Free stuff continued...

Anyone who knows me at all knows whenever possible I use Free and Open Source solutions for my personal and professional technology needs.  Here are a couple of sites I use to get my free goodness from...

A great source for this software is SourceForge.  According to their site

SourceForge.net is the world's largest open source software development web site. We provide free services that help people build cool stuff and share it with a global audience. See a list of our software development features.

As of August, 2010, more than 240,000 software projectshave been registered to use our services by more than 2.6 million registered users, making SourceForge.net the largest collection of open source tools and applications on the net.

 I personally go there to grab software fairly often and it can actually be quite rewarding to just browse and discover new tools and applications in general.

Another site that I use quite frequently is FileHippo.  The only drawback to FileHippo is that while its software is free, it isn't always Open Source.  I still go there for much of my Windows needs since I am forced to work on Windows quite frequently.  Another really great use for FileHippo is that I can point someone there when they ask me a question.  For example, if they have a problem that I know MBAM will fix I can direct them to the site instead of relying on their often dodgy or nonexistent Google Fu.
According to their site

Purpose

With FileHippo.com our aim is to provide you with the simplest method of downloading the newest versions of the best software - without the usual excessive popups or spyware and without the low quality software.

Moodle and backups

After a couple of months my Moodle instance has become absolutely integral to my classes. I have transitioned almost all of my curriculum over to it and eliminated nearly all paper. we still print pick tickets, blank inventory sheets, certificates and resumes for students but that is about it.
After putting all the work into it, I knew I needed a good backup solution but due to a very limited budget at the agency where I work it had to be free. I have a spare Dell GX240 identical to my Moodle box so the hardware was taken care of quite nicely. I set up FreeNAS on a machine and I use CloneZilla to create and write images to it on the LAN. In the event of a failure I can restore from the image to the spare unit in less than 45 minutes. Once a week I store an image offsite just to cover all my bases.
It isn't automated or invisible but I like the hands on aspect of knowing that my entirely free and open source disaster recovery plan is in place.

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Last day of Educator Bootcamp

The last day of Educator Bootcamp went very well. I had a group of teachers and administrators and the class was Music in the Classroom.
We started off with a discussion of copyright versus copyleft then an in-depth analysis of various creative commons licenses.
We then searched Jamendo and CCmixter where I helped them download and extract the albums and and discussed different ways to put it to use in the classroom such as:

• Background music
• Songs of the day
• Playlists
• Podcasts
• Movies
• Embedded Flash
• Slide show presentations
• YouTube videos
• And even shared media servers for students to use in projects

The students were so pleased that they went to my administrator and we are having a follow-up class Monday nightso there is going to be even more fun.

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Skype & Digital Media in Education

Today as part of the "Educator Bootcamp" I taught two classes, Skype in the Classroom and Digital Media in the Classroom.

Skype is an internet telephony program using
VoIP, which stands for “Voice over Internet Protocol.” It is cross-platform, multi-lingual, and free to both download and use. Skype permits users to make high-quality audio and video “phone calls” over the Internet to other Skype users for for free and audio only at a low cost to land lines or POTS (Plain Old Telephone System) phones.
We discussed ways to use Skype such as:

• Bringing sick students into the classroom
• Skype with students/families in other countries
• Interviewing
• Bringing in guest speakers
• Virtual field trips in the school
• Professional development
• Foreign language and social studies - connect with related countries
• Collaborating with VoiceThread (or other) projects
• Encouraging students to excel when work is viewable by parents and other students

In the digital media class we discussed several different types of media licenses such as:

• Creative Commons
• Copyleft
• Attribution
• Share Alike
• Non-commercial
• Non-derivative

We discussed how different licenses will dictate how the media may be used in the classroom and elsewhere.
We downloaded media such as pictures, video, and audio to use in different ways in an instructional setting. We then uploaded media from cameras, SD cards, flash drives, and camcorders and discussed different methods of storage and delivery.

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Online Social Media and Network Marketing

I have a friend in Maui who is making some moves and becoming a major player in the new wave of marketing. His name is Jason Hufalar and I have known him for several years and he is now training people in Social Media and Network Marketing. One example of what he is doing in using YouTube to teach people how to use YouTube for their business.
He is also quite a social zealot and is trying to make his community a better place and not just make a buck at the expense of others.
If you want to be entertained and learn something check out his channel, you just might get drawn into the movement...
Hoofy's YouTube
Hoofy's Blog

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Moodle

I've been using another awesome open source tool.
Moodle.org
For the last month or so at my day job I've been moving almost all of my curriculum to a Moodle server and it is great. I re-purposed an old Dell GX 240 as an Ubuntu server and it is serving about 24 or so students at any given time. One thing that is different from most Moodle instances is that it has no outward facing connection since my students in the prison aren't allowed to use the Internet at all.
A great benefit to using "on-line" curriculum is that my students get a great deal of hands on experience with an Internet browser which will help them immensely when they get out of prison in searching for employment.
I'll be posting more about the system in the next few days so keep checking back for updates.

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Student Site

For all of my students and others who may be interested, here is a link to a site for my Meridian Technology Center classes.

Jason's Classes

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Blogging Client

I'm trying out a new blogging client for Android, It is caller blogger-droid.

So far so good but initially it is a bit odd posting blogs from my phone. The interface is very simple and straight forward. Anyone who is into eye candy will be sorely disappointed but those of us who just want it to work will be very happy.
It is definitely worth checking out.

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