Welcome to 2010!
Up until now I’ve been so wrapped up in my new job that I’ve been too busy to post much of anything else. I have to prove my mettle and it has taken a great deal of my time. That said, I haven’t given up blogging. In fact, one of my resolutions for this year is to get back in the habit of blogging something each day. I know, from experience, that the process of searching and sharing helps me keep my mental toolbox of ideas well-stocked and ready for action.
To kick off the process, I’m going to suggest that all of my friends resolve to learn about, support, and use GNU resources when possible. By supporting GNU, we foster an intellectual environment that recognizes the importance of the freedom to
- run a program, for any purpose
- study how a program works, and adapt it to one’s needs
- redistribute copies of a program so as to help others and
- improve a program, and release improvements to the public, so that everyone benefits.
Note that I am NOT advocating the practice of pirating software. I am, however, suggesting that everyone use already existing, great, FREE software like that available on the GNU site.
Have a great year!
Uncategorized
free, freedom, freeware, GNU, liberty
A wonderful (free) virtualization software package called VirtualBox gives educators a way to better meet the needs of learners across a variety of operating systems. Although pupils have a great deal in common with one another, they also have differing abilities, needs, and learning styles. Beyond their personalities and intellectual potential, they often have access to and make use of computers with different operating systems. Despite the fact that all of the students in a classroom or group may frequently employ web-based resources such as Google Docs to collaborate and learn together, they’ll eventually want to do work individually on computers that have resources uniquely designed to meet their own personal tastes.
For example, suppose there’s a teacher who wants to give her learners more choice in how they complete their work. This teacher knows that the students gravitate toward differing operating systems. One student prefers doing his assignments on a Windows machine, while another is dedicated to completing work on her Mac OS X laptop. A third, more adventurous pupil, after nobly rescuing a surplussed PC destined for a landfill, is happily anticipating learning with a Linux-based desktop. The teacher decides to foster the choices made by the learners. She installs VirtualBox on her own computer to see the applications her pupils are using and how the operate.
VirtualBox is remarkably useful as it runs on Windows, Linux, and Macintosh machines. It also supports a large number of guest operating systems. This means that a math teacher using a Mac with VirtualBox loaded on her machine can actually install and run other operating systems (such as Windows and Linux) at the same time. If one of her students prefers using a Windows-based math application such as GraphCalc to complete his assignment, the instructor can see that program in action within a Windows-based environment on her Mac! This powerful means of meeting the needs of pupils is free.
open source, productivity, virtualization
free, open, opensource, os
Your school system could be helping students hone their 21st century skills without expending a great of money. Sponsored by Novell, the openSUSE for Schools project is all about providing free learning tools for educators. This robust site has a huge assortment of rich desktop applications designed to run on a Linux desktop.
Virtually every school system has a number of PC lying around that no one is using. What a wonderful way to breathe new life into old hardware! Best of all, even if the plan doesn’t go as expected, no money has been lost. It’s FREE. Why stop there, though? Relatively inexpensive netbooks could be used as well.
If you really want to students to learn and be prepared for life in a 21st century economy, model what you expect–learn something new! Take a risk and give the openSUSE for Schools project a try. You’ll learn valuable lessons along the way and open up new opportunities for your students.
free, open source, productivity
education, free, linux, open, opensource
Bibliophiles rejoice! According to a post by Frederic Lardinois of the ever informative ReadWriteWeb blog, literature lovers can now dive into Google Book’s EPUB Archive and download 1 millions books for free.
Related sites:
literature
books, free, lit, literature, reading
You might as well check out Nosleep Software. Why? For starters, the software is completely free. Free is good! Whether you’re a student or teacher who has a task that was due yesterday, you’ll find some helpful programs. For example, there’s a helpful resources called QuizWiz that allows you to do self-learning on any topic using flashcards, multiple choice, or true/false questions. Also available is Idea Pad, a nifty application that lets users construct concept maps, flow chart, and/or diagrams that can be converted a text outline.
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Uncategorized
free, software
A little bird told me that Matt Cruikshank has illustrated some excellent visual interpretations of popular sayings over at his blog, the Crooked Leg. For Language Arts teachers who have access to an interactive slate/whiteboard (things like eInstruction’s Interwrite Pad, Mimio, Promethean’s Activclassroom materials, as well as SMART products) and a projector, this would be an excellent way to promote student engagement. After seeing Matt’s examples, students could be encouraged to create their own examples. Imagine turning students loose with an interactive slate/whiteboard and tools such as Inkscape, ArtRage (use the Starter Edition for free), TuxPaint, or the GIMP.
Via an excellent post at Drawn!
Uncategorized
art, free, LA, language, literacy, reading
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