ALE CENTRAL for February 9, 2006, 7:30pm
We invite everyone to share this meeting announcement with any
educators and school administrators that they are acquainted with,
because the feature topic for the February 9, 2006 ALE Central
meeting is:
Evangelizing Open Source Benefits for Education
presented by
Daniel Howard,
President and CEO, Quadrock Communications
After years of frustration trying to keep Windows legacy computers
functioning at Morris Brandon Elementary School, two parent volunteers
recommended to the principal and the PTA leadership that the school move
to a Linux thin client server system employing the K12-LTSP package. The
proposal was accepted, with the result that all of the school’s computers are
now fully functional and over 50 donated PC’s have been converted into useful
Linux thin clients. Some of the teachers are now considering what they could
do with a computer for every student. Initially, the school district
technology personnel staunchly oposed the system, but they have become
believers after observing the success and benefits of using open source
software first hand.
This presentation will cover the decision process for moving to open source
software, the challenges of convincing legacy locked administrators of the
benefits of an open systems approach and, most importantly, how the teachers
have used their new Linux systems effectively in their classrooms.
Presenter Daniel Howard was the Associate Director of the Broadband
Telecommunications Center at Georgia Tech, and is now an entrepreneur.
His first startup company was Digital Furnace, a cable modem technology
company, which was acquired by the Broadcom Corporation in 2000. His
current startup efforts are in the area of interactive television
software. He has been a parent volunteer at Morris Brandon Elementary
School for over two years, and is now the chairman of the Brandon
eParents, a group of computer-savvy parent volunteers who are all being
introduced to the Linux operating system as a result of the new
technology initiative at Brandon Elementary School.
— Meeting directions and maps are available via the side bar links.