New subject: Open Source in Education Track (was Re: About the Open Data Track)

2 Aug 2016

      OK. Try this link for the CUE-LA newsletter! http://bit.ly/2ah2Qdp  Sorry I messed up the first one, my 5-year-old granddaughter was rushing me … "hurry up, Grandma…."
Caryl
Good idea, Joe….
I also mentioned parents in my earlier post. Many of the regular attendees (and their spouses) are parents and would probably enjoy some breaks from the "heavier stuff" (that is not to say that education is "lighter stuff") to learn about OSSIE resources they could use with their family.
I know we don't have a budget, but since Kenneth mentioned STEM/STEAM I looked at some possibilities. Wouldn't it be great if we could get this couple from Nebraska to come to SCaLE and talk about their 3-D printed violin? They are hoping to do other instruments so schools can use them. The problem is, it costs $450* to buy the printed parts or $600 for the whole violin. But… it only costs about $70 for materials to print it and the design is open source and is, of course… free. They say it can be done on a desktop 3-D printer!
https://opensource.com/life/16/5/hovalin
Also, CUE-LA has several upcoming events. We can see what they are doing for those to get some ideas. I got an email from them today and will forward a link to their newsletter. Many of their interests are in propriatory software, but there are many good things we could introduce them to that are open source. Here is a link to the newsletter:
CUELA August Events & Updates http://bit.ly/2ah2Qdp http://bit.ly/2ah2Qdp
http://bit.ly/2ah2Qdp
Caryl
* You can buy several good Chinese-made traditional wood violins for that price so it isn't feasable for schools… but the $70 one is.
From: joerenzullo@gmail.com
Date: Tue, 2 Aug 2016 13:56:26 -0700
To: scale-planning@lists.linuxfests.org
Subject: Re: [Scale-planning] Open Source in Education Track (was Re: About the Open Data Track)
Jumping in on this conversation - I'd be interested in proposing a talk for this track!
This summer, I taught 60 students (ages 8-14) in a summer enrichment program how to program using Minecraft and Python. We ran code on Raspberry Pi systems, used Linux hosts for class-wide servers for the students to collaborate, and demonstrated how to interact with the game world and generate large structures by defining the basic geometric solids as functions that the students could use via a simple API.
It was hugely successful, and I am working on curriculum based on it that I am in talks with my university (UNM in Albuquerque) to roll out to our CS4All teacher-training program.
I can also inquire as to the (very good!) idea of getting teacher credits approved for conference attendance/participation. Several of my family members work in the Pasadena Unified School District, and I imagine that this would draw a great deal of interest from middle and high school teachers at the campuses which have STEM/STEAM programs.
I also very much like the idea of broadening this to parents who are interested in resources for working with their own kids - about 10 of the families whose students I taught this summer have followed up with me post-program to ask for more information and "next steps" they can take with their kids.
-Joe Renzullo
PhD Student, Computer Science, University of New Mexico
Software Engineer (Academic Part Time), JPL
On Tue, Aug 2, 2016 at 1:36 PM, Ilan Rabinovitch ilan@linuxfests.org wrote:
I don't know if we'll have space for multiple rooms. Let's focus on defining what we want this track to cover and where it compliments other tracks like SCALE TNG.
On Aug 2, 2016 1:16 PM, "Kenneth Wyrick" kmw@caltek.net wrote:
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@socallinuxexpo.org
wrote:
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(FYI: Bala is traveling this week, so he might be delayed in replying to
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this with his feedback on numbers and experience the past few years.  I
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imagine he'll reply in a few days when he's back)
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Happy to see Caryl and Kennth both excited about keeping the OSSIE track
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alive. If those interested in OSSIE want to come back with a proposal on
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what the track should look like moving forward and how best to fill the
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both the program and the seats in the room I'm sure we could get behind
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having it again.
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I do like the the idea of finding a way to offer continuing education
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credits for teachers, as that would likely draw them in similar to how
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we've done this for the legal track.
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For context/background, the original mission of OSSIE was to help
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Educators find ways to use OpenSource in the classroom, specifically in
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K-12 environments but occasionally we covered high education.  This was
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from around the time all the CA schools had vouchers for use in
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purchasing
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tech as part of the Microsoft Law suits, while at the same time having
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reduced budgets due to cuts.  Our vision at the time had been to send
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teachers back to school with lesson plans they could use in their class
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rooms as a way to drive free software use in schools, and get students
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involved early.
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In terms of specific numbers:
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OSSIE has always been a 1 day track. Depending on the year the day has

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varied between either Friday, or the weekend days.
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Attendees.  I'd need to dig  to find specific number of attendees the

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past few years. Shyam or Bala who are on list might have it handy.  I
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think
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a reasonable goal would be to have 30-40 attendees in the track.  Our
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smallest room is 60~ theater style, most rooms hold 150+ theater style.
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# of submissions by year:

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2016 - 4
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2015 - 4
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2014 - 7
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2013 - 3
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Some initial questions I can think of for us to discuss are:
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Where does OSSIE fit with regards to SCALE TNG? They're likely

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complimentary and can support each other in someway.
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Is our goal to reach educators, students, parents or some combination

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there of?
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What day is best for each of the mentioned audiences? (teachers vs

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parents vs students)
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If we want educators, how can we better reach them and encourage them

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to
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attend? Happy to share what we've done in the past.
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Ilan Rabinovitch
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Conference Chair
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Southern California Linux Expo
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877-831-2569 x110 Voice
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818-442-1865 Mobile
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ilan@linuxfests.org Email
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Ask me about sponsorship and speaking opportunities at LinuxFests.org's
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upcoming events:
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DevOps Days SV -  June 24-25, 2016 - Mountain View, CA
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Texas Linux Fest - July 8-9, 2016, Austin TX
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SCALE 15x - March 2-5, 2017 - Pasadena, CA
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On Mon, Aug 1, 2016 at 9:40 PM, Caryl Bigenho cbigenho@hotmail.com
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wrote:
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Hi Ilan,
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Why don't you let Kenneth Wyrick and I see if we can get this going?
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You
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have given us a list of things to work on below and we can get started
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right away with such things as whether Friday or Saturday would work
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best
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and how to get more educators to attend.* As I see it, an OSSIE track
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shouldn't be just for educators. With so many parents getting involved
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in
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the technology side of their children's education, things like the Khan
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Academy videos, Hour of Code and Scratch/ScratchJr are things that will
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have a wider audience than just professional educators.
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Caryl
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Maybe we could get  a unit of college credit for folks who attend the

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entire OSSIE day and pay a small fee. Teachers can use this type of
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credit
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for professional development and, often, it can count toward increases
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in
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salary.
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From: ilan@socallinuxexpo.org
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Date: Mon, 1 Aug 2016 14:45:05 -0700
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To: scale-planning@lists.linuxfests.org; bala@socallinuxexpo.org
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Subject: [Scale-planning] Open Source in Education Track (was Re: About
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the Open Data Track)
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We haven't yet made a decision around OSSIE for this year, but as a
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track
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it has seen reduced attendance and submissions over the past few years.
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If
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we can come up with some concrete plans around what we'd want it to
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look
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like and discuss how we can get teachers to attend I'm sure we'd be
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happy
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to arrange space again.
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Another thing to keep in mind is we've gotten mixed feedback from
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teachers on what day to hold OSSIE on if we continue to do so. On the
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one
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hand we hear from many teachers they can't attend during the weekend as
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they have trouble getting the school district to give them a day off
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for
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the conference.  On the other hand, we also hear from them that they
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prefer
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to keep their weekends to themselves rather than for training.
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-Ilan
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Scale-planning mailing list
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Scale-planning@lists.linuxfests.org
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https://lists.linuxfests.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/scale-planning
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I�m moderate on extroversion.
http://caltek.net
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