[K12OSN] FOSSed 2009 Scholarship....and register now...less than 50 days!

[David Trask]

This message is Open Source just like the conference!  Distribute it far
and WIDE!  Let everyone know!

Good morning everyone!

Guess what!  FOSSed 2009 is less than 50 days away!  That means the school
year is winding down and we're all getting ready to think about summer and
our plans for the next school year.  For tech folks, both classroom
teachers and IT personnel, summertime is a time for planning and
redirection.  Summer is also a great time to LEARN new skills and
formulate new ideas!  THIS summer is particularly important as many folks
are faced with cutbacks, funding shortfalls, and decisions on how to get
the most out of what you currently have.  FOSSed is a perfect opportunity
to learn new ideas, network with other colleagues, and share your own
knowledge with others.  Bring a team of your colleagues...sit, relax,
unwind and just talk.  Learn from each other...and learn what other folks
in other schools/organizations are doing.

FOSSed 2009 is shaping up nicely!  We have some new sessions that we'll be
adding to the list in the next few days.  Those include sessions on
netbook imaging/cloning and deployment with Shaun Meredith, Google
offerings for Education, Sugar on a Stick (the One Laptop Per Child OS for
EVERY computer!)....and more! (the wonderful folks from SugarLabs at MIT -
Walter Bender and Caroline Meeks - would like to come to FOSSed and show
us how to use the revolutionary Sugar OS for kids on a USB thumbdrive! 
It's pretty cool!)  You can use it to repurpose older machines and also to
set up new machines for younger kids with an operating system that make
sense for kids!  Check out the current session list at
http://www.fossed.com

Scholarship! 

The great folks at InfoBridge are huge supporters of free and open source
software in education.  They are offering a couple of scholarships for
folks to attend FOSSed this year.  One is reserved for a first-time FOSSed
attendee...if you've never been to FOSSed and you'd love to come this
year, but finances are an issue....then check out the scholarship section
of the FOSSed web site and download the form.  Entries must be received by
May 15th.  The second scholarship(s) will be for other members of the
FOSSed community....see the form for details.  *NOTE - if you are an ACTEM
member we encourage you to utilize your ACTEM professional development
benefit for $400 prior to the scholarship. 

ACTEM members

Don't forget!  You have an awesome benefit as part of your membership with
ACTEM.  You can use up to $400 per year for professional development.  See
the ACTEM PD section of the ACTEM site
http://www.actem.org/Pages/ACTEM_ProDev/index  for more information.  If
you have any questions, feel free to contact me at  copperdoggy at gmail.com 
(we've been doing this for a while)  ;-)  ACTEM is one of our generous
sponsors for the FOSSed banquet on the second night of the conference! 
Thanks ACTEM!

You're entitled and we're flexible!

If anyone understands how tight budgets are, it's me.  My technology
budget for next year is in danger of being cut down to near zero (my job
is safe, but I may be using a lot of duct tape next year).  However, my
professional development money is safe.  Why?  Because the greatest
computers in the world cannot replace dedicated and knowledgable teachers
and IT folks.  You are entitled to professional development.  You NEED to
learn.  We all do.  We even offer CEU's from the University of Southern
Maine for those who need them.  We're also VERY flexible.  If you have a
special financial circumstance and would like to work out some special way
of finagling/scheduling payment and so forth....let us know!  We're happy
to help.

Register soon!

As I mentioned before, FOSSed is less than 50 days away.  This means that
it's crunch time for us.  So....if you are hoping to join us at FOSSed
this year....please register ASAP.  (even if you don't have all the
financial details worked out...register)   Register at the FOSSed site at
http://www.fossed.com   If you have questions about FOSSed....we'll be
happy to help you....contact us at copperdoggy at gmail.com

Hope to see you at FOSSed!

David Trask
FOSSed 2009
Copperdog Consulting & Training
copperdoggy at gmail.com
(207) 446-2738

David N. Trask
Technology Teacher/Director
Vassalboro Community School
dtrask at vcsvikings.org
(207)923-3100
(207)923-4305 (direct)