Ubuntu Wiki

Hello world. My name is Jim Hutchinson. I am a teacher, grad student and ubuntuero. While I have technically been active in education all my life, I started my career as a teacher in 1992 when I moved to Japan to teach English. After five years there, I returned to Colorado and in 1999 completed my masters in education at the University of Colorado, Boulder and obtained my teaching license.

My interest in technology as an instructional tool lead me to leave classroom instruction in 2002 to become a school media specialist. In 2005 I completed a masters degree in educational media at the University of Northern Colorado, and I am currently working on a dissertation for my Ph.D. in educational technology also from UNC.

I am also currently working as the media specialist at Windsor High School in Windsor, CO. I became active in the ubuntu community in January 2006 as a member of the ubuntu forums an later as a member of the [wiki:ColoradoTeam Colorado LoCo team] and [wiki:EdubuntuSchoolSupport edubuntu school support] team. I am currently working in various ways to spread the word about ubuntu and the educational potential of open source software.

Contact Information

Email: MailTo(jhutchinson AT SPAMFREE windsor DOT k12 DOT co DOT us)

Launchpad: [https://launchpad.net/~jimhutchinson]

Activities

Below are some of the ubuntu related activities in which I am involved.

Organizer of Ubuntu presence at TIE Colorado 2007

The [http://www.tiecolorado.org/ Colorado Technology In Education (TIE) Conference] is a yearly event in the mountains of Colorado to share ideas involving the integration of technology and teaching. At the 2007 conference, I will be presenting a 3 hour session on teaching with open source software. While I will share some of the software available on the Windows platform (primarily via [http://theopencd.org/ The Open CD]), the main focus will be on using edubuntu in a thin-client configuration.

In order to help teachers understand how they can benefit from using edubuntu and open source software, part of the session is devoted to having teachers explore actual lessons designed around various open source applications.

I am currently working with the [https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ColoradoTeam Colorado LoCo team] to recruit members of the ubuntu and open source community to help in the creation of these lesson plans. The organizational wiki can be found at:

[https://wiki.edubuntu.org/TIEColorado]

Lessons that are developed will be hosted on a separate wiki page:

[https://wiki.edubuntu.org/Lessons]

The hope is that we can develop a growing list of quality lesson plans freely available to teachers.

Linux in Schools

Although I have only been a user and advocate of Linux and open source software (OSS) for a short while (since late 2005), I quickly understood the educational potential. I am currently working on several projects aimed at building awareness of Linux and OSS among educators. One such project is the TIE conference mentioned above.

I have also been instrumental in getting a Linux thin-client lab set up in the high school where I work. After one year as a pilot project, it has proven it's worth and the district has agreed to continue to support it. Due in part to my advocacy of ubuntu (as well as ubuntu's inherent quality) I was able to facilitate a switch from the original suse Linux installation to edubuntu. Beginning in the fall of 2007, students will be using edubuntu in this lab.

The educational potential of Linux and OSS is to great to keep to myself. Therefore, I am working to bring Linux to other districts in Colorado. Part of this involves collecting data that can be used to show other districts that Linux based labs can be viable alternatives.

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