Access to the tools is CHEAP!…
I had an interesting realization today. Even in a class of master’s students studying educational technology, there are not that many people who feel comfortable integrating technology into the classroom. There just are not that many good models for technology integration, that can easily be generalized to other classrooms. Why is that?
It seems like the answer is usually a rant about unequal access to technology, which on some level, I to agree. But, there are so many free and open-source projects out there for educators to use. Here is a short list of programs that I have currently implemented at my school:
Office / Productivity
- NeoOffice - the Mac OS X port of OpenOffice, which rocks and can even open .docx files on OS X.
- AbiWord - A great word processor for older machines, and new ones too.
- CmapTools - Concept Mapping Client and Server, great open-source replacement for Inspiration.
Graphics / Web Design
- GIMP - Incredible Photoshop like program! I find Gimp.app to be the best OS X package.
- Nvu - Suitable open-source replacement for basic web design.
Multimedia
- Audacity - Combined with Lame mp3, it is a great encoder for audio manipulation. Very easy to use and low resource overhead.
- Blender - Maya like 3D production suite! Wow! Steep learning curve.
These are just some of the client based programs I’ve been playing with lately.
I’ve also been playing with WordpressMU and Moodle. Both of these programs allow educators to run enterprise level multiuser programming for free!
I’m currently hacking a version of WordpressMU so that you could use it to run ePortfolios for you students off a laptop. It is requiring a pretty major adjustment to the user management of WordpressMU but I think it will work. I’ll post my results as soon as I have a workable prototype.
Anyways, if you have a program that I left off the list that rocks! Let me know.