While most people know what Linux is, only a small niche of people are using it daily for their computing needs. I would go so far as to say that the typical visitors of ISTEConnects possess an above-average knowledge of Linux and how it operates, based on the fact that the blog is tech-centric. Although to be frank, this is just not the case for many students and educators today. They may know what it is, but they are far from being proficient at using it. When it comes to switching over to Linux, institutions will run into major hurdles because it is not an “operating system” in the way that Windows XP/Vista/7 or Mac OS X are. It is a kernel that is at the core of operating systems like Ubuntu, Open SUSE, etc. so there is typically no support line to call (at least not with the free versions), and fewer training options available to end-users.

As a Loyola University student I have the luxury of attending classes in rooms fully-equipped with at least one computer and hi-resolution projector, allowing the professor to show slideshows and other content on demand. Countless times, either myself or someone else in the class has had to assist the professors in performing simple computing tasks, such as pulling up a YouTube video or correctly displaying a PowerPoint presentation. These are relatively easy tasks that even PhD-level professors have difficulty with. How then are these educators expected to function in something like Ubuntu, which includes eight separate text editors and countless other customizable software packages? Even software installation in Linux can, at times, be a major hassle. Many simple tasks are overly-complicated and require knowledge of backend commands. This is not necessarily a bad thing for the OS, it’s just the nature of many open-source operating systems today. In an article entitled, “Why Linux is not (yet) Ready for the Desktop,” author Artem S. Tashkinov lists many of the common obstacles that people face when switching from Windows to Linux.

Linux can, eventually, be a viable option for schools. The first step that needs to be taken is educating everyone involved in the transition, from school administrators down to the very teachers that will be using the computers. This is a step that is not easily accomplished. Currently, there are no simple training programs akin to Apple’s One to One, and there is little on-site technical support available at schools, unless the administration is willing to invest in either training their IT staff or hiring a new one. Linux is the future; it offers endless customization, freedom from malware, and above all, it is free. Unfortunately, until someone supports it for educational use the ways that Mac OS X or Windows are, Linux is going to be a hard sell.

The National Center for Educational Statistics provides a free “create a graph” website which permits anyone to make bar, pie, line, area, and x-y graphs using a web browser. Graphs can be printed, saved, or emailed to an address you specify.

Today I tweeted a request for links to additional graphing websites and programs, besides the NCES site, and received a variety of excellent suggestions.

Texas educator Lesley Denny tweeted me a link to Fusioncharts Google Gadgets.

FusionCharts Google Gadgets are widgets that help you create animated flash charts & graphs for your web pages, blogs & Google Pages. Be it your sales chart, inventory chart or your personal weight chart, FusionCharts can render an exciting face to all your boring data tables – for FREE.

Steve Grimm (location classified) recommended Jacob Gube’s April 2009 post “10 Useful Flash Components for Graphing Data,” which includes links to Open Flash Chart, XML/SWF Charts, zxChart, amCharts, Fly Charts, AmiChart, Black Box Chart, flashCharts, and Origramy. There are enough online charting options here to fill a 15 week graduate course!

Colorado educator and researcher Howard Pitler recommended the e-Tutor Graphing Calculator as well as online graphing tools provided by The University of Vienna.

Minnesota educator Belinda Hartzler suggested ChartTool and ChartGizmo.

Virginia educator Becky Fisher recommended Track-n-Graph as well as Mr. Nussbaum.com’s BarGraphGenerator.

New Jersey educator Samantha Morra suggested the NCTM Illuminations Bar Grapher.

Oklahoma teacher Susan Hurst recommended two different graphing tools: iCharts and Chartle. This is an example of a dynamic iChart using data for United States GDP. Wouldn’t we all like to know when those lines are going to turn up again?!

Chartle is a web application in “early beta.” In addition to charts it permits users to create Venn Diagrams and interactive maps online.

Several educators also recommended software-based graphing tools.

Minnesota educator Chris White suggested Pacific University’s free graphing calculator for both Windows and Macintosh computers.

New York educator Karen Vitek suggested Ivan Johansen’s open source, Windows-based program Graph.

New Zealand educator Lenva Shearing suggested a collection of twelve different online graphic tools on the Cool Tools for Schools wiki.

What a plethora of digital graphing options! Many thanks to everyone who contributed to these suggestions! Are there any you use which did not make this list? Which graphing tools are you finding to be the most functional to use with students on an interactive whiteboard?

Many school districts have a standard set of approved software applications which they support and install on teacher computers. That collection has typically included productivity software, but not always multimedia software. Given the power and importance of visual literacy, this should not be the case. There are now a variety of open source multimedia software programs which can be freely and legally installed on all computers at school and at home. I would include the audio editing program Audacity in this list of “standard install” software programs, as well as the open source image editing software program “The Gimp.” The Gimp does not include all the functionality and ease-of-use features of commercial image editing programs like Adobe PhotoShop and PhotoShop Elements, but does include a LARGE number of functions which are part of commercial image editing programs. A variety of executable Gimp installers for Windows-based computers are available. Macintosh users may want to use the alternative Gimp distribution “Seashore.” It is also free, and does not require technical skills (like compiling source code) to install and use it. Seashore also does not require Apple/Macintosh users to have X11 installed either, which is beneficial.

The falling pricepoint of Netbooks is making these computers more and more attractive for educational laptop initiatives, but limited hard drive space on Netbooks requires that many applications on them run off the Internet as web applications rather than running as “traditional” client-based software programs. When it comes to image editing, Picnik is a handy and free website which permits web-based image editing. Doug McIntosh has created the Visual Imagery Using Still Images workshop website addressing the basics of digital photography, visual literacy, and editing digital photos online using Picnik. Hat tip to Señorita Murrell for this link.

Picassa is a free image editor from Google which also allows users to perform a variety of basic image editing procedures, including resizing and cropping. Picassa runs as a client-side software program which must be downloaded and installed first, before using it. On Apple computers, iPhoto comes as a free, pre-installed software program and also offers robust image editing as well as organizational functionality.

Do you have other FREE image editing software recommendations, which are either downloadable (client-side) software programs or function as web apps?