Saugus has made significant strides in the use of open solutions in the K12 environment. From servers, to desktops, to devices, we deploy and use open-source software far and wide. But did you know that the use of open-source can have a significant impact on the environment? In fact it can! Take a look at these numbers from the The U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Electronics Environmental Benefits Calculator. Re-using just one computer and monitor saves:
30 lbs of hazardous waste
77 lbs of solid waste
77 lbs of materials
147 lbs (17.5 gallons) of water from being polluted
32 tons of air from being polluted
1,333 lbs of CO2 from being emitted
7,719 kilowatts of energy
This is roughly the equivalent of taking ½ of a car off the road and saving 68% of one US household's allotment of electricity for a year. These numbers are significant and certainly worthy of consideration.
Like every other school district, Saugus has a rapidly aging fleet of existing machines. Upgrades to the latest and greatest from Redmond would be costly and hardly worth the effort, yet these machines are completely viable as platforms for Linux. Even older Windows 98 machines are worthy clients for a K12 Linux Terminal Server Project (LTSP) setup. We have had great success working with these technologies for a number of years and, with this new data in-hand, plan to ramp up our efforts in this regard.
We are now in the process of formalizing and documenting our work into what we are calling our Green Computing Initiative. We intend to use this site to share information and best practices with the entire K12 community, in an effort to inform, educate, and inspire others to join us in this important endeavor.
K12 technology budgets are tightening while needs continue to increase, yet every year, schools simply discard valuable and viable equipment in the name of planned obsolescence and "minimum standards." These machines clog our landfills and pollute our water supplies when their useful life could easily be extended through the use of open solutions. Don't let fear stand in the way of opportunity in your district at the expense of the environment!
We're very excited about our new 21st century learning initiative, SWATTEC: Student Writing Achievement Through Technology Enhanced Collaboration. Through this project, 1,700 fourth grade students at the Saugus Union School District will receive an Ultra Mobile Device (Asus EeePC), and will engage in collaborative learning through the use of Web 2.0 evaluation, assessment, and social media tools.
We've created a public service announcement for our 4th grade teachers, which you can view below. A special thanks to Mary Mann, Jon Baker, and Arlene Anderson for helping with the video!
We are pleased to announce that our 21st century learning project, Student Writing Achievement Through Technology Enhanced Collaboration (SWATTEC), has been fully funded and will commence this fall. Through this project, 1,700 fourth grade students at the Saugus Union School District will receive what we are referring to as an Ultra Mobile Device (Asus EeePC), and will engage in collaborative learning through the use of Web 2.0 evaluation, assessment, and social media tools.
The SWATTEC project has been carefully conceived, backed by tremendous research, and will be comprehensively supported through extensive staff development, evaluation, and district-wide support. We embark on this journey with great anticipation and high expectation that the development of a sustainable, one-to-one environment, coupled with the power of Web 2.0 tools will create a culture of transparent technology integration and generate academic, personal, and social gains never before realized in elementary education. We look forward to sharing the results with you.
If you attended one of my social networking sessions at NECC 2008 and are interested in some great follow-up resources on social networking and web 2.0 in education, you can find them under Wiki Pages on my profile page at http://community.saugususd.org/jklein
For the final NECC keynote, Idit Harel Caperton shared her vision for the future of education technology. She is tremendously accomplished, perhaps best known as the co-editor (with Seymour Papert) of the 1991 book, Constructionism, the first book about constructionist learning.
Idit's presentation was, to say the least, challenging for many of us. She promised to take us on a journey through 3 decades of catalyzing change, 3 days of the catalysts of change (ie those at NECC who are endeavoring to drive change), and 3 wishes for the future. The overarching theme of the presentation was “The Transformational Power of Social Media Technology in Learning”, which was of particular interest to me, for I am a proponent of the use of social technologies in education. More ...
EduBloggerCon 08 is over and it was quite a day. For me, it was something of a battle just to get there, having flown through the night, with flight delays putting me on the ground (exhausted) at 9:00am Saturday morning. I rushed over to the convention center, grabbed Arlene out of the waning moments of her first session (Google apps, I think) and she graciously oriented me as to the “whos” and “hows.”
This is a unique conference, or “unconference” as Steve likes to refer to it, in that it is run entirely by the participants. More ...
Every once in a while, something comes my way that just drives me batty. Such was the case today when the following message came across my desk from a tech director's mailing list. For those of you who feel like IT is your adversary, this will surely offer some valuable insight into the mindset of many of today's education IT managers: More ...
Keywords: Apple, Ed Tech, IT Policy, Mac vs. PC, Role of IT
NECC 2008 is right around the corner and I must say, I'm pretty excited about it! I'll be doing two sessions, My Space, Your Space: Effective Social Networking Using Open Source on Monday, 6/30/2008, 2:00pm–3:00pm in HGCC 217 A, and Social Networking in Education on Tuesday, 7/1/2008, 2:00pm–3:00pm in HGCC 217 A. I'm looking forward to meeting up with educators from around the world to share and discuss technology in education.
There has been a great deal of interest in Elgg, which is the social networking platform that we used to create this site and the SUSD Student Community, and there are a lot of other schools and organizations using it. To help us all "group up", I have created this group on the NECC Ning site. If you are interested in Elgg, or educational social networking in general, please join us on the NECC Ning! I'd love to get a great discussion group going, and maybe coordinate a meetup or two with those of you who will be at NECC next week.
Today I stumbled upon a blog post by Miguel Guhlin entitled "TexasCTO2008 - Legislative To-Do", which was about a recent CoSN Chief Technology Officers Clinic held in Texas on June 18th. In it, Miguel referred to the comments of a member of the Texas legislature, who was part of a panel presentation, "A Vision for Education Technology in Texas: Legislative Landscape."
Ordinarily, I would not have found such a thing of interest - I rarely find that a state legislature is really in touch with what's going on in the classroom, especially when it relates to technology. But I was particularly fascinated by the comments of Scott Hochberg, Vice Chair, Higher & Public Education Finance, Select Committee. More ...
I'm often asked to speak, write, participate in webcasts, and serve on panels discussing education and technology, and enjoy the opportunity to share some of the things we are thinking about here at Saugus. Having done so on many occasions over the past year, I find myself struck not by the value of the discussions, but by the consistency of the responses. For it seems that no matter how much we speak of change in education through technology, no matter what is said, no matter what is offered, or who leaves inspired, the foundation is rarely shaken. Most often the light of new ideas is bent through the lenses of personal perspective and bad habits, which results in technology decisions based on personal appeal, a sense of safety, or worse, a desire to be part of the "in" crowd, rather than utility, value, and potential.More ...
After much delay (sorry, been pretty busy), here are a few of my favorite Web 2.0 apps. Keep in mind that there are a number of issues that must be addressed before using any of these applications in the classroom. Discussing these issues up front will be critical to a successful project and the safety of your students. More ...
Consider the classroom of tomorrow. That place where students come not just to gain, but to consolidate their gains. That room with no barriers, no boundaries, no limits. That place of infinite height and depth, unlimited reach and unhindered access. A space with many addresses, many cultures, many views. A place where success is honored, and failure is embraced. Where creativity is rewarded, where collaborations are built, where teams are celebrated.
There are no time limits there, no restrictions, or walls. Ideas are welcome, voices are heard, friends are cherished, connections are nourished. This is the classroom of tomorrow, the "open" classroom, and it's time to start building it today.
Keywords: 21st Century Classroom, Classroom of Tomorrow
Today I was referred to this excellent article by a high school senior from Plano Independent School District in Texas, entitled Open Minds with Open Source (page 46, should your browser not automatically take you there.) It was written by Alex Hirsch, son of Plano ISD's Jim Hirsch, who is a long time open-technologies advocate and former board chair of CoSN. I was particularly taken with his perspectives on open content and invasive copyright enforcement in our digital age: More ...
Last Friday I had the pleasure of hosting a round table on the topic of open source software in education at Technology and Learning's Tech Forum West in Long Beach, CA. Our lively discussion included K-20 classroom teachers and IT people from both education and industry. Topics truly ran the gamut of open source, including desktop applications, security, deployment, perception, web applications like Moodle, and ultra-mobile devices like the Asus EeePC.
It's a little noisy, but I hope you enjoy the recorded discussion and, more importantly, will share your thoughts on the topic!
OK, so it's been a year since I dared to float the controversial idea that interactive whiteboards are little more than a big, expensive white mouse, whose functionality can easily be replaced by far less expensive solutions (see my prior post, "Is the debate over the value of interactive whiteboards really about the boards?") I received tons of feedback from a variety of sources, which did little to sway my view of them. Most from proponents were testimonies of increased student engagement, etc., etc., very similar to those I mentioned in the prior post, all subjective and lacking in any real data. Even Smart's favorite "evidence" of student achievement from the EU is vague at best, listing their boards as one of a number of technologies (emphasis on the words "one of") that were implemented. Then there are the health risks, which are only just starting to surface. More ...
Throughout the past few weeks I have had the opportunity to present a number of sessions and panels related to Web 2.0 and social networking in education at several conferences, including the Consortium of School Networking Professionals K12 School Networking Conference in Washington D.C., the Computer Using Educators conference in Palm Springs, CA, and the Community College Foundations'sTechEd 2008 in Ontario, CA. If you attended my sessions, thank you very much! It was thrilling to see so many educators excited and engaged in the discussion about the potential of Web 2.0 in schools. I personally believe that social networking tools can change the way we think about educational content creation, student and teacher interaction, collaborative, project based learning, and 21st century skills as a whole.
I have already posted some great social networking related content on this site (like here, here, and here), but, for those of you with whom I have been unable to connect, I thought I'd post a recording of the session. Enjoy!
Below is a list of a few of my favorite open source applications for the desktop. Most are available for any platform, and many are available on the OpenDisc for Windows systems (which you can download here, or, if you are a Saugus employee, simply ask and we'll send you one.) It's important to keep in mind that these applications:
Are free
Can be given to students to install and use at home
Offer educators the opportunity to introduce new technologies in their educational environement
Provide essential skills that are transferrable to applications of similar types in the commercial world
Each year, the Consortium of School Networking Professionals (CoSN) holds the premier national technology leadership conference dedicated to policy and effective implementation from school district, state and national perspectives. The conference attracts more than 1000 key technology decision-makers seeking to learn from other leaders as we define the future of information and communication technologies in our nation's schools.
As a part of this excellent conference, I was offered the opportunity to lead a session entitled "Virtualization and Consolidation: The 21st Century Network Infrastructure," in which I covered a variety of topics related to server and storage virtualization.
Wow - it's been a busy couple of weeks out there in conference-land, with CUE and CoSN back-to-back this year. I was personally involved in a total of 7 presentations and panels on both coasts across the two conferences. On Friday afternoon at CUE, Steve Hargadon hosted a live panel on Social Networking in Education (on the EdTechLive channel on Ustream.tv.) Panelists included:
We had a lively discussion with a great group on the merits of social networking in K12 education - I hope you enjoy it. Running time: approx. 60 minutes.
I've posted a video introduction to the SUSD social networking sites, the SUSD Teacher and Student Communities. This video offers a great overview of the sites, as well as a whirlwind tour of some of the ways they are being used within the district.
If you are reading this and are not a member of Saugus' staff or student body, take heart! The software is open source (of course) so you can download the very same software we used to create these sites for your district or school. Enjoy!
As educators' adoption of Web 2.0 technologies continues to grow, and as students and teachers continue to move from mere content consuming toward content creation, copyright and licensing issues will undoubtedly represent some of the greatest challenges in the learning environment. It is critical that we, as tech-savvy educators, endeavor to not only understand the issues at play, but also that we find ways to foster discussions around the topic of "digital citizenship" in our environments, and seek every opportunity to share our knowledge effectively with our peers.
Click below to listen to the podcast (approx. 1 hr):
The notes from the discussion are here, and the chat log, which contains a number of great links to valuable resources is here.
Our next, live conversation is scheduled to take place on February 20, 2008 at 12pm Pacific, 3pm Eastern on Talkshoe. Feel free to join the conversation!
ISTE (the International Society for Technology in Education) has posted a feature article from the February/March issue of Learning and Leading with Technology entitled "Social Networking for the K-12 Set," written by yours truly (free download through March 2008.) In the article, I discuss the potential of social networking tools, the development of the SUSD Teacher and Student Community sites, (you're in the SUSD Teacher Community site now,) and the impact that their use has had on our education environment.
This article also offers an example of a successful open- source based education technology project in every respect. Not only did we leverage open-source resources and the community around them, but we also made modifications to the software necessary to fit our environment, and have made the new code available to the community at large, in true open-source fashion (you can find the latest version of the code here.)
There has been much talk of Web 2.0 in education these days, with social networking tools receiving much attention. I, for one, believe that social networking tools have the potential to change the way we think about education and community, by providing a platform upon which 21st century skills can be nurtured and developed in both students AND teachers. The trick is to figure out how to do it well, and to create a safe, effective, and comfortable environment for students and teachers to work in. (I discussed some of the reasons I believe social networking has yet to see wide educational acceptance/use in my post, "Why Hasn't Social Networking Taken Off in K-12 Education?" from last April - check it out, and let me know what you think.)
For more information on open technologies, visit the CoSN Open Technologies Initiative web site at http://k12opentech.org. There you will find a wealth of relevant information for K-20 educators on open-source, open standards, and open content.
Keywords: ISTE, Learning and Leading with Technology, Social Networking
Lawrence Lessig is perhaps the most prolific proponent of open content and copyright reform in the nation. He is the former CEO and continuing board member of the Creative Commons organization. His talks are always inspiring, thought provoking, and controversial, yet, in my view, foundational to our understanding of content and freedom in the digital age.
What a great session we had on Friday at the Georgia Education Technology Conference! As I demoed a dozen open source applications that are ready for use in the classroom, you could sense the excitement from attendees as they considered how they might apply them to their education environment. There was quite a clamor for OpenCDs and business cards at the end, so I think its safe to assume that the benefits of open technologies will be coming to fruition in classrooms all across Georgia in the coming year.
For those who were in attendance (and even those who weren't) a copy of the presentation is below. Feel free to contact me directly if you have any questions about any of the topics we discussed over three exciting days at GaETC!
This week, I was fortunate enough to have been invited to speak at the Georgia Education Technology Conference (GaETC,) and I have to say, I've been thoroughly impressed. Georgia really knows how to put on a technology conference!
Dr. Curtis Bonk speaking at GaETC
I'm giving a total of three talks on open technologies, the first of which had a great turnout - probably about 80! It has been a thrill to see interest in the education community continue to grow. I think a lot of eyes have been opened to the potential of open technologies in the K-12 space.
Several requested access to the slides and other resources, so I have posted them here:
The SWATTEC project has been carefully conceived, backed by tremendous research, and will be comprehensively supported through extensive staff development, evaluation, and district-wide support. We embark on this journey with great anticipation and high expectation that the development of a sustainable, one-to-one environment, coupled with the power of Web 2.0 tools will create a culture of transparent technology integration and generate academic, personal, and social gains never before realized in elementary education. We look forward to sharing the results with you. 
I'll be doing two sessions, 
