Back from NECC

All I can say is "WOW". NECC (in Atlanta) was a fabulous motivating experience. There are many blog postings for those who didn't attend -
Some on my network - which I invite everyone to join: http://newlearning.ning.com

and all fed through Hitchhikr.
sharon+betts
hitchhikr
necc2007

A bit of a hiatus...

Hey all...I'm taking a bit of a hiatus for the next couple weeks as I'll be on the road with the next FOSSED conference...taking in a Red Sox game in Boston...and heading off to camp for a week. So...I will have my N800 in case I get inspired, but at the moment I'm storing up all sorts of cool ideas for the months ahead. Stay tuned!

Also...there are many others who are able to post to this blog...check out their articles. If you'd like to become a contributor...email me at [copperdoggy_AT_gmail.com]

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Moodle Installation Document

Here is the link to the Moodle Installation Document.

Don't you wish you were here?

Open Source Software on the Mac!

What? Free & Open Source Software for the Mac? You bet! Click Here

Web 2.0 in the classroom

What fun - there was such enthusiasm in the sessions yesterday. You can see the Moodle presentation (it is open to Guests).

and please think about joining the participants in our Social Network (you will need to join to post and get your own page) at http://newlearning.ning.com

Sharon

First Day at FOSSED 2007 (Gould Academy)

Well...we have finally begun the 5th year at Gould Academy...and what a day it was! The sessions all went very well. I was shocked to see how many teachers were here and how many had packed in to participate in the Web 2.0 session and the FLOSS in the classroom session. So cool! As usual the food, atmosphere, and conversation is incredible. Tomorrow is jam-packed....so I gotta' get some sleep! :-)

-David-

Intro to Linux Docs

The Intro to Linux session begin taught by David Trask is going quite well. The link for the documents for this session is HERE.

Bloggin at FOSSED by a Participant

This proves that Sharon is a good teacher. The lab is filled with the sounds of rapid-fire key strokes as we all try out blogging.

Blogggin at FOSSED

This is an example post from the FOSSED bloggers.

Phew! Almost ready...

As Sharon said in a previous post...this is FOSSED week. I'm headed to Gould Academy for the 2007 FOSSED conference tomorrow afternoon. I must say that organizing a conference is a whole lotta' work, but for me it's a labor of love. I look forward to this week almost as much as I look forward to Christmas. It's so much fun to eat, sleep, and breath Linux and Open Source for 3 whole days. I meet some incredible people who are very passionate about what they do. It's refreshing to know that there are folks out there who've had enough of banging their heads against the wall and are ready to move forward whether it's with FOSS or whatever. It's encouraging to hear the success stories and see the growth that has happened since the first NELS/FOSSED conference was held five years ago! So...if you're reading this...and attending the conference at Gould Academy....I'll see you tomorrow. If not, I hope you'll join us in July at UNH! That one's just as fun! http://www.fossed.com  for more info. Off to FOSSED....

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Hey everyone

Thank you to David for inviting me to participate in this blog. This is FOSSED week - as you know - and very busy. Next week I am off to NECC and plan to blog both for myself and for eSchoolNews. I will attempt to remember to cross post any open source sessions that I attend here.
See many of you at Bethel.
Sharon

sharon+betts
necc07
FOSSED

"Ask Me About....."

As I start to pack up cables, CPUs, lamps and LAMPs, swag and pillows in preparation for the Hadj to Bethel, I am thinking about the incredible opportunity that these next few days present. These are my favorite conferences of the year and if I had to pick my very favorite thing about these NELS/FOSSEd conferences, it would not actually be the food (though that is really a close second) but the fact that I learn something from every single person I talk to, eat with, listen to and drink among. From incredibly knowledgeable network people to first year teachers for whom this is their first tech conference, everyone has some expertise to offer. People that have never seen FOSS software and were dragged to the conference by a friend offer great insight as to how people view our world from the outside. And the people who are actually coding some of the magic will really listen to concerns and feedback in a way that really doesn't happen at national development conferences. Usually I am having so much fun that I forget how amazing this fact actually is.

So I always start thinking about this time of ways to turbo-charge this process. Could we ask people to provide a digital picture of themselves and 3 topics that would go under the heading of "Ask me about..." Topics like RAID installation, classroom FOSS use in K-2, international FOSS conferences, magic shell commands, good introductory books on OpenOffice, FOSS Library software, educational software horror stories, or backup strategies for rural tech coordinators. And then we post all this on a wall in the science center.

And beside it a huge sheet of paper (how analog!) where people leave questions like "How do I connect two computers to share files on linux machines?" or "Has anyone gotten a Ubuntu LTSP to support Flash 9 and where do I find you?" or "Is there FOSS software for Macs?" Then someone would leave their name saying they can help with that questions and by checking the other board the questioner can seek out that face at some meal or break.

Perhaps something to be discussed this year for implementation at a future conference.

...now where did I leave that hub......

Installing Moodle 1.8 on Ubuntu Server 7.04 (Feisty)

FOSSED 2007 at Gould Academy is only a couple days away and I figured it's time to begin posting some of the how-to's and so forth in preparation. Back in February I created a document that detailed the easy installation of Moodle 1.7 on Ubuntu Server 6.10 (Edgy). Moodle 1.7 turned out to be a pretty buggy release (even the Moodle guys said so), so I had also created another one for installing Moodle 1.6 (very stable). I chose to "redo" the Moodle 1.7 document for Moodle 1.8 and Ubuntu Server 7.04 (Feisty Fawn). You can find that document HERE.

If you have any suggestions or comments...please post them below in the comments section. I'm constantly striving to make this document better. It is a Google Doc so any changes are automatically republished...check back often. Hope it works well for you...share your successes!

Free & Open Source Software in Education

This blog is all about FOSS in Education! It is also the posting and storage point for the annual FOSSED conferences. (http://www.fossed.com) I hope you visit often and learn some new things!