In the time that I have been involved with technology (I still remember my first Trash 80 [TRS-80] in fifth grade and how cool it they were with their 5 1/4 floppies) and more recently as a teacher, I have found a rather frustrating pattern. It seems to me that one of several things inevitably happen with educational software:

CASE 1: PROGRAMMERS GONE WILD A group of “computer people” get together and realize their is a profit to be made in XYZ educational software title. They begin programming an application that is rock-stable, and build on solid programming practices. However, they really know nothing of education, or the needs of a classroom instructor or school administrator, and so what gets produced is a well running application that is not intuitive to use, nor is really useful in the classroom.

CASE 2: TEACHERS NOT CODERS A group of teachers, desperately in need of a program that truly helps their classroom instruction, or serves their students, use tools they are familiar with and push them to preform functions WELL beyond for which they were ever designed. (I have seen M$ Excel do amazing things) The result is an unstable, sometimes inflexible “application” that runs very poorly but actually fits the needs of the teachers that built it, and sometimes others.

CASE 3: I GOTTA GET ME MINE The combination of the sad plight of CASEs 1 & 2 combined with the chronically underpaid nature of educators & those in education drives a person or group of people put together an application that is actually useful. However, rather than building on open standards and with commonly importable and exportable formats, they build a exceptionally proprietary application that will not interoperate with ANY other application. (I cannot tell you how many assessment software titles that can’t import or export a simple .csv file! ) The sole reason for producing a software application this way is to produce as much profit as possible, or to exclusively support a particular piece of hardware they are trying to sell. So they create an application that makes a teacher, school, or district “pot committed” (NO ONE wants to enter those 1000+ students by hand in any system more than once or use three seperate applications to convert an unheard of .wtf file format to something useful with most of the data intact).

CASE 4: ADMINISTRATIVE LEADERSHIP Somewhere if an administrator has an bad idea and there is no one to implement it, is it still a bad idea? The answer is YES, just so we are clear. If a project makes it past the first three cases, it still has one hurdle left to clear before true success is in sight. It must get past the over-educated teachers who are now administrators. They buy a sales pitch, because they rightly want a product to help their teachers & students, but buy the sales pitch of XYZ software company producing bad software, or ABC software that is a good product, and in either case they implement the program horribly if at all. (The last district I worked for actually spent in excess of $60,000 over 3 years on a database application that has still never been deployed)

THE SOLUTION ? The funny thing about all of this is the solution are things at which educators should be very talented. I will leave it up to the reader to decide if they are funny - “ha ha”, or funny - “ouch that’s true.” 1) Collaboration - we must bring together talented programmers, quality educators, effective leaders, and facilitate communication amongst all the stakeholders. 2) Clear, measurable, attainable goals. The goal should be to produce applications built on both technology and educational industry standards, that are intuitive to use, and provide a real service to students, teachers, administrators, & parents. If we are ever to meet the needs of 21st Century students & education, we must produce applications with a clear purpose, used, tested, and improved with both constant input from good teachers and consistent comprehensive staff development.

SUSE 10.1-10.3

At the school where I currently serve, we use iterations of SUSE v 10 (10.1-10.3) on 8 of or 9 our servers (one of our technologies requires us to maintain a Win 2003 Server), and several of our individual use desktops. In fact, at this point, for individual users, we have only OS X Macs, New hardware with Vista installed, and SUSE machines. We are very pleased with both the stability and usability of the Linux systems. In a loose assessment, our ONE Windows server crashes 2-3 times more often then our other EIGHT Linux servers COMBINED.

Prior to my tenure at my current school, I had extremely limited experience with Linux systems. I am very happy to say ~ 9 months later, while I am not an expert, I am almost as comfortable on Linux systems as I am on my Mac, and more comfortable than I am on Windows systems (which I was a power user on until 2003). While the initial learning curve was somewhat steep, my childhood experience with MS DOS and MS Basic (God bless the old TRS-80) & the cornucopia of knowledge that is the Internet has served me well in this learning process.

KDE 4

The technology staff at my school are eagerly awaiting KDE 4 (one of the two major GUI’s for Linux) as it is proving to produce improved speeds and performance, even on legacy hardware. In addition, the new file manager system, Dolphin, should make any linux system using KDE 4 (SUSE is expecting KDE 4 as an option as early as the middle of January 2008, and Kbuntu has KDE 4 at the time of this writing) much more approachable for users new to linux. Dolphin produces a simplified interface (while retaining Konqueror for high-end operations) that looks to be very intuitive, similar to the Finder application in the newest iteration of Mac OS X. In spite of the design of Dolphin, KDE is generally considered the easiest GUI to transition to from Windows, as it has a similar “start” menu system, bottom task bar, etc.

GNOME

Representing the other major GUI for Linux systems, and the most one similar to Mac OS X, is GNOME. GNOME has even been modified extensively to make it look and function similar to Mac OS 10.5 Leopard. GNOME is the default GUI for Ubuntu (Kbuntu is actually the variant of Ubuntu with KDE as the default GUI).

Mac OS X

Okay, OS X isn’t FOSS, but in the interest of full disclosure, I have to admit that Linux is my second favorite operating system. -grin- I have run Mac OS X iterations for the last 3 1/2 years. I quite simply love it compared to any other choice. With every iteration, it continues to improve, and like many linux versions, the OS tends to run faster and more efficiently with each deployment. For example, the newest version of Mac OS X (10.5 Leapord) can be ran on hardware produced from July 2001 (the Quicksilver Power Mac w/ 867MHz G4 Processor) to present.

Kbuntu

Unbuntu, EdUbuntu, & Kbuntu are all variants of Ubuntu, a FOSS Operating System specifically designed for ease of use and adoption. We deployed several of our early FOSS boxes on this system, and were quite pleased with it. The reason we stopped deploying it on individual use machines was simple: 1) the Yast 2 system admin engine in SUSE is more powerful than the Advant system in kbuntu. 2) all of our servers use SUSE, and so consistency won the day. However, Kbuntu provides what I believe is the most robust, easy-to-use, and “Windows-like” individual user OS in the FOSS community. Apparently Dell Computers Inc, also agrees, as they have for several months offered Ubuntu as an option on their machines instead of XP or Vista.

OpenOffice (win/*nix) and NeoOffice (Mac)

We have moved almost all of our users (students, staff, & instructors) to OpenOffice. All of our Vista & SUSE users also use OpenOffice. Many of our Mac users also run NeoOffice (the most popular OpenOffice port for Macintosh). We have a few users still using MS Office 2004 for the Mac (myself included), but we have no plans for deploying MS Office 2008 for the Mac. Operating as a private consultant, I have also helped some friends at a local Pre-School transition all of their staff machines from MS Office to OpenOffice. In experiences so far, it seems that for 98% of users, OpenOffice or NeoOffice satisfy their every need. The only users that truly seem to need MS Office are exceptionally high end users needing the robust functions in MS Excel. At this point, everyone that I have helped transition, have been extremely pleased both with the usability of the system, and the bottom line savings have saved thousands of dollars. Randy Orwin, a the Director of Technology at Bainbridge Island S.D. in Washington State has had exceptional success & savings in excess of $50,000 moving his district from MS Office to OpenOffice.

Firefox

Wow, I am not even sure where to start here. One of the fastest, most code-compliant yet forgiving, extensible web browsers to ever be created. In almost everything that a web browser does (with exception of Safari 3’s cool new text find feature) Firefox wins hands down (and I am sure they will implement the new search interface soon). Fewer security problems, more likely to render the page as the author intended, first to deploy cutting edge HTML, XML, & CSS features, and over 2000 plugins, nobody does it better than the folks at Mozilla. We have one technology at the school that requires either IE or Safari (the same one that makes us keep a Win 2003 Server) and it is scheduled for replacement soon. We have already been moving our staff and students towards Firefox, and hopefully within a month, it will be our default web browser.

Kontact / KAddressBook / KOrganizer

Kontact has the most advanced support for importing & exporting of any eMail / Address Book / Calendar application of which I am aware. It supports MS Outlook & Outlook Express formats, iCal, vCal, vCard, LDIF, Mbox, and others. The interface is also very similar for anyone moving from an Outlook based system. Even if you are moving a user from Win or Mac to Thunderbird (a very capable eMail application from the folks at Mozilla) at least one machine with Kontact makes moving the accounts SO much easier and accurate.

Wine-Tools

If you have to run Windows software on a FOSS system, Wine-Tools has works fairly well in this capacity. It is not incredibly simple to use or configure (the default settings have a tendency not to work well) but in a pinch, it serves my school well in that we are currently transitioning from a plethora of different databases and SIS applications to one integrated SIS / LMS system. Until that transition is complete, some of our users need access to a FileMaker Pro DB application, and Wine-Tools allows us to provide that access on our SUSE machines. In addition, our soon-to-be replaced system requires our students to use Internet Explorer, and IE can be run through Wine-Tools to fill the need until the system can be replaced.

Server Technologies

As my current employment is for an online K-12 school, we obviously use a great deal of server technologies. MySQL, PHP, Postfix (on our eMail server), Moodle (our central LMS), and WebDav (for website versioning & remote file sharing) all run very well on our SUSE servers. Installation & updates are quite simply the easiest thing I have ever seen. Installing something like MySQL or Moodle on SUSE literally requires a keyword search in the Yast 2 application, and clicking a checkbox. The application or service installs itself and walks you through configuration settings afterwards. Definitely worth the few months of learning curve.

Hopefully this information will prove as a helpful resource for other school technology personel taking a first look at using Free or Open Source Software to serve the needs of their staff and students.

For reasons of which I am still not completely aware, Open Source software has a hard time catching on in education. The bullet points are obvious: high-powered, stable applications; astonishing compatibility (*nix tools have to be flexible to survive); and most of the software titles are free or incredibly inexpensive. It seems like little consideration would be needed, but comfort levels seem to be one of the major obstacles to Open Source adoption. However, several months ago, I found one possible solution:

One of the little tasks I am sometimes asked to do in my office is to transition machines when a new person comes on board. Our CAO at the time, having a strong experience in school administration, and being an excellent person for shepherding and taking good care of our teachers, he was a solid asset to the company. However, being a “non-tech person” he used the computer in his office for little more than email and MS Word documents. The machine in his office was an aging XP box much in need of rebuilding. However, when we went to rebuild his machine, we were short a spare XP license, and found it a fine time to further push our move to FOSS software. As a result, I installed Kbuntu Linux, OpenOffice, and Kontact. When introducing him to his new machine, I informed him the new machine was equipped with “a new version of Windows.” While I don’t suggest lying to your CAO or other administrator, as they sign the ‘ole paycheck, in this particular instance, it turned out very well. About a week or two later, he caught me in my office, and I asked him how his new machine was working. He replied enthusiastically, “it is the best version of Windows I have ever used!” Of course, a week or so after that his wife, who also works for the school, found out what I had done and let him in on the joke. Thankfully, he is a gracious person, and found it as humorous as I did! All in all, the point was proven that if you can get your users over the emotional stigma of “I have never used anything but Windows…” adoption can be very much eased.

Another story of a sly technology leader easing FOSS adoption comes from a colleague in a neighboring school district (who’s name and identity have been omitted here to to protect the innocent and innovative). During a presentation several years ago where the technology team was discussing the possibility of implementing an Open Source adoption. The tech leader was using a digital projector and laptop to take notes of the meeting. After allowing the debate to rage for a period on how “open source software will be cost-prohibitive due to extensive retraining needed for staff because of its difference in look, feel, and operation from commonly known, e.g. MS software.” The leader then asked the room of tech team members to identify the program he/she was using to take notes. The response was a unanimous, “MS Word.” He directed the staffers to look a the title bar of the application more closely, upon which he pointed out that in fact OpenOffice Writer was being used.

Duplicity, while not usually a good practice, but as we know from educational best practices, if you can inform based on solid facts, combined with an emotionally powerful moment, can be especially effective in facilitating FOSS adoption.

Best of luck!

As the first post to this site, I think is is important to explain why this site exists. A very wise person once said:

“The only book [or in this case blog] that should ever be written is one that flows up from the heart, forced out by the inward pressure. When such a work has gestated within a man it is almost certain that it will be written. The man who is thus charged with a message will not be turned back by any blase consideration. His book will be to him not only imperative, it will be inevitable… ….[the book] has to be written if for no other reason than to relieve an unbearable burden on [the author's] heart.” — A.W. Tozer

I cannot promise the literary talents of Mr. Tozer and I freely admit that in the text you find on this site there is nothing truly “original”. Emerson said, “Every man is a quotation from his ancestors” and this rings true on this site. I am forever thankful for the examples (both good and bad) and the fellow educators that have influenced my thoughts and helped me become the educator I am today. I hope I will honor them in these pages.

It is not my intention to offend anyone, although I am sure that some will be offended by what is said here. It is my intention to speak in charity and with honesty, and I encourage anyone who reads or posts in this environment to do the same.

Finally, I have worked long enough in the field of education that I have come to believe there are a great multitude of absolutely amazing educators who have found “staying under the radar” the course of action that allows them to help the most students. Many have found the “road to success” as many would put it, a viciously political endeavor; more about who you know, or how well you can work the system, than it is about how well you can teach children, or the value of a revolutionary concept.

This being said, this site is a place where the “inward pressure” of my experiences in the fields of Technology and Education are brought to bear, not to simply complain (although I am sure there will be a few rants here, the natural side effect of being deeply passionate about helping children, like so many of my fellow educators) but to FIND SOLUTIONS for 21st Century Education. I hope that others will find this site and add to it, that we might share our knowledge and experience. We can wait for our leaders in the government, school boards, and school administrators to understand the changes needed in education and then lead us; or we can become the leaders many of us have always searched for and never found, by encouraging, and supporting those excellent educators on the front lines in America’s classrooms and share our successes, failures, and new ideas, that together we might find a brighter future for us all.

Shall we begin?