yes, it is free for the download,
but even for many active computer users, the complexities of install,
setup, and transfer of data into new applications is too high a bar with
too much risk. Dual boot just adds to the complexity. The only safe way
is to buy a second computer just for Linux, et al and that drives the
cost factor back up.

Linux and Open Source have met the technological challenge of developing
an effective competitor as an OS. Free Hotspots (wireless) in many
communities may solve the online access problem. But what stands behind
the Mac and Win OSs are layers of effective organizations of people,
from the corporate vendor down through in-institution technical help.
Open Source must decide if it is willing to deal with the next challenge
of developing something similar or better. The Salvation Army, the Red
Cross and others built their way up from grass-roots issues. Is the Open
Source initiative that motivated? 

Red Hat and others have wisely chosen not to wait on the all volunteer
model, and therefore theirs is based on cost for service. It takes a
long time to build something to match the scale of Microsoft so things
are moving slowly.

One genius started and continues Linux; others champion other code
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Willy Smith | 23 Jul 2004 23:12

Re: [OS:N:]FOSS in Malaysia

Hi,

I was searching this morning for material for a42.com on what's going on in 
Malaysia, and found this PDF presentation which I thought might be 
interesting for some of you. It tells about their project to encourage FOSS 
both in government and educational institutions. Here's the original link:

http://opensource.mimos.my/our_participation/slides/LinuxWorld - An Open 
Source Policy for Malaysia v5.2.pdf

Since there are spaces in the URL, you may have to try this:

http://opensource.mimos.my/our_participation/slides/ LinuxWorld%20-%20An%
20Open%20Source%20Policy%20for%20Malaysia%20v5.2.pdf

I also put a mirror of the document with a filename which has no spaces here:

http://www.a42.com/library/OSPolicyMalaysiaV5_2.pdf

Short, but very interesting and has references to what's going on in some 
other countries. Please excuse if this is a duplicate post.

Regards,

--

-- 
Willy Smith
Editor in Chief
www.LinuxGazette.com
www.a42.com
Ciudad Panamá, Panamá
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Chris Spencer | 24 Jul 2004 14:49
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Re: [OS:N:] OSCON and OS Eduction BoF

> So, I am wondering if anyone who actually knows something or has 
> stories to relate might be going to OSCON or, barring that, can this 
> group point me to web sites, provide sources for statistics, stories, 
> etc that I could study over the weekend to get a crash course in what 
> is happening nationally.

Join up with tech-geeks.org's mailing list and ask the same questions.

It seems that the unfunded no child left behind mandates forced almost
every school in Illinois into a pretty tight spot.  Most of them now
have at least some Linux servers in their server room.  

Things like email, web servers, proxy servers, file servers, and
firewalls are all in common use.  

Although I am not aware of any schools in Illinois using Linux desktops
I am aware of some of the schools embracing open source desktop apps
under other OS's.  Open office and Mozilla are probably the most
popular.

-Chris

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