Category: open source
-
So many CMS options: Why I mainly invest in WordPress and Google Sites
I do not consider myself a web design guru, but I’ve created a fair number of websites in the past fifteen years or so and continue to dabble with website design. One of the biggest changes which has taken place in the past five years or so, from my vantage point, is the transition away…
-
My Dell Mini 10V Netbook with Ubuntu is on the way
After weeks of deliberation, I’ve finally ordered a netbook! It probably won’t ship by my birthday next week, but it will hopefully arrive by the end of the month– and certainly before the 21st Century Learning @ Hong Kong Conference in September. I settled on the Dell Mini10V for several reasons, including: Great keyboard size…
-
Thoughts on Macs and Netbooks
I absolutely love using Apple computers, Apple mobile devices, and Apple software. Netbooks have really challenged my thinking about 1:1 computing in schools in the past year or so, however, and I am definitely not alone. Yesterday at an Oklahoma City AT&T store, I had a chance to get my hands on a Dell Inspiron…
-
6 WordPress blogs all updated to WP 2.8.2
If you use a commercially hosted blogging platform like Blogger, EduBlogs, WordPress.com, Squarespace, or Typepad, count your blessings when it comes to upgrade headaches. I do enjoy using and love self-hosted WordPress blogs, but there is a periodic price to pay in time as well as hand-wringing which comes with self-hosting. Updating / upgrading WordPress…
-
Educational vendors supporting Linux?
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…
-
Transitioning to 1:1 Netbooks via BYOL
I highly commend Jim Klein‘s post “When Do Laptops Become School Supplies?” to you. Jim writes: So knowing this, how do we create an environment with technology as simple, affordable, and reliable as the cell phone, yet with the power to bring truly transformative change to the classroom? I believe through the fusion of three…
-
Playing with a Sugar emulation (XO Laptop operating system)
I’m playing with some powerful stuff, and I wish I knew a lot more about what I should be doing. I need a local Oklahoma City OLPC user’s group to ask for face-to-face assistance! I found this evening that Irving ISD in the Dallas area has a weekly OLPC user’s group meeting. That seems to…
-
The Sugar User-Interface Opportunity by Anne Gentle
These are my notes from “The Sugar User-Interface Opportunity” by Anne Gentle, Documentation Coordinator, Just Write Click, TX. This was a presentation at COSN 2009 in Austin, Texas, on March 12, 2009. MY THOUGHTS AND COMMENTS ARE IN ALL CAPS. I WAS BARELY ABLE TO ATTEND PART OF THIS SESSION, RUNNING IN AND OUT, UNFORTUNATELY.…
-
How We Use Open Source Software and Why You Should Too
These are my notes from Sam Wynn and Scott Phipps’ presentation “How We Use Open Source Software and Why You Should Too” at OTA 2009. Sam is the technology director at Vinita Public Schools in Oklahoma. MY THOUGHTS AND COMMENTS ARE IN ALL CAPS. I AM RECORDING THIS SESSION AND WILL PUBLISH AS A PODCAST…
-
Breadboards, LED lights, small screens, and programming homegrown, inexpensive computers
Landon Brockhert is a computer science student at the University of Central Oklahoma, and is the part-time paid computer/AV guru for our church in Edmond. Landon is the reliable guy behind the scenes who makes sure the SmartBoard is setup each Sunday morning when I teach 5th graders, and setup the SmartBoard each day this…