TQ #10

TQ#10 - Consider what you've learned about open source technologies, cloud computing, and videoconferencing. In three-to-five paragraphs, share what is new for you and how it might (or might not) fit in the school technology plan. Remember to review and comment on the blog postings of your colleagues.

It is hard for me to talk about any of these topics being new for me. I have been aware of them for some time and our district does use some of these items today. I think for my response, I will discuss how we are using them.

Open source has come along way in the last few years. It still amazes me that most users just think that open source means free software. Many have no idea that the real meaning is that the code is free. Some open source software does need to be paid for! Our district uses a product called LetterGrade for our grading system. This system runs on two Red Hat Enterprise Linux servers (we paid about $500 each for the Red Hat Enterprise software with support). If you are aware of LetterGrade, you know that the original owner sold the company to a bigger company that shortly after went out of business. Since the code was open source, I was able to contract with an ex-employee of both companies to continue support. To my knowledge, we are the last district with a fully functional, running version of the product. In addition, we have changes made to the application 2 or 3 times a year.

Cloud computing is newer in our district and has only recently been introduced. Some of our middle school staff have been using Google docs with disadvantaged students that do not have updated computers at home. The students have been able to use Google docs as a method to get their classwork completed.

Colonial has been using video conferencing on Internet 2 for the last 4 years. We are now at the point where all 7 of our buildings have a video conference units, called a Polycoms, in their library. Our K-3 buildings are just getting used to being able to involve students from all 4 buildings in projects. In our high school and middle school, the students are able to experience outside events. The highlight for use was 2 years ago. Our middle school had a live video conference with a diver on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. The conference started at 8pm and was attended by almost 50 students. The students interacted with the diver while they were being shown different types of marine life on the reef. It truly was a remarkable experience.

As you can see, Colonial is comfortable with many different types of emerging technologies. If you want a preview, search for Microsoft Surface. We are looking at getting one of these units for our Computer Science department.