![\"Screenshot](\"http:\/\/blog.partimus.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Screenshot-from-2015-04-03-110044.Charlie.Reisinger.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nCharlie Reisinger delivering his TEDx talk on free software in education.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Charlie Reisinger<\/strong><\/span>.\u00a0 Charlie wanted to experiment with free open source software in education, and he decided to go big.\u00a0 He envisioned high school kids taking home Linux notebooks.\u00a0 But not just the techie kids.\u00a0 All of the kids<\/a>.\u00a0 He eventually rolled out an install base of 1700 notebook computers<\/a> in the Lancaster, Pennsylvania, school district.<\/p>\n But the particularly cool thing about his project was the way he included students into the project.\u00a0 Doing the project became an education experience in itself.\u00a0 Working under close adult supervision, the kids installed Ubuntu GNU-Linux on the laptops.\u00a0 And the kids are also part of the support team<\/a>, with their support team blog here<\/a>, and their twitter support account here<\/a>.<\/p>\n His effort was so successful that he was invited to give a talk on it<\/a> at the famous TEDx conference.\u00a0 If you want to get a big picture of what Charlie is doing with his Linux in education project, click here on his TEDx presentation<\/a>.\u00a0 If you want inspiration about what free open source software can do in education, be sure to watch Charlie’s TEDx talk.\u00a0 And you can follow Charlie on Twitter here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Not content to rest on his laurels, after just one year of running the one-to-one laptop program in high school, Charlie is planning to roll it out to middle school students<\/a> in the Autumn of 2015.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Stu Keroff’s Staff Photo for the Community School of Excellence in St. Paul, Minnesota.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0Stu Keroff<\/strong><\/span>.<\/strong>\u00a0 Stu orchestrated the acquisition of a cart of 30 Linux computers and a Linux mini-lab of 5 machines for a middle school called the Community School of Excellence<\/a> in St. Paul, Minnesota.\u00a0 Most of the students at the school are Hmong and Karenni.\u00a0 Stu has called on the students’ common cultural heritage to foster a strong sense of community identity with his young Linux technicians, who call themselves the “Asian Penguins<\/a>“.<\/p>\n You feel that sense of community by watching the videos<\/a> on the Asian Penguins’ website.\u00a0 In watching those videos, I was struck by how articulate, mature, and responsible these middle school students are, shown in this local TV news story<\/a> about the Asian Penguins.\u00a0 They don’t seem to be silly or giggly in doing their technology work.\u00a0 They seem to understand the value of having control over their technology, of taking ownership of it.\u00a0 For example, they also seem to do a good job of taking charge of the installation of Linux computers<\/a> in the homes of people in the community, as shown here, where a group of girls<\/a> install a Linux computer in someone’s home.\u00a0 As with Charlie Reisinger, Stu Keroff understands that the practice of working on these Linux machines, managing the machines, and installing them in homes is itself a hugely valuable educational experience.\u00a0 You can follow Stu here on his Twitter page<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The use of free open source software in schools is already quite big, and yet it’s still in its infancy.\u00a0 Here is a story about two different people and the remarkable results they have created with free open source software in the education communities they lead.\u00a0 What’s common to these stories is the educational value 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