Following the steps of KNFOSSociety ’09- vied one of the three “highly recommended entries” out of the more than 1,000 teams worldwide for Best Software Freedom Day (SFD) EventCompetition, this time was a bigger celebration. It was celebrated in two places- San Vicente National High School in Banga, and in Esperanza National High School by two groups- the 4^th year and 2^nd year DOST students reaching out and  advocating the campaign and promotion of FOSS, the group was officially recognized by the Software Freedom International as part of this year’s global SFD teams.

The tour was led by 32 seniors and 36 sophomores KNFOSSociety members and four teachers. The group was then divided into two groups, the 4^th year group will handle the 3^rd and 4^th year students while the 2^nd year group handles the 1^st and  2^nd year students. Each group introduced FOSS to more than 250 high school students through orientations, demonstrations and presentations on various open source applications.

Speed-geeking sessions was then held on GIMP, Scribus, Inkscape and other common open source education and entertainment software.

KNFOSSociety Adviser Latreia Estabillo opens the session by giving an introductory talk about Free and Open Source Software to the students at San Vicente High School.

The seniors and sophomores presented the meaning of FOSS to different groups, different venues.

Getting to know different open source programs through speedgeeking sessions

Maam Lati giving prizes to the winners of the trivias givenThe prime movers of SFD 2011

The prime movers of SFD 2011

The involvement of Team KNFOSSociety in 2009 who made it to the top three of the most commended entry, encouraged the present batch to do better each year.

To keep the FOSS spirit alive, KNCHS Fossociety under the Vocational Department will be participating in this year’s Software Freedom Day competition.

We’ve designed a series of events that will highlight FOSS as well as encourage active participation to those involved:

September 14 – Internet Awareness and Security, with Pidgin hands-on session

• Selected ICT DOST students
• Resource speaker: Philippine News Agency
• Venue: Computer Laboratory, 1-4pm

September 21- KNFossociety on Tour, whole day

• The DOST 4^th year- ICT students will be visiting two schools and hold an orientation and demonstration forum. Two schools are targeted: San Vicente National High School, Concepcion National High School and San Vicente National High School
• The DOST 2^nd year ICT students, for the first time will join in the tour series of events. Target school is Esperanza National High School.
• Expected give-aways and prizes: cd’s and SFD stickers

September 29 – Multimedia Tools for teaching

• Expected participants are selected KNCHS teachers and invited teachers from other schools
• Teachers will be having hands-on sessions on the creation of presentations and videos with web-based activities

With the support of the school principal, Mr. Fernando Hilomen, our SFD 2011 will surely be another FOSS hit.

In the past fifty years, especially, technology has made information, once a scarce resource, abundant. With computers and Internet technologies in particular, more people can now have access to more information more quickly than ever before.

Educational institutions acknowledge that they must move apace with the technology driven changes in society and economy. In today’s knowledge society, not only must schools ensure that learners possess the competencies to wield these new information and communication tools productively, they must equip learners with the critical and analytic tools necessary to live and flourish in an information-saturated environment.

Computer Education means gaining a thorough education in the use of computer technologies that affect us in all aspects of our daily life. Students are given the hands-on computer experience, knowledge, and skills that can qualify graduates for careers in business, education, commerce, mechanics, technology, healthcare, and nearly every other field.

BACKGROUND

Bringing the latest technologies for improving education is an important goal for Koronadal National Comprehensive High School.

In 2002 and 2006, the school received from the Department of Trade and Industry the PCPS for Public Schools Project, Phase 1 with 20 units and Phase 2 with 10 units.

The curriculum being followed for the computer program is based on the Career Pathways Technology and Livelihood Education (CP-TLE) Program.

Mrs. Latreia Estabillo, the school’s designated ICT Coordinator, introduced the use of free and open source software which has proven to be cost-effective and rewarding tool as it provides varied programs that comes expensive if paid for. The school saved in terms of costs in services, product acquisition and licensing and with it, it offers stability, reliability with flexibility and support.

PHYSICAL FACILITIES

1.      In 2007, two laboratories were formally created. The first laboratory runs Windows operating systems and applications while the other laboratory runs Ubuntu, a linux operating system with open source applications. The computer laboratories at the moment houses 37 computers, all are networked and provided with internet connectivity funded by the Deped Internet Connectivity Project. Operating systems were upgraded as well as peripherals used.

2.  The wireless connection service offered made surfing the net more accessible to teacher and students with portable devices.

Teachers and students were able to work on their research and other school works even outside their classrooms with the help of free wireless internet connection service.

3.      Additional audiovisual, multimedia materials and equipment helped increased the level of awareness and enhancement for teaching and learning ICT experiences. Some “in-house” materials created by students were uploaded on the internet for public sharing.

With the help of technology, realistic visual aids/ illustrations were provided for students to help enhance learning experiences in the different areas of TLE subject.

4. Through the local funding for DOST classes, the school library was equipped with three complete set of computers, networked and provided with internet connectivity running Ubuntu, a leading open source program. These were maintained by DOST ICT class as part of their project.

DOST students make use of computers provided in the library for their research and other school tasks.

5.      Computers we also used for administrative and management tasks. The teachers of the Vocational Department found the use of the technology helpful to their teaching as it enables them to seek more resources over the internet.

Internet connection was provided in the Vocational Office to encourage Vocational teachers to seek available resources online.

ICT PROJECTS/ACTIVITIES

ICT students (KNFOSSociety) embark every year on doing FOSS-related activities during the Software Freedom Day (SFD) every September  for the last four years. These activities were noticed by an international group, Software Freedom International based in USA, and gave recognition to the group and school and helped open doors of opportunity for the teachers and students involved to be part of the community that supports the program/curriculum of schools. The school’s entry made it to the top 6 and is one of the Highly Commended Entry, tying with entries from India and Trinidad and Tobago and besting 700 entries in over 50 countries.

The KNFOSSociety SFD Team 2009

Still on the path of building bridges and connection through skills sharing sessions in other public schools, KNCHS ICT students relate to other students the value of using licensed programs and its legal alternative.

KNFOSSociety showing how open source can benefit the students of Bacongco National High School.

Students of Saravia National High School saw the beauty and fun of using open source as shown by the KNFOSSociety.

Basic installation, computer troubleshooting and maintenance, networking activities, audio-video and photo editing sessions were developed for ICT students to instil the value of careful handling and accurate assessment of computers, portable devices, and different programs.

ICT students getting a hang of crimping network cables.

Recycling can be fun!

GIMPing is so much fun! Here's some sample...

Teacher training-workshop on creating multimedia materials was held during the MPRE week.

Mrs. Latreia Estabillo talked about varied ways of creating multimedia materials both from online and offline resources, focusing on integration of technology

The creation of the school website, www.knchs.schoolpad.ph, helped establish that KNCHS uses modern technology in strengthening the links between students, parents, teachers as well as the community. The site was put up as part of the ICT class project.

The development of the ICT blog, www.knfoss.wordpress.com, helped in sharing what ICT students learn and do in school as well as show their learning environment and varied activities.

Getting the SFD fever...

The open source "effect"...

The 4^th yr DOST ICT class came up with another way of integrating ICT and storytelling and came up with using the power of puppetry.

Using Audacity to edit audios and record voices, and accompanied  storytelling with music and sound effects, the 4th yr (Newton & Galileo)became so involved with their interaction with the puppets that they do not realize they are learning a lot with it.

The singing idol puppet

Truly, puppets strike a deal with their creators. When you move them, and they move you. Whatever their materials, whatever their size, however cheaply they have been put together, all puppets come to life as characters.

"Follow the penguin"

"Holding a puppet is not so easy, its really hard work"

"Are you enjoying our show?"

"Coordination in puppetting is hard work"

The "animated" puppets

"Puppets help relay stories that are real-life experiences of its creator"

Storytelling is not only for children but is something we should all strive to keep and to honor, for it is through the creative imagination that real stories grow, with hope and inventions are birthed.

Latreia Estabillo, newly-designated ICT coordinator of KNCHS and adviser of the KNFOSSociety, was selected as one of the more than 140 fellows that were selected by camp organizers International Open Source Network (IOSN) and InWEnt of Germany to become a part of the third edition of the Asia Source camp, which was held in Silang, Cavite last November 7-12.

This year’s Asia Source, which is so far considered as one of the biggest gathering on the free and open source software or FOSS in Asia, was joined by leading open source advocates, technologists, academics, software developers, networking experts and other ICT experts coming from corporate, government and non-government sectors across the region.

Ms. Estabillo said Asia Source 3 primarily gave her the opportunity to get updated with various emerging open source technologies and systems in Asia and other parts of the world as well as the latest initiatives on the continuing promotion of FOSS advocacy and use within the region.

During the six-day ICT camp, which was held at the International Rural Reconstruction Movement (IRRM) center in Cavite, she got acquainted with participants from different parts of Asia who shared their skills and expertise on FOSS advocacy, software development, design and technology.

“It was a great learning for me. I was able to both gain new knowledge on ICT and open source technologies and share what we have been doing here in KNCHS,” she said.

“In the camp, we learned new skills, shared them with other participants and at the same time experienced a different kind of fun through the interactions and innovative sessions,” added Ms. Estabillo, who was also a fellow of the Asia Source 2 held in Sukabumi, Indonesia in January 2007.

Track 4 report back style

At Asia Source 3, Ms. Estabillo was joined its Track Four, which focused on “building FOSS communities.”

She said the sessions were handled by Johan Janssens, who is the lead developer of popular web content management system Joomla and Mifan Careem, who was part of the award-winning Sahana project (disaster management system).

Track 4 session with Johan and Mifan.

Asia Source, which is held every two years, is mainly a camp-style gathering that aims to increase the awareness, integration and adoption of FOSS tools in Asia.

Participants had a break touring Villa Escudero

It also focuses on the promotion of practical elements of the deployment of FOSS within an economic and social structure and aims to build capacities to connect, cooperate, and collaborate and empower humanity with the use of FOSS.

Asia Source 3 was jointly organized by IOSN through its ASEAN+3 Centre of Excellence (Philippines), InWEnt-Capacity Building International (Germany), Tactical Technology Collective (Netherlands), Aspiration (USA) and The Centre for Internet and Society (India).

The event was supported by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany (BMZ), the ASEAN Foundation and the Open Society Institute.###

A GROUP of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) students and teachers of the Koronadal National Comprehensive High School (KNCHS) has linked up with the global ICT community as part of this year’s Software Freedom Day (SFD) celebration.

SFD is a worldwide celebration held every third Saturday of September that highlights the free and open source software or FOSS advocacy.

Carrying the banner of the KNFOSSociety, a recognized school organization advocating the use and promotion of FOSS, the group was officially recognized by the Software Freedom International as part of his year’s global SFD teams.

As part of this year’s celebration, KNFOSSociety members and advisers organized a series of ICT seminars and a FOSS awareness tour covering at least two public schools in Koronadal City.

The SFD seminar-series, which served as the opening salvo of the celebration, opened last September 10 at the KNCHS ICT laboratory with basic photo and video editing sessions for 112 selected fourth year students.

Ms. Latreia Estabillo explains the benefits of FOSS to the students

Denmark Bulan of the Radio Mindanao Network shares tips on creating attractive and professional-like videos.

Another seminar on photo and video editing, basic spreadsheet and presentation, PC trouble-shooting and operating system installation was held last September 18 for at least 42 teachers from KNCHS and several other local schools.

Journalist and Ubuntu user Allen V. Estabillo of the Philippines News Agency demonstrates Ubuntu installation, basic troubleshooting and computer maintenance.

The workshop was divided into two tracks: The Open Office Tracks and the Advance Track.

Glen Bastes of Radio Mindanao Network and also a FOSS advocate shows how easy it was to use Spreadsheet program in computing students' performance.

KNFOSSociety Adviser Latreia Estabillo shares her e-learning experiences and open source tools that teachers can effectively use.

Radio Mindanao Network-Marbel's Graphic Artist Denmark Bulan gave a demo on easy photo editing using GIMP

KNFOSSociety members assist teacher-participants during their hands-on sessions

The main highlight of the group’s SFD acticvities was the FOSS awareness tour at the Marbel 7 National High School and Koronadal Central Elementary School-I last September 25.

During the tour, which was led by 29 KNFOSSociety members and three teacher-advisers, the group introduced FOSS to more than 300 high school students and elementary pupils through orientations and demonstrations on various open source applications.

They also held speed-geeking sessions on GIMP, Audacity and other common open source education and entertainment software.

The students of both schools listened to the discussions and enjoyed the GIMP-ing sessions, a photo editing session where the team showed some hilarious pictures featuring the faces of some of the ICT students that were edited through GIMP.

KNFOSSociety Adviser Latreia Estabillo gives a talk on Free and Open Source Software to the students at Koronadal Central Elementary School 1.

Rowenie Non shares the benefits of FOSS to the students of Marbel 7 National High School.

Suellen Ogena of KNFOSSociety gives a demo on how to create beautiful presentations using Open Office Impress.

Karl Ycon and Jahsie Paez demonstrate easy photo editing with GIMP.

Karl Ycon and Ferdinand Fernandez show the fun of playing with open source games.

Audacity is so easy to use, right, Kuya Khamis?

Educational open source games, let's play!!

"Teacher Lati, please let them edit my picture!"

"See you in next year's SFD!"

The SFD activities were made possible with the collaborative efforts and help of ICT advisers Mrs. Latreia Estabillo and Ms. Hazel Borcillo, the KNFOSSociety, Mr. Joel Moso and with the encouragement and full support of Mr. Fernando C. Hilomen, Principal IV of KNCHS.

UNFORGETABLE SFD MOMENTS

Eager faces of future foss users

Marbel 7 audience enjoying the GIMP demo

Question: Anybody heard about Ubuntu? Answer: Explain pls...

The advice: "Just be yourself"

Famous last words: "I'm so excited"

September 18, 2009- Educators Open Source Seminar-Workshop

Endorsed and supported by Region 12, ICT Teachers from the nine divisions of the region will be attending.

September 25, 2009- KNFOSSociety on Tour

The KNFOSSociety will be heading to Marbel 7 National High School in the morning and in the afternoon they will be at Koronadal Central Elementary School 1. There will be so much exciting fun and activities prepared for the students.

SEE YOU IN ANY OF OUR SFD EVENTS!!!!!

“Ask not what open source software can do for you, but what YOU can do for open source software.”

“Take Open Source because it is the best bet’.”

“This is the kind of freedom that produces better software”

“Open Source Software: Free for ALL!”

To keep the FOSS spirit alive, the Information and Communications Technology Classes known as the KNCHS Fossociety under the Vocational Department will be participating in this year’s Software Freedom Day competition.

We’ve designed activities wherein weekly event  will take place. There will be a Video Editing Seminar, like the one we had last year, only for the graduating classes. We will be sponsoring a hands-on training for Teachers, we call it Open Source  Tools for Teachers. The best part will be when the group will go out, we call it KNFossociety On Tour. We identified some public schools in the city division and we will be going there to share the message of FOSS plus exciting activities and give-aways are on the list.

We look forward celebrating SFD 2009.