[DC LoCo] DC computer refurbishing and open source software...

[Jeffrey Elkner]

On Thu, 14 Feb 2008 12:20:11 -0500, Craig Wiggins <craigwiggins at gmail.com> wrote:
>This is probably something that most of you already know, but I don't, so
>I'll ask: Jeff, what is your experience in introducing FOSS in Arlington
>County Public Schools?

I've been using free software in my CS classes within APS (Arlington Public Schools) since School Year 1996-1997 (wow, 11 years!).  I was a new teacher (2nd year) who was going to be teaching our CS (intro programming) class for the first time.  We didn't have funds for a new lab, so our Instructional Technology Coordinator (ITC) asked me if I would mind teaching in a lab with older equipment.  I'm sure my eyes got real wide, and I replied, "not at all, provided I can install the software on them and maintain them myself."  I told her that I would be using GNU/Linux, and explained why this meant that licensing would not be a problem.  With the help of two very talented students (Matt Ahrens and Justin Maurer), we installed GNU/Linux from floppy disks onto 386 processor machines.  I was permitted to do this for two reasons:

1. We lacked the money needed to purchase a new lab.
2. The ITC was a creative risk taker who didn't freak out at letting me run my own lab.

In later years I had to fight to keep from getting a new lab.  I don't have time here, but I be glad to share some of my war stories with you over a few beers.  Suffice it to say that there were times when the future of the whole program was in doubt, but I never backed down, and continued pushing forward whenever the opportunity presented itself.

At first I was merely tolerated, but little by little, and success by success, my credibility has grown, to the point that I am now regarded as a far sighted innovator who was able to anticipate future trends in the rapidly changing IT field.  We now have Ubuntu running in 4 of our 5 high school CS programs, and one of my former students is now the CS teacher (and Ubuntu enthusiast) at W-L  High School.

The future looks *very* bright.  Our partnership with Nortel LearnIT and their interest in the XO means we may have an opportunity to get free software into our elementary schools as well.

It has been great working for APS.  They have at various times and to various degrees tolerated, encouraged, and supported my free software shenanigans throughout my career here.  I've gone from being an outside dude to being a real partner within the system, and APS is providing material support to our work with SchoolTool (http://schooltool.org), OpenBookProject (http://openbookproject.net), and now the XO.

Thanks for asking about this.  It was a fun trip down memory lane ;-)

jeff elkner
arlington public schools