The National Center for Open Source and Education (NCOSE)
announces the winners of the
2008 FOSS & K-12 Education Awards
In the field of Free and Open Source software (FOSS), there are thousands of people who make contributions by writing code, documentation, testing, creating content and teaching. All too often these contributions go without explicit recognition or thanks from the millions of people who benefit on a daily basis from all this generous work.
The NCOSE FOSS and K-12 Education Awards are given as expressions of appreciation for the hard work and dedication of individuals who contribute immense amounts of their time and expertise to advancing the use of Open Source solutions in K-12 schools. In its inagural year, the Center has chosen individuals from all across the continent that have made an extraordinary contribution to Free and Open Source Software use in the field of K-12 education.
2008 Recipients
Robert Arkiletian - Fl_TeacherTool
Robert Arkiletian is a high school teacher at Eric Hamber Secondary School in Vancouver Canada. He teaches Computer Programming and Physics. Thanks to K12LTSP, he has been able to teach Python and C++ in a GNU/Linux environment for the past 4 years. Robert is the author of Fl_TeacherTool, an Open Source classroom management application designed for K12LTSP. His junior students have earned computer programming top honors in Western Canada for the past 2 years. He also started the BCFOSSS (British Columbia Free Open Source Software in Schools) newsgroup.
Eric Harrison - K12LTSP
Eric is the founder of the K12LTSP project. In his day job, Eric is the Supervisor of Network Services for Multnomah Education Service District, which provides technology infrastructure for the schools in the Portland Oregon metropolitan area.
Daniel Howard - GOSEF
Daniel Howard is a systems architect for Motorola, but is also the founder and CEO of the Georgia Open Source Education Foundation (GOSEF), a non-profit group dedicated to promoting and sustaining the use of Open Source Software in public and non-profit institutions through advocacy, outreach, support, and recycling of donated hardware. He has been a dedicated Linux evangelist and supporter since 2004, when he and William Fragakis established a highly successful computer program at Morris Brandon Elementary School using K12LTSP with dozens of Open Source educational applications which tripled the number of working PCs in each classroom. The substantial improvements in student performance attributed to the Linux technology convinced administrators to install Linux student computers throughout the Atlanta Public Schools system, and as of September 2008, over 30 Atlanta schools have been converted and now use Linux thin clients with a 2:1 student to PC ratio.
Paul Nelson - K12LTSP
Paul Nelson was a teacher and tech coordinator for the Riverdale School District for a long time and co-creator of the K12LTSP Project. He is now a tech specialist at the NWRESD. He has spent many years showing schools cool things they can do with Linux, and is now having fun learning to use a new Mac and introducing schools to blogging and Moodle.
David Trask - NELS/FOSSED
David Trask has been a teacher and technology director for over 20 years. He is currently the Technology Director/Teacher at Vassalboro Community School in Vassalboro Maine USA. He has been a champion and pioneer in the use of Linux and Open Source in the classroom. David is also the founder of the highly successful FOSSED conference held each year in the Northeast. FOSSED (Free and Open Source Softeware in Education) has grown tremendously over the past 7 years and is now attracting teachers and technology folks from all over the country. In 2007, David was named the Maine Technology Educator of the Year.
The 2008 awards were presented to the recipients at the Open Minds Conference in Indianapolis, (USA) on Sept. 26th, 2008. The awards were underwritten, in part, by Resara, an Open Source Educational Platform.