JimHutchinson

Revision 52 as of 2007-06-28 06:11:59

Clear message

Hello world. My name is Jim Hutchinson. I am a teacher, grad student and ubuntero. 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 recently joined the Beginners Team on Launchpad (https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-beginners-answers) and have been trying to help new users there too. I am currently working in various ways to spread the word about ubuntu and the educational potential of open source software.

Contact Information

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.

  • Conference Dates: June 19-22, 2007
  • Place: Copper Mountain, Colorado
  • Our Session: Open Source Solutions for Classroom Instruction
  • Session Time: June 19, 2007 @ 1:00 - 4:00 pm
  • Session Room: Wheeler C, Copper Station, 50 seats, Windows Lab

Edubuntu and Open Source Software Session

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. We plan to actually have an edubuntu server set up and will pxe boot the client computers in the lab to create an actual thin-client lab.

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 well beyond those attending TIE.

Canonical Booth

Part of the TIE conference experience is visiting all the vendor booths to learn about new technology, software and gadgets. I thought it would be great if Ubuntu was represented. In the early planning stages we were simply going to set up a table somewhere and pass out CDs. However, that didn't seem the best way to get quality exposure. Therefore, I made some inquires with Canonical and after a bit of email chatter managed to obtain sponsorship for a booth. Myself and several other [http://coloco.ubuntu-rocks.org/ Colorado Loco Team] members will be helping at the booth. We will have an edubuntu servers set up with several laptops running as clients in order to model the idea of a "thin-client". We will still be handing out CDs too as well as stickers and pamphlets.

The booth will be open in the exhibition hall on June 20-21.

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 too 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.

Other Forms of Advocacy

Having become a true believer in open source and ubuntu, I have invested a fair amount of time into teaching myself as well as helping and encouraging others.

Ubuntu Forums

My early experiences with Ubuntu were somewhat frustrating and I quickly discovered the http://ubuntuforums.org and became a fairly regular user. At first I participated because I needed help and found that the community was simply outstanding. As my competence with Ubuntu and Linux grew I wanted to give back and now help others when I can. I post on the forums under the name m.musashi and to date have over 1100 support posts.

Launchpad

More recently, I have begun to help out new users in Launchpad by being fairly active in the Answers section. I also joined several teams including the beginners team, the edubuntu school support team and the Colorado Local Team (http://coloco.ubuntu-rocks.org).

Testimonials

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