From WikiEducator

Why do you use open source software? We want to create a school and a community where everyone has access to a wide range of powerful tools on every computer at all times. Using proprietary software at school means that either i) students can only work on their learning at school (and not for the other 18 hours a day) or ii) only some people can afford to carry on learning at home. We want our students to be able to compose music, create 3D models, edit video, create databases, record podcasts and do all of the things possible in a digital world without having to pay for the privilege of expressing themselves creatively. Almost all of the tools listed below can be installed on any computer, as often as needed, free of charge. In short: we are an open source school because we believe that this approach is the best way for us to achieve our vision: "We nurture each other; we inspire each other; we empower each other to achieve highly and become good citizens."

Contents 1 Authentication 2 Web-based services 2.1 Start page 2.2 Email, Documents and Calendars 2.3 Intranet 2.4 e-portfolio system 2.4.1 Students 2.4.2 Staff 2.4.3 Help videos 2.4.4 Staff Professional Inquiry Groups 2.5 Library Management system 2.6 Microblogging 2.7 Social bookmarking 2.8 Digital signage 3 Open Content 3.1 Wikieducator 3.2 Ourtube 4 Hardware 4.1 Student desktops 4.2 Staff laptops 4.3 Wireless network 5 Software 5.1 Ubuntu Linux 5.1.1 Ubuntu One 5.2 Office 5.2.1 Open Office 5.2.2 Freemind 5.3 Student Management System 5.3.1 KAMAR 5.4 Graphics 5.4.1 GIMP 5.4.2 Inkscape 5.4.3 Scribus 5.4.4 Dia 5.4.5 Blender 3D 5.4.6 Other 5.5 Education 5.5.1 Geogebra 5.5.2 KSeg 5.5.3 Stellarium 5.5.4 Celestia 5.5.5 Marble 5.5.6 Parley 5.5.7 Other 5.6 Games 5.7 Internet 5.7.1 Gwibber 5.7.2 Empathy 5.7.3 Pidgin 5.8 Programming 5.8.1 Bluefish 5.8.2 Eclipse 5.8.3 Gambas2 5.8.4 Kompozer 5.9 Sound and video 5.9.1 Longomatch 5.9.2 Luciole 5.9.3 Audacity 5.9.4 Avidemux 5.9.5 PiTiVi 5.9.6 KDenlive 5.9.7 Kino 5.9.8 VLC 5.9.9 NtEd 5.9.10 Other 5.10 Collaboration opportunities

Authentication

We use SAML-based single sign on for authentication which means your ASHS username and password will access most of our key e-learning environments. If you sit down at a desktop computer at school and log on, you will automatically log in to:

• Email, calendar and documents
• Intranet and e-portfolio
• Library catalogue
• OurTube (video library)
• OurMicroblog

Web-based services

Start page

http://start.ashs.school.nz/ Based on iGoogle, this page is the starting point for most of the tools you have access to. You may customise the blocks below the search box by click and dragging them, and by clicking the 'Add stuff' link.

Email, Documents and Calendars

• Our email is hosted by Google, and is available from http://email.ashs.school.nz/ or by clicking the 'Email' link from the Start Page. To access your email, you must be connected to the internet. There is no program that stores your email, they are stored online and you go to http://email.ashs.school.nz/ to read them. You can access your emails from any computer in the world using your username and password.
• Calendar allows you to create events, invite people and edit documents together.
• Documents. In addition to the documents you can create and save on your computer, you are able to create, edit and share documents online using Google Docs. (Google Docs in plain english)

Intranet

We use the open source learning management system Moodle. Moodle is arranged in classes (or courses) and allows teachers and classes to learn using discussion forums, glossaries, wikis, questionnaires, crosswords, cloze exercises, matching pairs, books, webpages, quizzes and choices.

• http://moodleinschools.org.nz/

e-portfolio system

We use the open source e-portfolio system Mahara, hosted by the Ministry of Education at http://myportfolio.school.nz/. My portfolio allows students to upload 'artefacts' like blog posts, files, images, comments, videos and audio; construct 'views' (e-portfolios), then share them with people like teachers, family and whanau and potential employers. Mahara is very student-directed with the learners retaining control over what is showcased and to whom it is showcased.

Students

There is a three-stage cycle you should follow when using your e-portfolio:

1. Gather evidence

• For each of your subjects, you should choose an artefact that demonstrates your learning. Try to find evidence of a new concept you have taken on board or a new skill you are perfecting.

2. Getting feedback from teachers, peers and family. Once you have put an artifact into your e-portfolio and reflected on it, you should also use the feedback feature of your portfolio to seek suggestions from other on how you could have improved. Your teacher will probably have given you some feedback during the task; take this onboard and learn from it.

• Share your portfolio with teachers, friends and family. Ask them to suggest things that worked well and things you could try to improve.
• If the evidence you are using has been marked by a teacher, what feedback did they give you?

3. Reflect on your learning and set goals. When you complete some learning, you should always reflect on it so you can improve next time you do something similar. Some questions you could ask include:

• What went well? What things could you have improved?
• What made learning easier? Can you take this knowledge and make learning easier in other areas?
• What other areas of learning does this information link up to?Can you take what you've learnt in one area and create success in another?

Staff

We also use e-portfolios with our staff professional inquiry research groups. This helps staff to showcase the learning they are doing in their inquiry groups and to share it with other teachers.

Help videos

Use these videos to get to know the e-portfolio system better:

Basic guide to creating a view in Mahara.

Use a template to create a view

Create a group (for an Impact Project etc.

Add feedback to views

Examples of e-portfolios:

• Combining technology and flexible learning spaces
• Koha, the open source library management system
• What can we do with m-learning?

Staff Professional Inquiry Groups

• Log into Myportfolio from the start page http://start.ashs.school.nz/
  
• Send a friend request to Mark, who will in turn add you to the Staff P.I. Group. This means you will be able to see work from all of the staff P.I. groups. There is a screecast covering this here.
  
• To add to a group view, log in, click the ASHS Staff Professional Inquiry Group, then click 'Views', then 'Edit this view'.
  

Library Management system

Koha is ASHS's integrated library system, and it is accessible from http://library.ashs.school.nz/

Using Koha, students and staff can search for books, magazines, music, DVDs and videos. Logging with your username and password, you can check your borrowing history, renew and reserve items online, write reviews and rate items out of 5 stars. Koha also supports user-generated tagging of items, RSS feeds, private and public reading lists and a new recommendations feature. This adds a link to every item detail page that, when clicked, says 'X people who read this also read... ' This helps you find books similar to ones you've enjoyed in the past.

Microblogging

We have a microblogging site that is powered by the open source application status.net. This is linked into our IdP so anyone with an ASHS username and password can use it without having to set up an account. Microblogging is useful for impact projects when teachers and project managers need to be able to see what all team members are working on, even when they are in different parts of the school or even the city. Microblogging is also a useful tool for students and teachers to share questions, answers, ideas and resources when learning.

Social bookmarking

A group of impact project students is currently developing a social bookmarking solution, based on Pligg. This will allow everyone in the school to save, share and find bookmarks that are use to them and their learning.

Digital signage

We use an open-source digital signage system around the school that scrolls notices and runs slideshows of student work.

The Xibo server runs on a LAMP server (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) and is controlled by a web-based front end. Client computers connect to that server and display the content on what are essentially external monitors. We have a client machine in our server room, and use VGA over LAN to send it out to network jacks located near our 42" screens; the signal gets converted back to VGA and goes into the back of the screen. This system was set up by a group of students as part of an impact project and is available to other schools who wish to use it.

Open Content

Wikieducator

We use open and free content from Wikieducator. This enables us to collaborate with other educators to produce multimedia, online teaching and learning resources. OERs are remixable, portable and in the public domain. Some of the OERs that we are currently working on are:

• Macbeth
• William Blake: Songs of Innocence and Experience
• Black Civil Rights in the USA 1954-1970
• New Zealand's Search for Security 1945-1985
• The New Zealand Wars
• The Origins of World War II 1919-1941

Well done this looks great

Ourtube

We have a digital video library called Ourtube. This works in a similar way to Youtube, allowing people to upload and share videos. It is based on the open source content management system Plumi, and was built by two students as part of an impact project. Your ASHS username and password will log you into Ourtube so you can view and upload videos. Ourtube may be accessed from any computer in the world using your username and password.

Hardware

Student desktops

We have 200 student desktops running Ubuntu 10.04. These computers allow students access to their files wherever they login. We use Ubuntu One to offer students access to their files wherever they are on the world. The main software packages installed on the student machines are listed below under software.

Staff laptops

We use HP laptops that run Ubuntu 9.10.

Wireless network

We have a Trapeze wireless network which runs 801.11N wireless (54mbps). There are two wireless networks: one for staff (ASHS-users) and one for students (ASHS-public). Internet access is via fibre optic connection to the Vector NEAL loop at 100mbps. We use Watchdog to filter our internet traffic.

Software

Ubuntu Linux

All of our school computers run the Ubuntu Linux operating system. Linux is an alternative to Windows Vista or Windows 7, or Apple's OSX. It runs many of the same programmes that these other operating systems run. Linux has a number of advantages over other systems in terms of speed and security, but the main reason we use Linux is because it is free (libre) software. This means students can install our pedagogical software on any computer they have access to without it costing them money.

Ubuntu One

Canonical offers all Ubuntu users 2GB of free cloud storage. Any files placed in the Ubuntu one folder will be synced with any other Ubuntu computer you log into. Even if you would like to access your files from a Windows or Apple computer you can log into http://one.ubuntu.com/ and access them. This enables students to work on any files at school, at home, at Mum and Dad's work, the local library etc.

Office

Open Office

Open Office is a suite of applications combining a word processor (Writer), spreadsheet (Calc), presentation tools (Impress), drawing tool (Draw), database (Base) and an equation editor (Math). Open Office opens, edits, saves and closes a wide range of document formats, including Microsoft Office.

Open Office 3.0 Chooser

Writer, the word processor application

Calc, the spreadsheet application

Freemind

Freemind is a mind mapping application that allows people to create hierarchical mind maps.

Student Management System

KAMAR

KAMAR is not open source, but it is the student management system we use. Tutorials on how to use KAMAR are available here.

Graphics

GIMP

GIMP is a Graphic Image Manipulation Program. It is primarily employed as an image retouching and editing tool.[3] In addition to free-form drawing, GIMP can accomplish essential image work-flow steps such as resizing, editing, and cropping photos, combining multiple images, and converting between different image formats. GIMP can also be used to create basic animated images in the GIF format. At present, GIMP is usable for amateur or professional work with images intended for viewing on monitors and printing on ink-jet printers.. http://gimp.org

• How to crop a photo with GIMP

Inkscape

Inkscape is an open-source vector graphics editor similar to Adobe Illustrator, Corel Draw, Freehand, or Xara X. Its stated goal is to become a powerful graphics tool while being fully compliant with the XML, SVG, and CSS standards. http://inkscape.org. Inkscape is under active development, with new features being added regularly. What sets Inkscape apart is its use of Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), an open XML-based W3C standard, as the native format. Inkscape is used in a lot of very different projects (web graphics, technical diagrams, icons, creative art, logos, maps). For example, thousands of images on Wikipedia are created_with_Inkscape, as is the majority of the content on openclipart.

Scribus

Scribus is a page layout application used for Desktop publishing. Scribus' publishing features include, CMYK color, separations, Spot Colors, ICC color management and PDF creation. http://www.scribus.net/ Scribus is designed for flexible layout and typesetting and the ability to prepare files for professional quality image setting equipment. It can also create animated and interactive PDF presentations and forms. Example uses include writing small newspapers, brochures, newsletters, posters and books.

Dia

Dia can be used to draw many different kinds of diagrams. It currently has special objects to help draw entity relationship diagrams, UML diagrams, flowcharts, network diagrams, and many other diagrams. It is also possible to add support for new shapes by writing simple XML files, using a subset of SVG to draw the shape. It can load and save diagrams to a custom XML format (gzipped by default, to save space), can export diagrams to a number of formats, including EPS, SVG, XFIG, WMF and PNG, and can print diagrams (including ones that span multiple pages).

Blender 3D

Blender is a free 3D graphics application that can be used for modeling, UV unwrapping, texturing, rigging, water and smoke simulations, skinning, animating, rendering, particle and other simulations, non-linear editing, compositing, and creating interactive 3D applications, including video games, animated film, or visual effects.

Blender's features include advanced simulation tools such as rigid, realistic body, fluid, cloth and softbody dynamics, modifier-based modeling tools, powerful character animation tools, a node-based material and compositing system and Python for embedded scripting.

Other

• F-Spot
• Font forge
• Okular

Education

Geogebra

GeoGebra is mathematics software for all levels of education that joins geometry, algebra, tables, graphing, statistics and calculus in one package. http://www.geogebra.org

KSeg

KSEG is a tool designed to let you easily visualize dynamic properties of compass and straightedge construction and to make geometric exploration as fast and easy as possible. KSEG was inspired by the Geometer's Sketchpad, but it goes beyond the functionality that Sketchpad provides.

Stellarium

Stellarium is a free software planetarium, licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License, available for Linux, Windows and Mac OS X. It uses OpenGL to render a realistic sky in real time. With Stellarium, it's possible to see what one cannot see with the naked eye, binoculars or a small telescope.

Celestia

Celestia is a 3D astronomy program created by Chris Laurel. The program is based on the Hipparcos Catalogue (HIP) and allows users to travel through an extensive universe, modeled after reality, at any speed, in any direction and at any time in history. Celestia displays and interacts with objects ranging in scale from artificial satellites to entire galaxies in three dimensions using OpenGL, from perspectives which would not be possible from a classic planetarium or other ground based display.

Marble

Parley

Other

• KAlgebra
• KAnagram
• KBruch
• KGeography
• KHangman
• Kig
• Klettres
• Kmplot
• Ktouch
• Kturtle
• Kword quiz

Games

• Alien Arena
• Battle for Wesnoth
• Frets on Fire
• GBrainy
• Mahjogg
• Nexuiz
• Torcs
• Warsow

Internet

Gwibber

Empathy

Pidgin

Programming

Bluefish

Eclipse

Gambas2

Kompozer

Sound and video

Longomatch

LongoMatch is a sports video analysis tool for coaches and sports scientists, to assist them on making games video analysis. It simplifies video analysis by providing a set of intuitive tools to tag, review and edit the most important plays of the game. It allows to group plays by categories and adjust their the boundaries (lead and lag time) through a timeline. It also has support for playlists, an easy way to create presentations with plays from different games and provides a video editor to render new videos with your favourite ones. http://longomatch.ylatuya.es/

Luciole

Luciole (Firefly) is a free stop-motion capture studio dedicated to the creation of animated films. Originally designed for the needs of schools, it is used by students from kindergarten to high schools. Future developments should enable it to integrate a soundtrack to allow the editing of video outside external video editing application (management of transitions, effects, credits and multiple bands sounds, sound etc.).

Audacity

Audacity is a free, easy-to-use and multilingual audio editor and recorder for Windows, Mac OS X, GNU/Linux and other operating systems. You can use Audacity to:

• Record live audio.
• Convert tapes and records into digital recordings or CDs.
• Edit Ogg Vorbis, MP3, WAV or AIFF sound files.
• Cut, copy, splice or mix sounds together.
• Change the speed or pitch of a recording.

Avidemux

Avidemux is a free video editor designed for simple cutting, filtering and encoding tasks. It supports many file types, including AVI, DVD compatible MPEG files, MP4 and ASF, using a variety of codecs. Tasks can be automated using projects, job queue and powerful scripting capabilities.

PiTiVi

PiTiVi is a video editing application that exports natively to the free ogv video format. It is very useful for trimming, splitting and joining clips, but doesn't have much support for effects or titles as yet.

KDenlive

KDenlive features capture from FireWire cameras, webcams and Video4Linux devices, grab video from your screen (screen capture), support for jog shuttle devices, independent rendering processes, interactive timeline operations, high definition editing, lossless formats and clip organization / location tools

Kino

A more advanced non-linear editor. Kino's vision is: "Easy and reliable DV editing for the Linux desktop with export to many usable formats." The program supports many basic video editing and assembling tasks.

VLC

VLC is a portable multimedia player, encoder, and streamer supporting many audio and video codecs and file formats as well as DVDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols. It is able to stream over networks and to transcode multimedia files and save them into various formats.

NtEd

NtEd is a score editor for Linux. Use it to compose, record and playback music.

Other

• Amarok
• Audacity
• Cheese: webcam viewer
• GTKRecordmydesktop
• LMMS
• Hydrogen drum machine
• Jokosher
• Openshot video editor
• Muse
• Rosegarden

Collaboration opportunities

Albany Senior High School has a SAML-based identity provider, which means we use SAML and OpenID to authenticate our users against a number of our key web-based services. This means it is very easy for other schools to hook into our e-learning environments. These environments include:

• Google hosted apps (not on the ASHS domain, but as an integrator for schools to use with their own domain.
• Digital Signage
• Social bookmarking
• Microblogging
• Koha library management system. We have set up a consortium installation of Koha that allows other schools to join ours as 'independent branches'. It enables schools to share our codebase in order to make use of features like 5-star ratings, recommendations and federated searching of Google Scholar, e-book and audiobook sites and video libraries.