FOSS in Education

A Strategy to support ICT Services for EducationPresented by: John J. Macasio

September 6, 2006

FOSS

• Free Licensed

• Open

• Source

• Software

Presentation

The Coverage:– Some global perspectives to consider in seeing

FOSS as a strategic component in building up ICT services in education.

– Implication to instruction and teacher in-service training of FOSS software development framework and licensing.

– Stable FOSS projects to build competencies of teachers and students, and to implement ICT solutions that support service strategy of education.

FOSS is bigger than LINUX

• An Infocommunications Technology (ICT) solution development framework –project management, organization, requirements, standards, workflow, contributors, coding, testing, release, and support.

• A licensing agreement on how product is distributed, shared, attributed, changed, supported, and marketed.

• A collection of software and document freely shared in the Internet.

FOSS is bigger than LINUX

• An ICT project supported by a community of nationalities, ICT users and developers, corporate sponsors, educational institutions, and advocacy groups.

• Provides the open standard that allow the users to control their data.

• Opportunity to build infocommunications technology solutions without re-inventing the wheel, and close the digital divide.

Open Source Project

• Infocommunications technology solution that respond to a community defined requirements.

• Software and documentations that can be accessed freely.

• Source code that is available and can be altered to suit users needs.

• Software that can be re-distributed freely without violating copyright.

• Derivative work is freely encourage to improve or localize the solution.

Open Standard Collaboration

• Data standard insures interopertatibility when business and education become “e”. Inside the web, data and documents are the means for integration and global sharing.

Standard

http://www.oasis-open.org/home/index.php

Organizations for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards

FOSS-Collaborative Project

• Software Solution Repository– Sourceforge.Net– Eduforge.Net– Freshmeat.Net– Linux.Org

• Project Documentation– The Linux Documentation– The Open Office Documentation

Project Repository

http://www.sourceforge.net

Index of FOSS Project

http://freshmeat.net/

Education Project

http://eduforge.org

Resource Site

http://www.linux.org

Open Documentation

http://tldp.org/

Documentation Project

http://documentation.openoffice.org/

FOSS as Empowerment

• Right to use

• Right to modify

• Right to redistribute

• Right to study

• Right to innovate and create

FOSS Licensing Framework

• Free Software Foundation

• Open Source Initiative

• Creative Commons

General Public License

http://www.fsf.org/

Free Software Definition• Free software is a matter of the users' freedom to run, copy,

distribute, study, change and improve the software. More precisely, it refers to four kinds of freedom, for the users of the software:

1. The freedom to run the program, for any purpose (freedom 0). 2. The freedom to study how the program works, and adapt it to

your needs (freedom 1). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.

3. The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor (freedom 2).

4. The freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits (freedom 3). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.

Free Software FoundationRichard Stallman

Open Source Initiative

http://www.opensource.org/

Open Source Definition

1. Free redistribution2. Software must include source code 3. License must allow modifications and derived work4. Integrity of the author's source code5. No discrimination against persons or groups6. No discrimination against fields of endeavor7. Distribution of license8. License must not be specific to a product9. License must not restrict other software10.License must be technology-neutral

Open Source InitiativeBruce Perens

Creative Commons

http://creativecommons.org/

Creative Commons License• Attribution. You let others copy,

distribute, display, and perform your copyrighted work — and derivative works based upon it — but only if they give credit the way you request.

• Noncommercial. You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform your work — and derivative works based upon it — but for noncommercial purposes only

• No Derivative Works. You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform only verbatim copies of your work, not derivative works based upon it.

• Share Alike. You allow others to distribute derivative works only under a license identical to the license that governs your work.

Know More on FOSS

• Quick references

UNCTAD Report 2003

http://r0.unctad.org/ecommerce/ecommerce_en/edr03_en.htm

FOSS Implication to Developing Countries

• Barrier reduction to market entry of developing countries

• Cost reduction• Expansion of technology

and skills • Digital inclusion

On FOSS –UNDP Primer

http://www.iosn.net/education/foss-education-primer/

FOSS Licensing Primer

http://www.iosn.net/licensing/foss-licensing-primer

Open Standard Primer

http://www.iosn.net/open-standards/

Significance to Instruction

• Low-cost to no-cost availability of software and documentation for instruction and learning

• Freedom to study and modify the source to build knowledge and skills.

• ‘Freely' participate in open source communities to learn emerging standards and new skills, and to contribute in the improvement of the software.

Significance to Instruction

• Teachers and students are moved up from being mere consumers of software to developers and innovators of infocommunications technology solution,

• Teachers become “practitioners” who serve in the development, enhancement, localizations of infocommunications technology solutions for the school and community.

FOSS and Competency Building

• open standard

• learning by doing

• collaboration

• technology based and not on brand

• learner as knowledge builder

• teacher as practioner

• Innovation through experimentation

Significance to Service Portfolio

• Affordable software for the educational institution to use infocommunications technology to improve service quality.

• Stable stack of solutions, and open standard to build an integrated ICT infrastructure.

• Ability to customize solutions to meets specific requirements

• Local development of ICT skills to support services.

Open Service Infrastructure

• Low Cost• No locked-in• Inter-operate, open standard• Build competency of both teacher and

student• Localized• Contribute to knowledge building• Integrative

Support Model

• Via the Internet

• Community of Users

• On-line Manual and Documentations

• Source Code

WebERPCentre SISLinux

e-Mail ServerWeb Mail

The Open Service Infrastructure

Open Source Internet/Intranet Environment

Ubuntu Linux Desktop with OpenOffice.Org, Internet Browser and e-Mail Client, Multimedia Tools, and Educational Software

PhPApplicationServer

AtutorWordPressPHPBBDspace

ApacheWeb ServerJoomla CMS

MySQLDatabase

The User Working Environment

Open Source Net Solution for Education:

Department ofEducation

Internet School1

Barangay Center

School3

1.Web Publishing System2.Learning Management System3.School Admin InfoMgt System4.Communication Collaboration

•Apache Web Server•MySQL Database Server•PHP Application Server•Linux eMail Server•Linux Security Server•LMS Atutor Server•CentreSIS Server•Groupware Server•WordPress Blog Server

NET Application Services

EducationUser Access Sites

School2

Internet Cafe

Home

www.deped.gov.ph/school DSLNETPCInternet Bandwidth

Other eLearning Services in

the Internet

EduKiosk

WebBoard

Service Portfolio• Open Office Productivity Software• Open Web Authoring System• Open Multimedia System• Open Web Hosting Services• Open Database System• Open Application Development Platform• Open Communication and Collaboration System• Open Content Management System• Open Learning Management System• Open Digital Repository System• Open Web Publishing System and Interaction• Open Desktop and Network Operating Systems• Open Customized Business Application

Rating FOSS

• Are you ready to use FOSS

Business Readiness Rating

http://www.openbrr.org/wiki/index.php/Home

Select Open Source Project

1. Features (Service Objectives)

2. Requirements (Infrastructure Demand)

3. Open Standard (Interopertatibility)

4. Licensing (No lock-in)

5. Source Code (Innovation and Localization)

6. Download (Availability)

Select Open Source Project

1. On-line Membership (Participation)

2. Support Forum (Collaboration)

3. Documentation (Empowerment and Local Training)

4. Roadmap (Direction)

5. Implementation (Users)

6. Sponsor (Sustainability)

Case: Atutor

Learning Content Management System

Service Features

Requirements

Open Standard

Licensing

Download

Documentation

Membership

Support Forum

Roadmap

Implementation

Project Sponsor

Migration Consideration

• Data reusable

• Essential Skills Set – generic not lock on specific brand of technology

• Runs on multi operating system

• Consider learner familiarity on the standard interface, functionalities and data

Mindset to Manage

Mindset to Manage• Operating System (multi-platform)• Standard Data (Interopertatibility)• Interface (Standard Format)• Functionality (Standard Operation)• % of Change ( convention, function

and workflow)• Skill Set (Competencies)

Multi OS

Saved Data

Data Standard

Export Data

Data Standard

Interface

Functionality

Supported ICT Skills

1. Worprocessing and Textual Editing

2. Spreadsheet Calculation and Database

3. Multimedia Presentation

4. Image and Graphics Manipulation

5. Video Editing

Supported ICT Skills1. Web Site Creation and

Publishing2. Web Browsing 3. Email and Internet

Communication4. Project Management5. Database Creation and Access6. Browser based Application

Programming

FOSS Desktop Application

Office Productivity

http://www.openoffice.org

Desktop Publishing

http://www.scribus.org

Web Authoring

http://www.nvu.com

Internet Tools

Image Manipulation Program

http://www.gimp.org

Vector Graphics

http://www.inkscape.org

3D Graphics & Animation

http://www.blender3d.com

Video Editing

http://www.jahshaka.org

Project Management

http://sourceforge.net/projects/winplanner

Desktop Operating System

http://www.edubuntu.org

FOSS Internet/Intranet Services

Web Services

http://www.apache.org

Database System

http://www.mysql.org

Application Development

http://www.php.net

Application Development

http://www.java.net

Modeling Tools

http://argouml.tigris.org/

Mail Services

http://www.sendmail.org

Mail Services

http://www.squirrelmail.org

Content Management System

http://www.joomla.org

Digital Repository

http://www.dspace.org/

Web Log

http://www.wordpress.com

Forum

http://www.phpbb.com

LCMS

http://www.atutor.ca

WebCasting

http://www.epresence.tv

Network Operating System

http://www.fedora.org

Q&A

John J. MacasioConsultant

Human Capital Development GroupCommission on Information and Communications

Technology

jmacasio@gmx.nethttp://pdeproject.orgfree.com