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K-12 Open Technologies Summit offers glimpse into future of education

Raleigh, N.C. (September 20, 2006) -- Collaboration was the theme for the K-12 Open Technologies Summit held recently at the William and Ida Friday Institute for Educational Innovation.

The Friday Institute, part of North Carolina State University’s College of Education, hosted the event, which was designed to help accelerate the adoption of open source technologies in elementary, middle and high schools. The K-12 summit was jointly sponsored by the Friday Institute, the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), the Stupski Foundation and IBM.

This gathering of leaders in the open technologies movement encouraged dialogue to shape and set a course for the future of technology in schools.

“Despite the accessibility of technologies in industry and higher education, K-12 remains largely insulated from the benefits of the open source movement,” College of Education Dean Kathryn Moore told attendees. “That is why your participation at this summit is so important. This is about bringing equity of access to the children, teachers, schools and communities that have been left behind.”

The summit included more than 60 participants from analyst firms, foundations, standards groups, publishers, higher education institutions, K-12 school systems, state agencies, open source communities and information technology vendors. Over the course of two days, participants listened to industry leaders, held panel discussions and met in groups to identify ways that higher education, open source communities, standards organizations, foundations and vendors can help schools get access to technology.

Attendees focused on improving the spread of technology to the K-12 environment, which faces staff and budgetary constraints. That is where open source technologies can play a key role, Red Hat Executive Vice President for Corporate Affairs Tom Rabon told the group.

“Collaboration is the heart and soul of open source,” he said. “We need to stop for a moment and take a lesson from our kids. We teach them the importance of sharing things. Today, we are talking about sharing information. We want you to think about what you do and how it can help others.”

The Institute is already working with partner companies to bridge the gap between technology and education, Friday Institute Director of Technology Phil Emer said. Many research and outreach efforts focus on bringing technology to all students throughout North Carolina. There is much more ground, however, that must be covered to bring more students, teachers and classrooms into the 21st century.

Representatives from school districts throughout the country noted that areas of concern include bundled software packages that have unnecessary and costly tools; a lack of clear definitions of business processes; and decision-makers falling victim to vendor pitches that promise solutions that are not delivered. There are no easy answers, but the summit opened communication lines between the key players in education technology.

“Twenty-five years ago, IBM first introduced the personal computer,” Emilie McCabe, general manager, IBM Global Public Sector said. “It was really the first time on a large scale that we put information technology into the hands of consumers. Still, 25 years later, we still struggle to deliver on the promise of information technology in K-12 education. We fundamentally believe that open technologies can change all of that.”

There is an industrial model of project management that guides most efforts, not a collaboration model, CoSN Chief Executive Officer Keith Krueger said. Attendees should work to change this model.

The summit provided a springboard for future efforts to help spread technology more evenly across all levels of education.

“As we go forward, the obstacles may seem great, but the opportunities and the reasons you are all here are even greater,” Rabon said.

The Friday Institute for Educational Innovation, a research and outreach arm of the College of Education at NC State, is dedicated to transforming education through innovation in teaching, learning and leadership to meet the demands of the 21st century. The Institute is a unique public-private partnership designed to integrate research, technology and cross-sector collaboration to enhance education and support economic development. For more information, see www.fi.ncsu.edu.