Dave’s Educational Blog » Blog Archive » Opensim/Drupal integration for education - proposal and call for help

Opensim/Drupal integration for education - proposal and call for help
June 24, 2008 – 11:05 pm

Well… i’m finally getting my teeth back into opensim and finding that there are a couple of things i’d like to get built over the next couple of months. We’ve already gotten a good start on the automated installer for opensim, but what i’d really like to do now is attempt an integration with drupal. I’ll be keeping my running requirements list for that integration on the openhabitat project page and will hopefully pop a few updates into here from time to time.

What I need
I need two things.

1. I need a good drupal/opensim programmer. Someone familiar with both platforms who can spearhead the drupal integration (or, if you like opensim integration).
2. I need some sense that there are other folks in the British Higher Education community who would find this integration compelling for an application to the emerge community for extra funding.

Is it really necessary to purchase text books for those computer classes anymore? Take a look at your content area on each of these sites. You be the judge.

• 1. freecomputerbooks.com
• 2. freetechbooks.com
• 3. techtoolblog.com
• 4. computer-books.us
• 5. onlinecomputerbooks.com

...as this list expands keep track here: del.icio.us/cravens/freebook

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MAKE: Blog: Wrestling mask from an old shoe

I'm beginning to collect projects that appeal to Middle School age children. While discussing concepts of manufacturing...nothing better than the tennis shoe. And afterwords why not take it apart and create a wrestling mask.

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Technology
Education/Industrial Technology Education

The student designs a product or manufacturing system using appropriate design processes and techniques. The student is expected to:

(A) develop or improve a product or manufacturing system that meets a specified need;

(B) identify areas where quality, reliability, and safety can be designed into a product or system.

Open Culture: The Hottest Course on iTunes (and the Future of Digital Education)

I'll be using this podcast, the Understanding Computers course from Harvard in my Computer Systems inservice. This will serve a number of purposes...to enhance my own instruction, and to open educators to the value of podcasting in education.

Linux's Education Push
When it comes to desktop PCs, schools could be the first, real place where Linux grabs hold.

"So Dad," he asked. "What is the difference between Linux and Windows?" I tried to explain but it was a waste of breath. "What difference do you see?" I asked back.

"Nothing, really."

On Walkabout with Greenfoot » Microworlds

I've begun to examine Greenfoot as an environment to introduce my 9th grade computer programming students to Java. After running through the first tutorial, I have found it to be a great way to visually organize my presentation of OOP (object oriented programming) and also provide my students with a creative way to begin exploring basic game design with Java.

I've offered an incentive for the class to vote through the poll module in our moodle install for the best implementation of the WombatWorld scenario; I'll display the winner along side our iboerne.com presentation at the 2007 TCEA Convention Student Showcase.

Specifically, we will be using the WombatWorld scenario, but Ill also be interested in exploring the MBCS ('Marine Biology Case Study'). More on our progress later.

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Ubuntu Multimedia Center - A new Ubuntu-based Linux distribution -- Debian Admin

Ubuntu Multimedia Center
is a complete Linux-based operating system, freely available with
community and professional support.It is also a live cd that is ubuntu
derived and also free. This system was inspired by the fact that ubuntu
didn’t have much of a multimedia center.Because users would have to
manually download the codecs for playing mp3’s and what not.The mail
objective of this project is multimedia related programs available to
users as easy as possible.

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I'm definitely into the hybrid thing lately. Hybrid instruction not only in the sense of implementation: online and face to face learning through moodle (http://moodle.org) and short class lectures/discussions, but also philosophically in a sense of allowing students to have some type of control over the curriculum, and direction of their own study. Every moodle assignment I offer, is open to interpretation and creativity. This is why I believe that rubrics can potentially take the fun out of learning. They limit learners to the parameters made by the teacher. Especially when we are teaching technoloies that are more native to the learner than the educator.

This article takes a neutral approach to - what I will call the Sudbury model, but really applies to many other free, democratic school models. I agree with both sides of the argument, and I have settled on balance and moderation of both freedom and standardization. This combined with a balance between face to face and elearning and I think we might make some real progress in my classroom.
Free Radicals

In the country's most alternative classrooms, there's no such thing as a report card.

Sudbury schools are only one variety of so-called free, or democratic, schools, which eschew most conventions of traditional education in favor of a much more radical program. At most free schools, literally every decision, from those about staff hiring and firing to determinations concerning rules, facilities, and budget issues, is made by the entire school community in a one-person, one-vote process. There are no tests, no report cards, no requirements, and no classes -- and no curriculum, other than what students set for themselves.

It is a philosophy that may strike the uninitiated as far-fetched, if not irresponsible, but it seems to be working.......

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Congratulations to my students for their great work on iBoerne.com. Our submission for Student Showcase
has been accepted for the 2007 TCEA Convention !

iBoerne.com: an Interactive Online Game for Programming Students | jessecravens.com

YouTube course is a class act - web - Technology - smh.com.au

"After all, one of the jobs of a teacher is to help kids make sense of the world they live in," he says.