[K12OSN] Two Great Open Source Interviews from South Africa and Indiana

[Steve Hargadon]

It's been a fun day! I started very early in order to be able to catch
Hilton Theunissen in South Africa, who has led the tuXlab project to install
Linux thin-client in 200 schools. Then late in the day Mike Huffman and
Laura Taylor provided insight into the Indiana Affordable Classroom
Computers for Every Secondary Student (ACCESS) program.  (To download the
mp3 or ogg files, go to http://www.K12OpenSource.com/Interviews.)

These are both fascinating interviews, and along with the interview with the
folks from Atlanta Public Schools last week, they are confirming a pattern
that deserve some real exploration: high-priced, high-maintenance computers
have led to relatively little actual student time in front of them (35
minutes a week per student in the case of Indiana, at a cost of $100 million
a year!); low-cost computer solutions provide significantly more actual time
in front of computers for students, and the result is dramatic engagement by
students and teachers, and significant academic success (some measured and
some expected).

This is interesting to me, since I've lately been very aware that while the
Windows, Linux, and Mac folks fight the battle of which OS is best, there is
still a more fundamental and hotly-debated question with regard to computers
in education: do they actually help students do better for all the money
that is spent on them? What Atlanta and Indiana seem to show is that because
it has been so costly to have computers in schools, they haven't been truly
available enough for teachers or students to integrate their use into the
curriculum. But in programs that are dedicated to cost-effectively getting
the computers into the classrooms in sufficient quantity to impact
education, the results are significant and exciting. And the "cost
effective" part belongs to Linux and Open Source...

This Thursday night (August 17), it's time to hear from "our favorite
Moodler," Michelle Moore from remote-Learner.net. The one-hour interview
will be broadcast live at 5:00 pm PDT / 8:00 pm EDT, and will also be
available afterwards in recorded form. Links to join the live Skypecast, to
leave questions, or to learn more are at
www.K12OpenSource.com/Interviews<http://stevehargadon.blogspot.com/www.K12OpenSource.com/Interviews>
.

The following weeks I'll be interviewing Victoria Davis (Westwood Schools)
and Adam Frey (Wikispaces) about Wikis, and Ruth Lutes and Ragavan
Srinivasan (both from HP) about Open Source Licensing. To suggest future
interview topics, or to contribute to the wiki, visit K12OpenSource.com.

Today was also my first day flying solo--which included doing the sound
editing and uploading... Wow. Hope you like them. From now on it should be a
little easier!

-- 
Steve Hargadon
steve at hargadon.com
916-899-1400 direct

www.SteveHargadon.com - (Blog on Educational Technology)
www.K12Computers.com - (Refurbished Dell Optiplexes for Schools)
www.TechnologyRescue.com - (Linux Thin Client Solutions)
www.LiveKiosk.com - (Web Access and Content Delivery Solutions)
www.PublicWebStations.com - (Disaster & Shelter WebStation Software)
www.K12OpenSource.com (Public Wiki)
www.SupportBlogging.com (Public Wiki)
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