Educational FLOSS Software

Session #1 of FOSSED 2008

Robert Sargent of Waits River Valley School District, Vermont is presenting on Free "Libre" Open Source Applications for the classroom. He is talking about assessing standards acquisition by using Open Source applications.

This following text in blue will be a real time interpretation of his presentation:
Best Teaching Practices Student-centered Project-oriented Constructivist/Constructionist
Inquiry-based
Differentiated Instruction
Cooperative Group Learning

Vermont has "Information Technology Grade Expectations" . But they have not been realigned with the new NETS from ISTE.
Digital Worksheet

Use a word processor document with URL's to scaffold an Internet-based activity.

(Save them as html so that with a web interface they can be posted to the web)

NVUE is an Open Source html editor. It is no longer being supported but, Komposer and FunnyMonkey are.
WebQuest

Designing a task for someone else to do. This is a metacognitive activity for kids. By 6th grade they should be able to create WebQuests.


WebQuest Gurus

Bernie Dodge

WebQuest 101

A WebQuest About WebQuests

Projects with Bit-Mapped Graphics (GIMP)

Bob's Art Teacher took portrait photos of each child. The photos were put into GIMP, and the kids posterized (reduce number of colors), put into grayscale, used a grid to transfer to paper, then the kids mixed a single color to paint their portrait in monochromatic.

An alternative to GIMP is KolourPaint. This has a bit simpler interface.


XnView is a free software package to view and convert graphic files. (You can resize photos individually or in a batch. This is good for student projects.)

Database
OpenOffice comes with a Database. One project is to use a database to collate survey results. There is no charting in the database but there is in Calc (Spreadsheet). So just copy your database into Calc or spreadsheet.

Scribus

This is an Open Source desktop publishing system. When you have a finished project, you can save it as pdf. But remember to save your original in case you need to go back and edit. This is a good product to use if a teacher is taking student work to create a finished product. Scribus is also helpful for creating brochures and fliers.

Podcasting

Audacity is a FOSS for a recording and editing sounds software. It can be used for podcasting, assessing speech, reading, vocal pitch, etc.

GCompris

This is a suite of activities best suited for the Pre-K-3 gang. It's fun for the rest of us, too. :)

Stellarium

This is a model planetarium or star map that allows the user to enter in specific latitude/longitude information and the program shows a map of what can be seen from that spot on earth without a telescope.

Celestia

This is a 3-D space simulator so students can travel in space and see the stars and planets from different perspectives.

FMS Logo

This version of Logo is aimed specifically at elementary schools. It is based on Seymour Papert's Logo. Kturtle is another Logo-based programming language designed for elementary school students.

Why Use Open Source?

4 kinds of Software Freedom-
The freedom to run the program, for any purpose (freedom 0).
The freedom to study how the program works, and adapt it to your needs (freedom 1).
The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor (freedom 2).
The freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits (freedom 3).

Access to the source code is a precondition for freedoms 1-3

Why use it?

It's free.
Everyone can have it.
Open source means you are free to change the code.
Open source uses a different model for support.
Students can participate in an open source project.


Open Source Victoria is a catalog of FOSS that is specifically helpful for teachers and students.

It makes sense to integrate the classroom with Open Source Software.

Thanks Bob, for an informative morning!

Now, it's time for lunch and decision making. Will I go to the Scratch presentation this pm or to using Moodle for Professional Development? Darn it! FOSSED is an abundance of riches.

Directing Student Use (or misdirecting it?) and Teacher Friendly Directions for Childsplay

After my students learned how to log on (and log off), and change their desktop backgrounds, I moved on to using some of the applications. I had envisioned and planned a slow, methodical process for each student to learn how to navigate to a program and use it. Fortunately, my students knew better and I had enough sense to let the synergy of the learning process take over.

I gathered the class in front of the workstations and had them walk me through the log on procedure. Then I demonstrated going to Applications in the upper left hand corner of the screen and sliding down to the Games menu. I showed how to slide the mouse over to the programs and directed them, no, told them, that they could "ONLY go to Childsplay or GCompris" (which is actually labeled Educational Suite GCompris). I then demonstrated the basics tools and buttons of each program. The first group of 5 started to work. It was NOT a quiet work time and the rest of the class kept drifting up to the bank of workstations to observe and comment. But the level of engagement and the conversations about what they were doing was exciting. Each student contributed. Each student observed. Each student thought. And by the end of the morning, each student had tried stuff out.

At the beginning of that week, I insisted that everyone continue to ONLY use Childsplay or GCompris. However, two things happened that reminded me I was wrong for insisting. The first was a technical problem. For, the most part, our recycled workstations weren't producing sound and since our technical help is extremely limited, sound was not going to be fixed that first week. Both of the programs I had limited my students to had sound, and a few of the activities within those programs depended upon sound to interact meaningfully with the user. Secondly, I had made the rest of the applications seem extra-desirable by limiting my students. It wasn't long before individual students took the risk to try out the other games. Soon, every single student had tried other games despite my constant reminding that I wanted them to ONLY use Childsplay or GCompris. I had planned that I would introduce each application slowly and thoroughly. What a boring plan! My students knew better and engaged themselves in learning the other games and helping each other learn the other games. The dynamics of learning around the workstations transcended all the other pre-determined social strata in the classroom. Every student was new, every student discovered something, every student shared their knowledge and skill.

I was reminded, once again, to stand out of the way when students take control of their learning.

Here is my initial attempt to explain Childsplay to the rest of my team of K-2 teachers. My colleagues wanted non-technical information about what they were having their students use. This was what I gave them. They were appreciative. Several of them used it as a resource for parent volunteers. Hope it helps you!

Games
Childsplay
Go to Applications and click on Games. Slide down to Childsplay and
click on it. The Childsplay window will open. It will show a cow
while the program is loading. The next screen is mostly blue with a
series of icons.

~The first icon of 2 blue pegs and 2 red pegs can not be played right
now because it requires sound. It is a version of Memory using sounds
instead of images. Hopefully, we will have sound soon.

~The second icon is letters and numbers with a speaker. This also
requires sound. It is a matching game.

~The third icon is a windmill scene with a penguin and falling
letters. This does NOT require sound so you can use it now. The
object of the game is to type the falling letters before they touch
the ground. This is good for letter recognition and keyboard
orientation. Clicking on the elephant gives you a screen with the
aim, the suggested age group, and the # of levels. Clicking on the
trophy gives you the high scores and clicking on the stop sign takes
you back to the icon screen.

~The fourth icon shows 2 airplanes and two cards. This is the game of
Memory. It does not require sound. The aim of the game is to find
matching pairs of images. If you are successful, you get to enter
your name on the high score list. Clicking on the elephant gives you
a screen with the aim, the suggested age group, and the # of levels.
Clicking on the trophy gives you the high scores and clicking on the
stop sign takes you back to the icon screen.

~The fifth icon is of an air hockey table. This is basically a game
of air hockey. The player can choose to play by themselves, with a
friend, or against the computer. It's a good eye-hand coordination
activity and develops the skills of controlling movement on the
monitor by using keys rather than the mouse. Clicking on the elephant
gives you a screen with the aim, the suggested age group, and the # of
levels. Clicking on the trophy gives you the high scores and clicking
on the stop sign takes you back to the icon screen.

~The sixth icon is another sound based one. I'll give you more
information about this when we get sound.

~The second row of icons begins with a group of green letters. The
first level of this game shows a picture, a word, and indicates that
the player should spell that word. Subsequent levels leave out some
of the letters. This helps with sight word recognition, spelling, and
keyboard orientation. Clicking on the elephant gives you a screen
with the aim, the suggested age group, and the # of levels. Clicking
on the trophy gives you the high scores and clicking on the stop sign
takes you back to the icon screen.

~The next icon is a group of red numbers. It is an activity where the
user needs to put the right numerical operation (+, -, x, /) on the ?
in the number sentence. This is done by dragging the correct symbol
to the question mark. This is hard. But, it doesn't let you place
the wrong symbol. Clicking on the elephant gives you a screen with
the aim, the suggested age group, and the # of levels. Clicking on
the trophy gives you the high scores and clicking on the stop sign
takes you back to the icon screen.

~The third icon in the second row is a game of Billiards. It involves
using both the right and left mouse keys to be successful. The right
key is for aiming and the left button is for hitting the ball. The
longer you hold the left button down, the harder it will hit the ball.
Fewer hits to get the ball in the hole gets you higher points.
Clicking on the elephant gives you a screen with the aim, the
suggested age group, and the # of levels. Clicking on the trophy
gives you the high scores and clicking on the stop sign takes you back
to the icon screen

~The fourth icon is a Pacman. This is a game of Pacman only you have
to collect letters in order to spell the given words. My class is
really enjoying this game! You also need to use the arrow keys to
maneuver through this maze. Clicking on the elephant gives you a
screen with the aim, the suggested age group, and the # of levels.
Clicking on the trophy gives you the high scores and clicking on the
stop sign takes you back to the icon screen

~The last icon in the second row is another sound one. Watch for updates.

Quitting
In order to Quit Childsplay, you need to be on the menu page with the
icons. Click on the stop sign. A translucent message will pop up
asking you if you really want to quit. You need to type Y for yes and
N for no. If you type Y, the game will close and the desktop will
appear.