Dear Friends and Colleagues, Education is being challenged to change with the times. Lately, we hear words like "transparency," "community," "teamwork," "project-based," and "networked" in the same context as we used to hear, simply, reading, writing and math(s). Project-based, teamwork led by students themselves has come to the fore. This is the kind of learning, we are told, that enables students to develop the social learning skills and intellectual flexibility that is needed in this brave new world. Such learning requires a different kind of software, a different kind of text as well as a different classroom-process than we used to use. While some struggle to create new Web2 technologies that enable the kind of learning and teaching deemed necessary, many have noticed that Free and Open Software (LAMP.org) and Content (e.g. Wikipedia.org) already embody the very lessons we are trying to teach. After all, they are made by teams via the Internet with flexible leadership positions gained by proven capabilities and dedication. Respect in these groups is based on skill, accomplishment and social-networking effectiveness. What's more, the tools and artefacts produced by these groups are open to scrutiny, dissection, and adaptation and exist at the pleasure of those interested. They encourage curiosity, creativity and sharing: they embody what schools' mission statements say is important: lifelong learning, curiosity, respect across borders, etc. In the day-to-day work of schools, teachers, students and school administrators look for "soulutions" to various problems in the Office, the library, the classroom or at home: a text, a puzzle, a tool for reporting, creating or analyzing; something else for organizing, sending and printing; another for storing, searching and dissecting. There are now Free/Open Source (FLOSS) tools for almost anything that can be done on a computer. This is no surprize given that they are generally created to fulfill specific needs or, as Eric Raymond observed, "to scratch an itch." We know that system admins have long used FLOSS; programmers too; now, more and more teachers are using FLOSS. FlOSS itself is a product of idea-sharing; so we would like to extend the FLOSS development process with a technology-assisted physical gathering designed for sharing ideas, problems and Solutions which are being used now or planned for the near future in your schools. Your ideas are welcome. To the idealist: What does Freedom and Openness mean for education? Is your "practice" as a teacher or administrator or student being challenged to be more "open" in some way than before? Does Free and/or Open Source Software (a.k.a. FLOSS) and Free and Open Content (e.g. wikipedia.org) play a part? Should it? Can it? Propose a Session: Show, Tell and/or Teach us how you think/have experience using FLOSS can help you and colleagues meet students needs more effectively than with closed, proprietary solutions. To the pragmatist: Are you saving money while staying legal as a result of using free/open tools or resources? What about security? Viruses and Hacking under control as a result of free/open strategies? Do you find that the tools you need are less stress-producing than the alternatives? http://opensourceschools.org/bossed2009callforproposals Propose a Session: Show, Tell and/or Teach us how you saved money (or plan to do so), increased security, stability and/or power and ease of use with FLOSS. http://opensourceschools.org/bossed2009callforproposals -- * IKN (International Knowledge Networks, Co., Ltd. Thailand) * http://intknowledge.com * Web Ideas, Tools and Sites for Teachers, Schools, Businesses and You. * Cell: +66(0*)84 329 1183; Office: +66(0*)2 980 9464 (*No "0" if calling from overseas.)* Skype: dbucknell ---------------------------------------------------------------- This message was sent using IMP, the Internet Messaging Program.