Archive for February, 2005
Podcast: Don’t forget to FOSS!
Update: I have done a followup podcast which includes all of the links below, and a few more to boot. You can check it out here.
Raise your hand if your school just has so much money that you just can’t spend it all! If your hand is up, you can just skip this show entirely. If not, consider this a brief overfiew of FOSS, Free and Open Source Software, that you might want to check out for your school. I’ve included a monster list of links below and I’ve barely even scratched the surface here. Please. Explore. Take advantage of what’s out there without spending a penny of your districts’ money.
Show notes:
FOSS Primer: A fantastic report on Free and Open Source Software in education. Definitely a must read if you haven’t seen it before. Worth a second look even if you have.
Open Office: The premier free alternative to Microsoft Office. Much more robust than many people give it credit for.
FireFox: I know most browsers are free anyway, but this one is actually Open Source. I’m a big fan of Firefox, it’s my browser of choice.
Thunderbird: A very full featured email client. Free, Open Source, and can handle RSS feeds as well.
Tux Typing: Educational typing tutor for children. Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and free for all of them.
Tux Paint: Open Source version of Kid Pix. Has many of the same tools and it can import stamp sets as well so it’s pretty flexible. They’re even working on a version that allows for shared network storage of projects! They’re really working hard to make it school friendly.
The GIMP: Don’t want to pay hundreds of dollars for Photoshop? Then bring out the GIMP! You’d have to be a real Photoshop guru to find a feature you need that GIMP doesn’t support.
Open Admin: A Student Information System that’s completely Open Source. Demographics, Attendance, Gradebook, Discipline, Report Cards, and it’s all web based. It’s come a long way in a short time.
Apache: If you’re running a web server and don’t know what Apache is, then you’re doing something wrong. Millions of web sites can’t be wrong.
Moodle: A modular Content Management System. Very well developed and runs on just about anything.
Drupal: Another Content Management System, similar to Moodle, but different.
WordPress: There are tons of free blogging packages, so I’m just linking to the one that I use. There is also a MultiUser version.
SendMail: The standard in email servers. Simple, basic, and as reliable as they come.
QMail: Another email server that I used to use on my home server. There’s a ton of resources for getting this set up and running.
Open-XChange: This project has been around for a while. It’s the original Open Source alternative to Microsoft Exchange. To be honest, I don’t know much about this one, but they’ve got quite a bit of history behind them.
Hula: A new kid on the block. An Open Source alternative to Microsoft Exchange. I’m extremely interested in this one and may be installing it on my server. Sounds promising.
DirAdmin: A graphical interface for managing Open Directory users and groups. I’d be curious to see if it works on OSX. Based on what I’ve read, I think it should.
eGroupWare: A multi-user web-based suite that offers up email, addressbook, calendar, infolog (notes, to-do’s, phone calls), content management, forum, bookmarks, and a wiki (kitchen sink not included).
Another step towards the dark side of the force
Heh, Allen Levine of CogDogBlog seems about a few steps away from becoming a full feldged podcaster. Just a few short months ago, he wrote up a great post about yawncasting as he called it. While I disagreed with some of the things he said, I did agree that it was a budding broadcast platform, still in its infancy.
Once of the things that I’ve been saying all along was that one reason I’m podcasting is to help get the ball rolling. I can’t wait until my daily commute is completely filled with people having incredibly intelligent conversations about education, technology and related topics.
Last week, Alan posted a link to a podcast during which he was interviewed. It was absolutely fascinating. I wound up listening to it twice. I get the feeling he’s right on the verge of becoming a full fledged podcaster, although knowing him, he’ll probably insist on calling it something else. Something wry and cynical I’m sure 
Regardless though, I love reading what he writes, so I’m pretty darn sure I’ll love hearing what he has to say.
Come to the dark side. Together we can rule the galaxy!
Trying to figure out what blog package to use?
D’arcy Norman has created a wiki page to store information about multiuser weblogs for institutions.
It’s a fantastic resource that’s only getting better. I just added a new column for Manila, since that’s what we’re using right now. HOwever, I gotta admit that it’s pretty darn cool that most of the packages listed in the table are free and/or Open Source. That’s really quite amazing. Check it out, help fill in the gaps and add another column if there’s another blogging solution that isn’t listed.
Guru of the Obvious
I’m not quite sure what to make of theGuru of the Obvious, but so far I’ve gotten a serious chuckle from his tone and attitude.
Personally, I don’t trust libraries and librarians. Their insistence on preserving and providing access to materials for free creeps me out. If there’s one thing I have learned in a lifetime fighting in the trenches of sales and direct marketing, it’s that there’s no such thing as a free lunch. It’s best to keep things of value in private hands — and in as few of them as possible.
You gotta read it in context. I’m not sure if I’m amused or frightened. The really interesting thing is that the last time I made a comment like that, I was refering to our president!
Oh yeah, and he has a podcast as well. If you’re a vegetarian or faint hearted, I’d stay away from it if I were you.
Fascinating or frightening? I’ll let you know in a few weeks.
Cell phones in the classroom
Via NSBA’s Daily Weblog:
Cell phones in schools are becoming quite a hot topic. The general feeling seems to be that students can carry them around but that they really aren’t allowed to be used.
Since the events of 9/11, many schools have relaxed their policies to allow students to have them, but require the phones to be turned off during the day. Parents like the idea of being able to get in touch with their children if an emergency arises. But today’s cell phone technology offers text messaging and picture taking features that could lead to cheating and privacy invasion.
However, many people have pointed out that in an era of budget cuts, where technology costs are a huge piece of the budgetary pie, many students are walking around with their own personal devices that can serve as a PDA, provide access to the internet and email, and also work for instant messaging. Wouldn’t schools be foolish not to find a way to take advantage of this?
Teaching Today has an article about some of the positive things cell phones can be used for in an educational environement. They can be used as Digital Cameras (what school really has enough digital cameras to go around?), Dictionaries and as calculators amongst other things. There’s no question that there are issues involved. However, cellphones aren’t going away. We’re quickly approaching the point where in many schools 99% of the students will have a mobile phone or communicator of some sort. We need to be focusing on how to make positive use of them, rather than becoming obsessed with how to prevent use of them.
It’s sort of like hitting the wall.
I realized something today. Yesterday I had more free time that I would during a normal day, and yet I did not bother to blog about any of the things I found interesting. The same thing goes for the day before. Yes, I’m busy. Would you like me to rattle off all the reasons why I’m too busy to blog? I’m not going to bother to. I’m sure you have your own list of reasons why you’re too busy to blog. I’m sure people who blog several times per day could come up with similar reasons. Remarkably, many of the reasons fall into the same category as “Why I haven’t exercised in what seems like forever”. I have a pretty decent list of excuses for why I haven’t blogged lately, but in the end they’re simply excuses.
So no more excuses. I love blogging. I like sharing my thoughts and ideas, and I really like when someone else benefits from what I’ve shared and let’s me know about it. It’s a great feeling. I love reading other people’s thoughts and ideas. I’ve continued to do so for the last several weeks, but I haven’t been sharing what I’ve learned with the people who expanded my thinking. Blogging is a conversation, it’s a give and take. I’ve been taking quite a bit lately without giving in return. I’m going to turn that around now.
Since I started blogging, I have quickly accumlated a list of over 100 feeds that I read on a daily basis. I was up to around 150, but I trimmed the list down recently. Normally, I read the new posts and if there happens to be something I might like to blog about, I open it up in a new tab. That’s my post-it note of sorts. However, that method doesn’t really work. I tend to minimize that window and don’t really look at it again. So I’m going to try to do more blogging as I read. If I find an article I find blog-worthy, I’m going to write about it immediately. It’s too easy to just set things aside and then forget about them. I have a horrible out of sight out of mind complex that probably figures into the ADD. Being aware of the problem is part of the solution. Doing something about it is the other part though.
So today I begin blogging anew. Do I have to publish daily? Of course not. It’s not simply about quantity. What it’s really about is if I see something that’s worth writing about, actually taking the time to do it. In reality, that’s nearly a daily occurance. There’s just so much information out there that’s worth reading. And if it’s worth reading, it’s probably worth sharing.
Podcast: Think before you broadcast.
Busy show today. I’ve got a few new podcasts for you to check out. The great thing about the ‘casts I discuss today is that they are all written or performed by kids! I also discuss a new piece of podcatching software called Podcast Tuner for Mac OS X. It’s what I’m using right now and I think it’s a pretty decent improvement over many of the others out there. The last ten minutes, I discuss a recent post of Will’s focusing on blogging ethics and some things educators should think about before they begin blogging or podcasting. Enjoy the show!
Show notes:
Weblogg-ed: Direct link to Will’s post about teachers blogging.
Just4Kids: A podcast just for kids. Listen to stories, music, and other fun things.
Radio WillowWeb: Radio WillowWeb is an online radio program for kids and by kids.
PTConferencemaker: An online conference scheduler that our school has been using.
Podcast Tuner: The latest podcatching software for Mac OS X. It’s been working pretty well for me so far.
M&M Magazine Podcast: Mr. Mayo’s after school blogging class delves into podcasts. No feed yet, but a lot of fun to listen to.
PT Conference Maker: A web enabled Parent – Teacher conference scheduling solution for schools. We’ve been using it for three years and I reccomend it highly.
A fair request for Podcasters
From cogdogblog: Podcaster Request: Feed With a Summary
Alan brings up a good suggestion to podcasters. He simply requests that we add a bit more of a description to our show notes so that the occasional listener can read a summary and decide whether they want to subscribe/listen or not. Nobody wants to waste their time downloading a show and listening to it only to find that they totally misunderstood the topic and that it’s nothing even vaguely interesting to them.
What I’ve always struggled with has beent hat I don’t really want to spoil the content of the show by providing too detailed a description. However, a clear, concise summary would definitely be helpful to occasional or new listeners.
My biggest problem so far has been the MP3 tags. Dircaster, the PHP script that creates my podcast feed, uses information in the ID3 tags to fill out the feed. I have a very peripheral understanding of how it all works, but I’ve learned that it doesn’t pick up the tags I assign in iTunes. I use a program called Taggerwocky to fill the file in with tags that Dircaster DOES pick up on. However, with Taggerwocky, I can’t do more than a limited number of words per tag.
So what’s my point? I need to find a better way. Perhaps I need to move away from dircaster, perhaps I need to find a better tagging program. But I think I need to add a better summary to the show notes on the blog AND find a better way to populate the feed. Ideas anyone?
Podcast: GCPS Revealed, and a special guest!
Another podcast in the books. In this show, the identify of the mysterious GCPS is finally revealed! Now that I think about it, I should have had a drumroll sound effect at the ready. Oh well, I’m not a huge fan of post production, so we’ll stick with what we have! Also, the Girl on Tech pops in for a quick visit and I discuss my plans for the upcoming Illinois Computer Educator’s conference.
Show notes:
Sinister Dexter: The band behind my oh so groovey theme music!
Academic Aesthetic: Aaron Smith’s blog. He’s the one who discovered the true identity of my hero, GCPS
Del.icio.us/GCPS: The del.icio.us account for Goochland County Public Schools
Girl on Tech: The special guest in today’s podcast! A fellow educator who recently conducted a very successful workshop at the Indiana ICE conference.
Exactly 2 Cents: David Warlick’s blog. He forwarded on to me the quote, “In the future, everyone will be famous for fifteen people.” Think about that one for a minute.
Drew Perry: Need an external battery pack for your iPod? Drew has plans for you!
If you were a book…
I’m sure that many of you have considered, “If I were a book, what book would I be?” Well, thank goodness technology brings us the answer! Found this one through HipTeacher, it’s a quiz to determine what book you are! So if you have a few minutes, check it out for yourself. Good clean literary fun
Oh, you want to know what book I am? I don’t think anyone who knows me will be too surprised by the answer:
The Fellowship of the Ring!
by J.R.R. Tolkien
Facing great adversity, you have decided that your only choice is to
unite with your friends and neighbors. You have been subject to a ton of squabbling and
ultimately decided that someone humble is your best candidate for a dangerous mission.
You’re quite good with languages and convinced that not all who wander are lost. If you
see anyone in black robes on horseback, just run. That’s just common sense.
Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.