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

Fri Aug 5 07:14:42 UTC 2016

Am 02. Aug, 2016 schwätzte Joe Renzullo so:

moin moin Joe,

do you want to do a talk on how to run such a class or host a lab or yes?
:)

A friend also teaches a summer class for kids. I talk to him about his
graphics classes. He might also teach programming in the summer
curriculum. I know he teaches programming at the community college.

ciao,

der.hans

> 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 at 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 at 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 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
>>>> Texas Linux Fest - July 8-9, 2016, Austin TX
>>>> SCALE 15x - March 2-5, 2017 - Pasadena, CA
>>>>
>>>> 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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>>>
>>> --
>>> I???m moderate on extroversion.
>>> http://caltek.net
>>>
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>>
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