NCCE 2010 Session 8 - Open Education Resources

Open Education Resources; Share, Remix, Learn

Karen Fasimpaur

http://www.k12opened.org/

http://www.k12opened.com/wiki/index.php/Open_content

Differential education is essential to improving education, text books are not good for this; sharing is good but how do we deal with copyright? How can we reshape the resources we have at hand to meet the needs of our students?

Open Educational Resources are:

• digital, free and OPEN
• tools content and implementation resources
• for teachers, students and lifelong learners

Criteria for fair use

• nature of use (educational)
• purpose and character of use
• amount of use
• effect on market for work

Open source response is the Creative Commons Licenses (http://creativecommons.org/) of which there are various flavors but the bottom line is that it is open to virtually any use freely. Sharealike licencse (copyleft) can have unintentional consequences . . . if you have an item which is more restricted you can't use SA in conjunction with that piece.

Where can we get the resources?

• Photos
  - flickr (http://www.flickr.com/creativecommons) 134 million photos at the time of this posting. Search by using the advanced search function.
  - google images - use advanced search to filter by license to utilize open license images
  - wikipedia (best for historical content) - click on the image to find source and license information.
  - nasa.gov - great image repository of public domain space imagery
• Clipart
  - wpclipart.com (http://wpclipart.com/) high quality copyright free clipart imagery
  - open clip art library (http://openclipart.org/)
• Multimedia
  - muse open (http://www.musopen.com/) open source classical music
  - cc mixter (http://ccmixter.org/) more modern clips and tracks that will appeal to the students a bit more than the classical.
  - free sound project (http://www.freesound.org/) not music but almost any kind of other sound that could be desired
• Presentation
  - free reading.net (http://www.freereading.net/index.php?title=Main_Page) hi quality reading intervention
  - wikibook (http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Main_Page) free library of educational textbooks (10000 books currently)
  - Kids Open Dictionary (http://dictionary.k12opened.com/) a open source dictionary writing towards a kids point of view. A neat took included is a quick and easy glossary builder for a unit (can export to moodle glossary module).

Why creative commons vs public domain? Public domain doesn't need a source citation. CC instead of public domain retains a set of rights . . . PD gives up all rights. Also, CC gives a source to the media.

How can I make my material Open License? Easiest way is to simply mark it with the CC logo or mark it as Creative Commons

NCCE 2010 Session 7 - Overwhelmed at Work? Become an Organizational Wizard

Overwhelmed at Work? Become an Organizational Wizard

Alan Walker & Brenda Graham

Not much info so far but he is a good presenter, keeping our attention.

A step by step plan to get more done with less stress and resources.

Overwhelmed?

Not enough time?

Not enough resource?

Job too big?

CHANGE OR DIE

A lot of his ideas are based on Getting Things Done by David Allen. Also, Upgrade You Life by Gina Trapani (lifehacker)

Process to get things done

• Projects
  - break into achievable tasks
• Tasks
  - brain won't let go of it until you put the task in a TRUSTED SYSTEM (Outlook, Daytimer, etc.)
• Trusted Systems
  - Store,organize implement

So where to start . . .

• Determine project
  Mission/Vision/Goal/Outcome
  how much energy and drive needs to go into it
• Old Stuff Procedure
  systematically go through piece by piece.
  
• Have organizing "Stuff" ready
• Deal with EVERYTHING!
  put away
  file
  list it

Productivity Rules

• Don't just shuffle papers/stuff
  - systematic instead of random
• Prioritize
  - Do It
  - Delegate It
  - Defer it
• email
  - delete it
  - DEAL WITH IT

DIGITIZE WHEN POSSIBLE!!!

• scanner (copy to scan)
• find it digitally
• print to pdf

Money is a renewable resource . . . time is not.

NCCE 2010 Session 6 - A Random Walk Through Cyberspace: patrick Crispen's Completely Updated Collection of Websites

A Random Walk Through Cyberspace: Patrick Crispen's Completely Updated Collection of Websites

Presentation is available at http://netsquirrel.com/

• Speedtest.net (http://speedtest.net/) - Name is self evident of what the site does, I utilize it on a regular basis and find it very simple to use and gives us a quick snapshot of the current connection. Now also has a free app for the iPhone
• webkit (engine that runs chrome and safari) SunSpider Javascript Benchmark (http://www2.webkit.org/perf/sunspider-0.9/sunspider.html) allows you to see how your browser is actually able to render the web 2.0 pages. A good tool to see the difference (convince people to not run IE) in speed between machines.
• tinyurl.com (http://tinyurl.com/) (and other address shorteners) will truncate a url to a more usable address. (tinyurl.com/jstest gives results from above benchmark.
• xtranormal.com (http://www.xtranormal.com/) - website that allows you to create animated movies. He utilized a humorous example by importing an email exchange in as a dialog and animating it, makes it kinda like a segment on Nick at Nite Adult Swim, I can't wait to try it with my daughters. It can do multiple languages - what can the foreign language classes create with this one I wonder?
• WolframAlpha (http://www.wolframalpha.com/) - not a search engine, but an answer engine. I run it as a plug in for google.com on my install of Firefox. It's a great tool for statistics and mathematics (it even shows the work!!!), also I like to enter a name into the search and it'll give you statistics of frequency etc.
• Duarte Blog (http://blog.duarte.com/) - helpful site for creating effective presentations (creators of Al Gore's PowerPoint presentation)
• prezi.com (http://prezi.com/) - (highlighted in a session yesterday too) Flash based interface to create online presentations, live and platform independent (oh yeah - it's FREE also). One disadvantage is a lack of templates, however in my opinion this leads to more individualism and more creativity anyhow.
• dropbox (https://www.dropbox.com/)_ - a software that will automatically back up and sync your files (2.5gb of FREE storage) between computers, I've not yet used it but I have read a lot of interesting ways to "hack" it to customize the experience for the end user. Here's a tinyurl of the google search for drop box hacks http://tinyurl.com/y98m3ms
• instant chan (http://instantchan.com/) - is that your final answer . . . just check it out, useless, quick and fun!
• Know your meme (http://knowyourmeme.com/) - a way to track what the current Internet memes are . . . next time you're trying to figure out what the kids are talking about or why Randy Rice has cats all over his door.
• Cheeseburger Network (http://icanhascheezburger.com/) more lolcats than you ever need (which in my opinion is 0, but we're all entitled to our own entertainment).
• Moodstream (http://moodstream.gettyimages.com/) - from Getty images, just gives a background image and audio stream based on your mood inputs, looks kinda cute and creative, not sure what ed applications but I'm sure we can come up with something.

NCCE 2010 Session 5 - Managing a Dual-Platform Network

Managing a Dual-Platform Network

Jeffrey White

In order to create a dual platform he was lucky that he has a high income school with a very tech savvy (donor) base.

First order of business is to approach the technology committee and giving a more diverse experience ti the end user as well as a seamless wireless environment. One of the problems in his environment was that the facility was only wired with one drop per room (imagine that) so his primary concern was the shamelessness of the experience for the user. Another primary concern o him is a user managed environment with network based authentication for both platforms and utilize the existing infrastructure simultaneously.

After doing an inventory of existing resources he arrived at a laundry list of devices/software to change as well as update. First order of business was to bring in the wifi which he accomplished with Cisco technology (4404 WLAN Controller) which was pretty expensive but the support and strength of the device will outweigh the cost ($14000/controller & $700-900/access pt). Bottom line on the device is "It really works." One feature of this particular device is the load management and the way it can shuffle traffic between access points.

Network based authentication

Apple has three methods for network based authentication.

1. Open Directory Authentication - Apples version of Active Directory, good for a Mac only shop
2. OD/Active Directory Authentication - hybrid, both can connect to either network
3. AD Authentication w/ schema modifications

His preference originally was to utilize the built in AD plug in but he started to have issues on 10.6 (saw lots of news groups listing various issues on 10.6, recommendation is to not upgrade). (www.afp548.com for more info.)

Managing User Environments

What kind of solutions can he come up with? It gets tiring re associating a machine with a network on a regular basis. One solution he tried was ADmitMac (~$2500/25 clients) didn't really like it. Then tried Centrify DirectControl (multi platform, not just Mac) adds GPO to set settings to manage the systems. Cost is cheaper at ~$50/client. Good references and he likes it and is the resource he is currently using. Additional features he employs include AD single sign on, zone management, delegation of administration to end user, offline log in w/o creating a local account (already inherent in OSX), audit trail. another thing he was fond of was the clean ability of the software to sync between Mac & Windows (he did have to remember to use the FQDN for the .local server). regarding software issues he suggested utilizing cloud apps but also to make sure the software (MS Office, Adobe,etc.) is cross platform compatible or platform neutral.

Professional development issues included training and cross training between platforms with clean and clear documentation. Higher Ed technology support sites are a great resource for cross platform training since they are already utilizing both platforms (even dual-boot).

He really pushes Professional Development in the whole process (unlike the Google Apps presenter yesterday who said to just go with it.)

NCCE 2010 Session 4 - Moodle & Google Apps - Web based tools for the "Traditional" Classroom

Moodle & Google Apps - Web based tools for the "Traditional" Classroom

Scott Coleman (Oregon Trail SD)

Instructional design (a quality 60 year old OS) is often boring and static for students, kids want to be part of the story, not just passive listeners. The question is how do we bridge what we want (instructional design) with what they want (uh, . . . chaos?).

Kids/learners want to be a part of the educational process with mutual engagement achieved with various shared resources.

We can use moodle and google apps to support state standards, as a literacy tool, GooMoodleIkiLog (http://www.goomoodleikiog.com/) and teacher collaboration.

As a final note, most people seem to sort and group their Moodles by date . . . he recommends sorting by subject matter or state standard instead.

ORVSD - free moodle!!!! sponsored by OR dept of ed

NCCE 2010 Session 3 - Google Apps

Google Apps: Peninsula School District's First Steps & Successes

The third session today is regarding the utilization of Google Apps and how to keep 2000 aging computers in play in the facility. Peninsula SD has moved the entire student population (K-12) to google apps, this gives them the ability to substantially increase the life of their IT resources at a substantial savings.

The steps to success in achieving this were/are

• clear purpose and shared vision
• review policy
• look @ examples of best practices
• encourage and support pilot practice
• no staff development (did you need training for amazon or ebay? they rationalized that as a web app very similar to many other apps already in widespread adoption that a widespread training was unnecessary.)
• expect change - development time in the "cloud" is much quicker than in traditional software markets, rather than working with software released in 2003 (and developed earlier) the software at our fingertips is always updated and contemporary.
• Acceptable network use policy updated to reflect web 2.0 changes, etc. (use of student devices) needed to reach a 1:1 technology to student ratio. (ASSERTIVE statement about acceptable use!)

In order to succeed the strategy should include:

• 100% (preferably wireless) coverage
• allow personal devices to freely connect
• support web2.0 in ALL classrooms

Some more technical and geeky stuff here:

1. Implement the infrastructure
2. DNS Setup
3. initial acct generation (choose good domain name same as email)
4. sync w/ ad
5. single sign in validation (http://www.jasig.org/)
6. usage monitoring (google analytics) - postini
7. custom setup (Google API's)
8. don't let email kill the conversation with tech!!! turn off email! too often Google Apps is associated with email and killed instantly, disable the email feature if it's an issue.

By setting up google apps we put the tools at the fingertips of the user, no more compatibility issues. Google docs gives users 1gb of space for free, that's 2-3X the amount we can offer internally. In order to share the docs we can collaborate amongst the users, publish a google doc as a web page, published presentations create code to embed into other tools (blogger,etc). Additionally it's a collaborative presentation work, meaning that not just one person creates teh work while others view, it can offer public viewing with chat functions to facilitate collaboration. Perhaps the two neatest functions we can utilize are the form feature to submit and collect data sets (no more surveymonkey) and the fact that it's not device/platform specific - IT WORKS ANYWHERE THERE IS AN INTERNET CONNECTION!!!

One thing I was curious about was how to transition Sr's to the real world and they said that as a part of the Senior year they have the students create a professional persona and transfer all pertinent documents to the new profile and then give 6-12 months from graduation until they retire the accounts.

NCCE 2010 Session 2 - Introduction to Google Sketchup

Session 2 - Intro to Google Sketchup, Ron Hall

Google Sketchup (http://sketchup.google.com/) is a free software from the folks at Google which gives the user an opportunity to explore and learn 3d modeling. At LaSalle I know we have had a few students playing with it in the lab creating models of anything from text to the school itself.

With Google Sketchup you can move images into the Google Earth workspace to create presentations.

• you can build images to scale
• Easy to share
• NOT PHOTO REALISTIC (although you can "skin" models with photographic images)
• LIMITED ANIMATION
• meant for design and integration, not creating the next Shrek
• Import to Google Earth!!! we can put up anything from our houses to the school or anything we want (yes, there is a validation process by Google before it goes live on the Internet.)
• render both sides of an image - model through an open door to the inside of a building

As for use in the education sphere . . . a teacher has done mock ups of famous authors homes and sites from To Kill A Mockingbird (here's a link to Samuel Clemens childhood home, I've been there and can attest to it's accuracy http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=7b79b82ecf224742daa266217a65f9d7&prevstart=0)

Additionally there are limitless lesson plans available for math (think geometry models - who needs geosketchpad!), science, engineering, etc. Google has a site for educators which is a good place to start (http://www.google.com/educators/p_sketchup_discovery.html) looking for resources. Some other projects I can come up with off the cuff include: Mesoamerican Ruins for Spanish, biosphere creation, presentation of literature, etc.

NCCE 2010 Session 1 - The State of the Craft, What's New

Session one at the NCCE 2010 conference was a quick showcase of new and emerging technology and the uses of said technology in the educational sphere. Not really a whole lot I wasn't aware of, mostly a validation of a lot of tools and concepts I already employ (or would like to). He covered the expected stuff (iPad, wii, etc.) but did bring two things to the table I hadn't seen before.

The first was a demonstration of augmented reality. For this he went to a GE Augmented Reality site and utilizing a print out and webcam was able to interact with the paper document on the screen in front of him. I can't give the description justice in the time i have now so go to the website and check it out: http://ge.ecomagination.com/smartgrid/#/augmented_reality. (Another neat application of this technology is found at http://www.weareautobots.com/ww/index.php as a promo for the Transformers series of movies.)

The other tool he highlighted that impressed me was the online presentation site Prezi (http://prezi.com/) which has the potential to be a PowerPoint killer. I have not had the time to play with it yet but the demonstration was really impressive.

OK, magician coming on stage to start the keynote so suppose i better go, more to follow.