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Welcome to Open 1-to-1!  

Mission:  To establish a support framework for 1-to-1 computing that is
focused on the needs of education.

The founding members of Open 1-to-1 include passionate educators and
technicians dedicated to the cause of educational technology.

There is a major need in Maine, and the rest of the world, for a framework
that enables schools to not only take ownership of their computing
initiatives, but to work together as a united body to transform learning
through technology.  Open 1-to-1 will serve as the arbiter of this effort
by establishing and identifying a comprehensive set of technical
solutions, professional development and training resources, and support
services to make Open 1-to-1 the best solution for schools.  
  
The necessary elements are readily available. The recent advent of
netbooks and low cost laptops has greatly reduced the cost of computing
hardware. The open source community has created a plethora of powerful,
high quality software solutions that can be implemented by schools and
students without the hassle of proprietary licensing or high price tags.  

These Open Source programs provide the same skills while, more
importantly, allow for greater accessibility to all students.
Professional services and support for these open source solutions have
been developed to provide the needed infrastructure to implement and
maintain open source computing.

'''The advantages of joining Open 1-to-1 are numerous and exciting: <br><br>
'''The possibility of using netbooks/low cost laptops reduces the cost of deployment.''' <br><br>
'''The operating system and software used  will be open source allowingschools to gain tremendous functionality, and be able to share it with students, educators, and the community at large without licensing constraints.''' <br><br>
'''Professional development and training will be open to everyone, so teachers with a great idea will be able to share and train others, and be reimbursed for their time.'''  <br><br>
'''And there will be no vendor lock-in:  Choose your hardware, your support services, your training resources for what best fits your schools needs and budget.''' ''' 

The Open 1-to-1 board is working hard to put all the finishing touches on
this solution.   They are pulling together all the elements:   the
software, the netbooks, the technology, the training resources, and the
support.  Open 1-to-1 will provide a streamlined, comprehensive set of
solutions.  

An outline of the Open 1-to-1 solution is available online, and more
details are being added every day.  The first technical and professional
development training will be kicked off at FOSSED in late June, followed
up by other training/workshops over the summer.  From now until then, Open
1-to-1 will be hosting bi-weekly webinars for interested parties to learn
about new developments and ask questions.  You can subscribe to a  mailing
list for more frequent updates  and a forum where Open 1-to-1 will be
answering questions.

Most importantly, if you are interested in getting involved with Open
1-to-1, join us!  We want you to be involved!    We are looking for people
that would like to assist in technical development and support, teachers
interested in providing training/development, and anyone else that might
have something to offer.  

Sincerely,

The Open 1-to-1 Board
http://www.open1to1.org