K-12 Open Minds Conference Sign-up Reminder (Open Source Software, Open Content, & Open Technologies)

[Steve Hargadon]

The K12 Open Minds Conference, Sept. 25 - 27, in Indianapolis, Indiana is approaching fast!  This is just a quick reminder to encourage those who interested in the conference to sign up and to make travel arrangements quickly.  If you do so, you can take advantage of some great airfare and hotel rates currently available:  flights from California (and elsewhere) to Indianapolis are currently as low as $195 round trip (Orbitz.com), and if you make reservations at the downtown Marriott from the K-12 Open Minds website (www.k12openminds.org) before September 2, rooms are only $97/night (over 50% off).

K-12 Open Minds is one of the few conferences devoted to Free and Open Source Software in K-12 education--see http://www.k12openminds.org for more details. 
Accepted concurrent sessions are going to start being posted on the website this week (we are holding a few provisional sessions open for those who weren't able to meet the submission deadline).  As well, there will be a combined .org and student-showcase pavilion.  Interested parties should contact me for details.  The keynote speakers for the conference are:

• Donna Benjamin - Executive Director of Creative Contingencies and board member of Open Source Industry Australia;
• Alex Inman -- Director of Technology at Whitfield School, St. Louis, MO - an Essential School using Open Source;
• Chris Lehman -- Principal of the Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia, PA;
• Dr. David Thornburg - Director of Global Operations for the Thornburg Center and author of several books including, When the Best is Free;
• Bradley C. Wheeler, Ph.D. -- Vice President for Information Technology & CIO and Professor of Information Systems, IU Kelley School of Business

K-12 Open Minds is an unparalleled opportunity to talk with teachers, administrators and technology staff from around the U.S. and the world who are discovering the benefits of Open-Source Software. In Indiana alone, over 150,000 students use Open-Source Software every day. Not only does Open-Source Software save money, it allows schools to extend essential educational software to students' homes and into after-school programs, providing extended learning opportunities at no cost.  We expect more than 600 attendees, from the US, Europe, Asia and North and South America. Dozens of sessions that address teaching and learning, leadership and technical issues related to open technologies make this conference a "must attend" event.  We hope that you will pass this email along to your colleagues and post it to any appropriate email lists.

If you have any questions please contact me (see below), Brant Patten at 802.785.3160 / b...@ncose.org, or Mike Huffman at 317.232.6672 / mhuf...@doe.in.gov

Steve

Steve Hargadon
K-12 Open Minds Organizing Committee
st...@hargadon.com
916-899-1400