Moving at the Speed of Creativity

I’m presenting three times next week at Oklahoma City Public Schools’ annual “Tech Day” conference. This is the list of websites I’ve requested be “whitelisted” on the district content filter (at least for the day) so I can share them during my sessions. My sessions (on Wednesday, June 3rd) include “Digital Storytelling on a Shoestring,” “Powerful Ingredients for Blended Learning,” and “The Power of Our Family Learning BLOG.”

http://www.speedofcreativity.org/
http://learningsigns.speedofcreativity.org/
http://www.wesfryer.com
http://handouts.wesfryer.com/
http://celebrateoklahoma.us/
http://lc.celebrateoklahoma.us/
http://api.ning.com
http://voicethread.com/
http://www.flickr.com/
http://compfight.com/
http://www.zoo-m.com/flickr-storm/
http://www.pbworks.com/
http://greatbookstories.pbworks.com/
http://www.wikispaces.com/
http://cogdogroo.wikispaces.com/50+Ways
http://www.digitales.us/
http://www.storycenter.org/
http://drop.io/
http://www.gcast.com
http://voicethread4education.wikispaces.com/
http://www.mathcasts.org/
http://www.powerfulingredients.com/
http://wiki.powerfulingredients.com/
http://powerfulingredients.ning.com/
http://wordpress.com/
http://blastcast.wordpress.com/
http://edublogs.tv/
http://teachertube.com/
http://www.schooltube.com/
http://www.youtube.com/
http://stringandme.com/
http://delicious.com/
http://www.mpsomaha.org/willow/Radio/
http://storychasers.org/
http://www.geograffiti.com/
http://www.audioboo.fm/
http://filmonthefly.ning.com/
http://www.edutopia.org/
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
http://ustream.tv

If my connectivity and bandwidth situation permits that day, I’ll try and Ustream all three sessions. I’m hoping to try some webcasting with Livestream (formerly known as Mogulus) on Sunday, and if that goes well I may opt for Livestream instead of Ustream Wednesday. We’ll see. (Livestream is not on my whitelist, however, so I may be Ustreaming if I webcast at all.)

I’ll be sharing “Digital Storytelling on a Shoestring” and “Powerful Ingredients for Blended Learning” in July over H.323 video (more details to come on that soon) free for Tandberg, and “The Power of Our Family Learning BLOG” at NECC on June 30th. Wednesday’s presentation will give Alexander and I a chance to practice this presentation before NECC, and Sarah (hopefully) a chance to present with us, since she won’t be able to make the trip to D.C.

Does anyone know of educational vendors who are supporting Linux-based 1:1 laptop initiatives for schools? This was a question I posted today as a comment to Zachary Saale’s post, “Linux Is The Future! Or Not?”

You raise good points, Zachary. The low comfort level of many (if not most) college professors with technology is a major obstacle. Professional development is key for any successful 1:1 initiative, and while that is generally provided for K-12 contexts, it’s interesting to consider how many university settings are moving to 1:1 for students but faculty are not being equipped with the guidance, training and support they often need to integrate technology effectively within their instruction.

One of the most practical issues when it comes to Linux in K12 schools is: Who are the vendors willing to help support schools in Linux-based 1:1 initiatives? With stimulus funds now on the table in states for districts to apply and compete to use, I’d love to see some viable vendor support for Linux installations. If companies are out there which will do this in the same way Apple, Dell, or HP would, I’d like to know about them.

Linspire was the main commercial company supporting a Linux distribution for school use that I’ve read about, but they went away in August of 2008. What other vendors are out there marketing and directly supporting Linux distros for education? I’m not sure.

I think a distribution like Sugar, which Sugarlabs distributes (among other sources) is a viable OS option for schools. Designed by OLPC for students, it certainly averts the issue of having 8 text editors that you reference, and provides over 60 educational programs (all free and open source) on top of the OS for students.

There is a school in California (which I can’t remember or grab the link for at this moment) which has rolled out EeePCs for middle school students, running Linux. The machines are setup so if there is a problem, users can hold down a key sequence and the OS will restore to its original settings. THAT is the type of support scenario I think schools need to realistically use Linux as a replacement OS for Windows or Mac.

Besides Sugar, EduBuntu is an education-specific Linux distribution which comes to mind as ideal for 1:1 initiatives. I’m not sure if there are any laptop manufacturers or resellers shipping and supporting EduBuntu or other Linux distributions specifically catering to K-12 1:1 initiatives. Does anyone know of one?

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