Mike Huffman

Consultant, Education Technology

Mike Huffman has worked in the Indiana Department of Education for over 30 years and has spent over 26 years involved in technology. He served as IT director for nine years, moving the Department's data systems from COBOL to relational data base and web-based applications.

Mike has worked with teachers, administrators and students throughout Indiana to devise ways that technology can have maximum impact on achievement. He first began working with Unix systems in 1984 and as soon as it was available, began experimenting with GNU Linux as a solution to the Department's data and access needs. After transforming the Department's data systems, he began to focus on instructional technology and how students were able to interact with computers. He recognized that millions of dollars had already been spent on proprietary solutions - but students in schools still had less than an hour a week access to technology.

In 2000, he proposed testing Open source software in classrooms using free applications. Small pilots showed high levels of success and were soon ramped up to cover the entire state. Today more than 150,000 of Indiana's 300,000 H.S. students use open source software every day and the program continues to grow each school year.

Mike now does consulting for organizations and groups to help them better be able to afford, sustain, and replicate successful projects.