Technology can be effectively targeted to a number of dimensions
Cognitive - Student's skill in using technology will improve. Students show greater competence in collecting and applying information.
Affective – A student will be more motivated to perform a task with technology than without. Beware of time wasting though. Students are very motivated and skilled in bypassing any technological restrictions that are placed on the device if they can.
Soci-cultural – student are motivated and willing to share and collaborate, provided the technology enhances such sharing and collaborations. This must go beyond simply sharing word documents. Consider web based forums and chat groups, and software specifically designed for collaborative work (e.g. OneNote).
Lessons – the use of tablets or smartboards with the means to record and annotate lessons has been shown to enhance the lessons IF the students have access to these annotated lessons. Ideally, the students will have their own tablet PC to add their own notes to the lesson. This is especially true for LD students. Multimedia and visualization technology can add dimensions to engage different learning styles.
Assessment – consider technology that can enhance your ability to manage, organize, assess and provide feedback to students. Also consider technology that allows students to ask questions or let you know they're lost without embarrassment.
School systems using FOSS instead of proprietary software
Indiana One Computer per Child Initiative
School District 73, BC
also Macedonia, Quebec, Geneva, India,
FOSS in education sites
Canadian Education Blog A blog on Canadian Education and the use of FOSS
K12OpenSource.com
CoSN K-12 Open Technologies is a site to help educators and technologists with the planning, evaluation,
decision-making, and implementation processes associated with adopting
Open Technologies in K-12
Classroom 2.0 - a social networking site for those interested in Web 2.0 and collaborative technologies in education.
Free/Open Textbooks
Free Software for Learning
Free and Open Source Educational Software for Linux - available as a collection on CD or links to home sites
Sakai Project, Computer Learning Environment
Moodle is a Course Management System (CMS), also known as a Learning Management System (LMS) or a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). It is a Free web application that educators can use to create effective online learning sites.
Mahara is an open source e-portfolio system
Koha integrated library system
ELMS - a Drupal distribution for educators
NetLogo is a language for agent-based modeling for simulating natual and social phenomenom. For example, predator/prey populations, the spread of fire, flocking, kinetics, and more.
IDLE - python ide - use anywhere/run anywhere
GAMBAS - like VB
tuxPaint - a simple painting program
kGeography
blender - 3D drawing and animation software
GIMP - image manipulation - like photoshop
Skencil - another simple painting program
Qalculate -
Kig - like geopmetry sketchpad
Dr. Geo
KmPlot
ChildsPlay
GCompris
Ktouch
Tuxtype
Celsitia
Calzum
Klogic
Qtkit
Quanta/Bluefish
Phun Physics Game
Software for Teachers
Social Media Classroom is a bundled software platform (based on Drupal, like this site) which uses forums, blogs, wikis, etc. to supplement the classroom experience.
Assignment Studio for Drupal is a module for submitting assignments. It includes a gradebook and the ability to show exemplary work.
e-Learning Institute a Drupal in Education site
Sakai Project - Open Source courseware management and collaboration system
Learning management system - Wikipedia entry
Drupal in Education
interLace interactive learning and collaboration
Alternatives for SmartBoards
First is a webpage devoted to this topic. Smartboard are simply jumped up touchscreens coupled with a projector. You can simply couple it to a tablet like a surface Pro and use OneNote or whatever. You can make your smartboard multitouch using a WII remote
Software for Administrators
LaTeX
LaTeX is THE software for typesetting papers and books for publication, especially those with mathematical and chemical formula, and chemical structures.
Help On LaTeX Commands
Help On BibTeX
ctan.org - Index of LaTeX add-on modules.
Typesetting Chemical Structure Formulas with the Text Formatter Tex/LaTex
WWW sites on LaTeX by F. Agulló-Rueda, ICMM-CSIC
Getting to Grips with LaTeX - LaTeX Tutorials by Andrew Roberts @ School of Computing, University of Leeds
LaTeX - from Wikibooks, a collection of open-content textbooks