[Scale-planning] Open Source in Education Track (was Re: About the Open Data Track)

Tue Aug 2 20:16:49 UTC 2016

I like both of those suggestions. maybe 2 1/2 days and label it Open
Source STEM/STEAM Education then maybe we could come up with some
sub-categories i.e. project based, linked learning, etc.

<quote who="Mx Siltanen">
If teachers are unwilling to take a day off, and unwilling to burn a
weekend day,

How about a 1/2 day track on a Thur which runs late? It doesn't need to be
a large room?

Or perhaps we can rebrand the track and call it a Open Source STEM/STEAM
education track for a day?

On Tue, Aug 2, 2016 at 1:30 AM, Ilan Rabinovitch <ilan at socallinuxexpo.org>
wrote:

> (FYI: Bala is traveling this week, so he might be delayed in replying to
> this with his feedback on numbers and experience the past few years.  I
> imagine he'll reply in a few days when he's back)
>
> Happy to see Caryl and Kennth both excited about keeping the OSSIE track
> alive. If those interested in OSSIE want to come back with a proposal on
> what the track should look like moving forward and how best to fill the
> both the program and the seats in the room I'm sure we could get behind
> having it again.
>
> I do like the the idea of finding a way to offer continuing education
> credits for teachers, as that would likely draw them in similar to how
> we've done this for the legal track.
>
> For context/background, the original mission of OSSIE was to help
> Educators find ways to use OpenSource in the classroom, specifically in
> K-12 environments but occasionally we covered high education.  This was
> from around the time all the CA schools had vouchers for use in
> purchasing
> tech as part of the Microsoft Law suits, while at the same time having
> reduced budgets due to cuts.  Our vision at the time had been to send
> teachers back to school with lesson plans they could use in their class
> rooms as a way to drive free software use in schools, and get students
> involved early.
>
> In terms of specific numbers:
>
> * OSSIE has always been a 1 day track. Depending on the year the day has
> varied between either Friday, or the weekend days.
>
> * Attendees.  I'd need to dig  to find specific number of attendees the
> past few years. Shyam or Bala who are on list might have it handy.  I
> think
> a reasonable goal would be to have 30-40 attendees in the track.  Our
> smallest room is 60~ theater style, most rooms hold 150+ theater style.
>
> * # of submissions by year:
>
> 2016 - 4
> 2015 - 4
> 2014 - 7
> 2013 - 3
>
> Some initial questions I can think of for us to discuss are:
>
> * Where does OSSIE fit with regards to SCALE TNG? They're likely
> complimentary and can support each other in someway.
>
> * Is our goal to reach educators, students, parents or some combination
> there of?
>
> * What day is best for each of the mentioned audiences? (teachers vs
> parents vs students)
>
> * If we want educators, how can we better reach them and encourage them
> to
> attend? Happy to share what we've done in the past.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Ilan Rabinovitch
> Conference Chair
> Southern California Linux Expo
> 877-831-2569 x110 Voice
> 818-442-1865 Mobile
> ilan at linuxfests.org Email
>
> ---
> Ask me about sponsorship and speaking opportunities at LinuxFests.org's
> upcoming events:
> DevOps Days SV -  June 24-25, 2016 - Mountain View, CA
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>
> On Mon, Aug 1, 2016 at 9:40 PM, Caryl Bigenho <cbigenho at hotmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Hi Ilan,
>>
>> Why don't you let Kenneth Wyrick and I see if we can get this going?
>> You
>> have given us a list of things to work on below and we can get started
>> right away with such things as whether Friday or Saturday would work
>> best
>> and how to get more educators to attend.* As I see it, an OSSIE track
>> shouldn't be just for educators. With so many parents getting involved
>> in
>> the technology side of their children's education, things like the Khan
>> Academy videos, Hour of Code and Scratch/ScratchJr are things that will
>> have a wider audience than just professional educators.
>>
>> Caryl
>>
>> * Maybe we could get  a unit of college credit for folks who attend the
>> entire OSSIE day and pay a small fee. Teachers can use this type of
>> credit
>> for professional development and, often, it can count toward increases
>> in
>> salary.
>>
>> ------------------------------
>> From: ilan at socallinuxexpo.org
>> Date: Mon, 1 Aug 2016 14:45:05 -0700
>> To: scale-planning at lists.linuxfests.org; bala at socallinuxexpo.org
>> Subject: [Scale-planning] Open Source in Education Track (was Re: About
>> the Open Data Track)
>>
>>
>> We haven't yet made a decision around OSSIE for this year, but as a
>> track
>> it has seen reduced attendance and submissions over the past few years.
>> If
>> we can come up with some concrete plans around what we'd want it to
>> look
>> like and discuss how we can get teachers to attend I'm sure we'd be
>> happy
>> to arrange space again.
>>
>> Another thing to keep in mind is we've gotten mixed feedback from
>> teachers on what day to hold OSSIE on if we continue to do so. On the
>> one
>> hand we hear from many teachers they can't attend during the weekend as
>> they have trouble getting the school district to give them a day off
>> for
>> the conference.  On the other hand, we also hear from them that they
>> prefer
>> to keep their weekends to themselves rather than for training.
>>
>>
>>
>> -Ilan
>>
>
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