Program Content
Why would 50 state education agencies each spend millions of dollars developing the same information management software and systems? What does it take to share code between states? What role do common requirements play? What is the legal framework? In this web seminar, the U.S. Open e-Learning Consortium will explore these topics and feature examples of successful public sector open source projects, followed by a panel discussion.
Coy Ison, director of technology for the Southeast Educational Service Center (SESC) in Utah will share two groundbreaking K-12 open source applications:
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The nationally acclaimed EDesk software allows users to upload files, collaborate online through discussion threads and create personal portal pages with simplicity and ease.
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The Utah Test Item Pool Service (UTIPS) was created by working in conjunction with the Utah State Office of Education (USOE) and is an online formative assessment engine that gives instant feedback to teachers about student comprehension of state standards and objectives.
Pat McCormick, policy lead for the Government Open Code Collaborative (GOCC) and co-founder of the wireless advocacy group BostonWAG, will also present an overview of the GOCC, which is a voluntary collaboration between public sector entities and non-profit academic institutions created for the purpose of encouraging the free sharing of computer code developed for and by government entities where the redistribution of this code is allowed.
Greg Nadeau and Alex Jackl, with the United States Open e-Learning Consortium, will host the panel discussion with with experts from public and private industry providing perspective and insight on this important topic. Panelists will include:
- Ethan O'Rafferty, director of alliances at MySQL Inc., where he has built partnerships with MySQL's major hardware, software, and systems integrator partners. He has been involved with driving the business side of open source, having previously headed an alliances team at TurboLinux.
- Dr. Larry Fruth, currently the Executive Director of the Schools Interoperability Framework (SIF) Association. Fruth has more than 20 years of experience in the field of education and most recently served as an Associate Director for Ohio SchoolNet and the Ohio Department of Education.
- Mark Gura, the former Director of Instructional Technology for the NYC public school system. An educator for more than three decades, he currently works with Fordham University's Regional Educational Technology Center. He writes regularly for the New York Daily News and Converge.
Participant Level of Understanding
This program is intended for participants with a basic or intermediate level of understanding on the topic.
Prerequisites:
There are no prerequisites for this seminar.
Advance Preparation
There is no advanced preparation required for this seminar.
About Coy Ison and Patrick McCormick
Coy Ison is Director of Technology for the Southeast Educational Service Center (SESC) in Utah. SESC has been a leader in open source application development since 1995. Their nationally acclaimed EDesk software (www.myedesk.org) allows user to upload files, collaborate online through discussion threads and create personal portal pages. Their most recent venture, in conjunction with the Utah State Office of Education (USOE) is an online formative assessment engine that gives instant feedback to teachers about student comprehension of state standards and objectives, known as the Utah Test Item Pool Service (UTIPS).
Patrick McCormick was the first CIO of Somerville, near Boston. During his tenure he directed a number of ambitious technology initiatives including a citizen centric web portal, a switched gigabyte network for shared applications and voice over IP telephony for municipal departments and schools, a statistical management system modeled after Baltimore's CitiStat. He is policy lead for the GOCC (government open code collaborative) and co-founder of BostonWAG (wireless advocacy group).
