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NERCOMP EVENT
Open Source in Higher Education
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Do you recognize these academic technologies: DSpace, Fedora Commons, Kuali, Linux, Mahara, Moodle, Open Office, OSP, Sakai, uPortal? Open source applications such as these have enjoyed adoption throughout the Higher Education landscape. However for many, questions remain:
• Is Open Source Software functionally comparable to commercial offerings?
• Is Open Source Software stable and reliable?
• What kind of support is required internally to Support Open Source Software?
• What kind of support is available externally to Support Open Source Software?
• Does Open Source Software actually provide the benefits often highlighted by advocates such as reduced TCO, greater stability, increased functionality?
Spend a day learning about various open source projects designed specifically for Higher Education, including e-Portfolios, Desktop Productivity, Learning Management Systems and Portals. See them in action, how they work and compare to more familiar options, and hear case studies from colleagues who have successfully implemented open source tools.
Workshop Organizer/Host: Patrick Masson of State University of New York College of Technology at Delhi
Date/Time:
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
9:00am - 3:00pm
Registration begins at 8:00am
Location:
UMASS Amherst
Campus Center
First Floor
Amherst, MA
Click
Here for a Map
Click Here for Directions
Special instructions:
Getting to the Campus Center Parking Garage… From Massachusetts Avenue (after exiting from Route 116) At the second set of lights turn left onto Commonwealth Avenue – Boyden Gymnasium is on the corner of Commonwealth & Massachusetts Avenues. At the next set of lights turn right onto Campus Center Way and proceed up Campus Center Way – The entrance to the Campus Center Parking Garage is at the top of the hill on the right.
Parking is available in the Campus Center Garage, pick up your parking pass at the registration desk and pay $5 when leaving.
Park on the 2nd floor of the parking garage and walk thru the hallway into the Student Center and go down to the first floor.
Pricing:
NERCOMP Members: $112
Non-Members: $237
By clicking on the "Register" button below, you are indicating a commitment to attend and will be held responsible for the registration fee.
Your fee can be refunded if you notify us of a cancellation at least 8 days prior to the event via email to nercomp@nercomp.org.
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Additional Information
Event Schedule:
8:00am - 9:00am Registration and Coffee
9:00am – 9:15am Welcome and Introduction
9:15am - 12:30pm Open Source Software Demonstration and Case Studies
9:15am - 10:00am Sakai & OSP
Speaker: Josh Baron, Marist College, Director, Academic Technology and eLearning
Over the past several years, I have become increasingly involved in the Sakai open source community which has developed an innovative “collaborative learning environment” (CLE) with a suite of integrated tools to support formal instruction and ad-hoc collaboration. This suite includes traditional course management tools such as discussion forums but also comprises innovative capabilities such as electronic portfolios, social podcasting, wikis and blogs. I am currently leading the effort at Marist to transition the institution to Sakai as well as playing a leadership role in mapping Sakai’s future as a member of the Sakai Foundation Board of Directors.
I have also been leading the effort to develop and grow a new Sakai Group focused on “teaching and learning” issues. This work has exposed me to the “learning environment” which facilitates the distributed work of the open-source community. For example, the Teaching and Learning Group has been using the Confluence wiki to support the creation of everything from a new Teaching with Sakai Innovation Award Program to the design of a repository for best practices called OpenEdPractices.org. This experience has shown me how social networking tools, combined with a participatory-based community of practice, can create a immensely powerful learning environment.
10:00am - 10:30am uPortal and Kuali
Speaker: Aaron Godert, Sr. Software Architect/Engineer, Cornell University
Cornell University has embraced open-source software, particularly open-source administrative systems, being built by the higher-ed community. Cornell is a leading partner and one of the founders for both Jasig and the Kuali Foundation and has implemented products produced by both communities. In this talk, Aaron Godert will provide an overview of Cornell's Kuali implementation efforts, including existing uses of the Kuali Rice product. Additionally, he'll discuss strategies for integration with their implementation of Jasig's uPortal product.
10:30am – 10:45am Break
10:45am – 11:15am Bedework
Speaker: Gary Schwartz, Director, Communications & Collaboration Technologies
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Like many institutions in higher ed today, much of our infrastructure, is pretty LAMP-y. In addition to our Microsoft Exchange service, we also operate an IMAP e-mail service largely built atop open source components. We are the lead developers of Bedework (http://bedework.org), and prior to that we were major contributors to the University of Washington’s open source UWCalendar project. In Decembers 2006, Bedework received a Mellon Award for Collaborative Technology. We provided major funding (sounds like an NPR promo) to the open source OpenConnector project. In recent years, I have been asked to speak on various aspects of open source and higher education. Sometimes, but not often, I am invited back to speak again.
11:15am – 11:45am Linux Desktop
Speaker: Patrick Masson, Chief Information Officer, State University of New York
College of Technology at Delhi
Today the Linux operating system can readily be found within our campus data centers supporting a variety of mission-critical services including ERP systems and enterprise-wide applications such as email, learning management systems and campus portals. While the success of Linux servers is well documented, fewer institutions have deployed Linux on to the desktop. In this presentation we will introduce the Linux Desktop, various desktop productivity applications and discuss issues around adoption.
11:45am – 12:45pm Lunch
12:45pm – 1:30pm Moodle & Mahara
Speaker: Ellen Murphy, Director of Technology Integration, The Sage Colleges
Institutions often wonder if they will have the staff to support adopting an open source solution as their learning management system, or e-portfolio system. The Sage Colleges, a small private (soon to be) university in upstate New York, has successfully done both. This session will cover the reasoning behind those choices, the challenges of implementing them, as well as the benefits we experienced as a result of making those choices. Participants will also get a brief overview of both systems.
1:30pm – 3:00pm Open Source Panel (audience questions & discussion)
Discussion starters:
Evaluation and selection process...
Motivation for selecting open source tools...
Obstacles to adoption/deployment...
Risks...
Perceived benefits...
Campus (faculty/students/IT staff) response...
Support models (technical and user)
Outcomes...
3:00pm
Speaker:
Aaron Godert
Aaron Godert serves as the Senior Software Architect and Engineer for Cornell University in the central IT division's, Advanced Technology and Architectures group. In this capacity, he is responsible for collaborating with distributed software development groups throughout campus to provide technical leadership and services, with the intent of ensuring architectural consistency across the various systems being built and maintained. Additionally, he is the project manager for Cornell's implementation of the Kuali Rice product.
Aaron also acts as the liaison for various open-source development efforts outside of Cornell. In this context, he serves as the vice-chair for the Jasig board of directors and also sits on the Kuali Rice board of directors.
Prior to his current position, Aaron served as the Software Development Manager for Cornell's Financial division, and before to coming to Cornell in 2002, Aaron worked in private industry for HSBC Bank USA and Algonquin Studios as a software developer. Aaron received his Master of Engineering degree in Computer Science with a concentration in management, from Cornell University in 2005 and his Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from Canisius College in 2002.
Speaker:
Ellen Marie Murphy
Ellen Marie Murphy is the Director of Technology Integration at The Sage Colleges. Ellen is responsible for all instructional technology initiatives at the institution, including distance learning and faculty development. She was the force behind Sage's adoption of Moodle as their LMS, and Mahara, as the Colleges' e-portfolio system. She is the administrator of both systems.
Speaker:
Gary Schwartz
Gary Schwartz, Director of Communications & Middleware Technologies at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has over 25 years experience in Higher Ed IT, first as a programmer, and subsequently in management. His present responsibilities include centralized email, directory, web, and middleware services and software development. He serves as the Vice President and CFO of CalConnect, the Calendaring and Scheduling Consortium, and chairs its Freebusy Technical Committee. He co-authored "CalConnect EDST Reflections and Recommendations", which sounds like the title of an incredibly sappy memoir, but isn’t.
He is the project manager and spokesperson for Bedework, the open source, enterprise calendaring system for Higher Education, which sounds pretty exciting, and is.
Speaker:
Josh Baron
Josh Baron is the Director of Academic Technology and eLearning at Marist College, Josh is responsible for overseeing a wide range of instructional technology initiatives, including distance learning, faculty professional development, and learner support. He also plays a leadership role in strategic planning for the College in areas of academic and information technology. Josh was elected to the Sakai Foundation Board of Directors in 2008 and is also a member of the EducationDynamics Advisory Board. Before coming to Marist, Josh was the Associate Director of Instructional Technology at Stevens Institute of Technology. In this capacity, he helped lead a $10 million U.S. Department of Education technology initiative working both at the K-12 and college level. He was also a member for the Stevens WebCampus initiative and developed one of the first Stevens online graduate courses. Josh has presented at numerous higher education and K-12 conference including EDUCAUSE, NECC, Sloan-C, League of Innovation CIT, and the International Sakai conferences. He graduated magna cum laude from the University of Michigan with a Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering and holds a Master of Arts degree (online) in Educational Technology Leadership form George Washington University.
Speaker:
Patrick Masson
Patrick Masson is currently serving as the Chief Information Officer for The State University of New York, College of Technology at Delhi. As CIO, Mr. Masson provides oversight, leadership and vision for the college's Campus Information Services including enterprise/desktop applications, technical centers and labs, server/systems administration, network & telecommunications, online/distance learning, the campus print shop as well as user support such as help desk services.
Previously, Patrick worked for SUNY System Administration as the Director of Technology, responsible for leading design, development and deployment of system-wide academic technology projects including SUNY’s e-learning platform, The SUNY Learning Network (SLN).
Prior to joining SUNY, Patrick was Director of the UCLA Media Lab, developing a variety of technology based initiatives in support of education, research and patient care within the Schools of Density and Medicine including medical illustration, computer imaging, statistical analysis, visualization & modeling, online learning and e-commerce.
Patrick’s interests focus on Open initiatives in education, technology and governance, such as open source software, open educational resources and Agile methods. He is the current chair of the EDUCAUSE Openness Constituent Group and has presented on Openness at a variety of EDUCAUSE and higher education conferences.
Related Media Files:
NERCOMP Sakai Overview.pdf
Contact Information:
Lisa DiMauro
860-345-2081
ldimauro@nercomp.org
Hotel Information:
Rooms are available at the Campus Center Hotel located right on campus.
Rooms are reserved under Block Number NER39C, the rate is $90 per night. The room block will be released on March 9.
Call the hotel directly at: 1-413-549-6000 ext. 7714.
For additional information go to:
http://www.aux.umass.edu/hotel/
Technical Requirements:
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No mechanical recordings of any kind may be used at NERCOMP events without the prior written consent of NERCOMP organizers and presenters.
The views and opinions expressed at NERCOMP events do not necessarily reflect those of NERCOMP, nor does NERCOMP make any representation regarding the information presented at NERCOMP events.
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