Open Source Schools

 I am a governor at a lower school, and I also work in IT, so I am aware of the savings that can be made by using open source software.

I have suggested several times that the school could save money by using the free OpenOffice package instead of purchasing licenses for Microsoft Office 2003, but the schools view is that children would eventually have to learn MS Office anyway when they leave school, so there is little point in making them use an alternative package.

To be fair, I don't think they are spending much on the MS Office licenses - the cost of the hardware is far more significant. However, I would still be interested in how other schools justify OpenSource when there is resistance like this.

There are a couple of public consultation exercises happening at the moment to which community members may wish to respond.

The DfE is inviting views on the future of capital funding for schools, now that many BSF projects have been put on hold for the foreseeable future. There aren't, surprise, surprise, many questions here about IT's place in big educational procurement, but members may still wish to register their views. Be warned that the online response form is not a shining example of web form design, so the attached Word file (I know...) may be of more use if you would like to share your views. I'm happy to collate a collective Open Source Schools response if there's sufficient interest. The closing date is quite soon for this, on Friday 17th September.

With a fair flurry of publicity back at the beginning of August, the Royal Society launched its 18 month study of computing in schools, its importance and its implications for the economic and scientific wellbeing of the UK. The press release speaks of a belief that the 'design and delivery of ICT and computer science curricula in schools is so poor that students' understanding and enjoyment of the subjects is severely limited', which I suspect may strike a chord with many here, who've struggled against the Office training culture now prevalent in many schemes of work and specifications.

The study is chaired by Prof Steve Furber FRS, who was one of the original BBC Micro team :-). He said:

"We are now watching the enthusiasm of the next generation waste away through poorly conceived courses and syllabuses. If we cannot address the problem of how to educate our young people in inspirational and appropriate ways, we risk a future workforce that is totally unskilled and unsuited to tomorrow’s job market.”

... but I'm sure he'll approach the evidence with an open mind.

The call for evidence is now open, until 5th November, see the other attachment. I think it would be worth putting together an Open Source Schools response to this, so I've created a wiki style page so that community members can collaborate there if they wish. Just click the edit tab once you've logged in.

After the election and looking to the post-Becta future, Open Source Schools has been making new plans to ensure that the community is able to respond to the changing educational landscape where the benefits offered by open source are becoming ever more important.

A number of core community members were invited to a meeting on 29 June 2010 to develop an action plan for the future, and this group will continue to meet virtually or in real space on a regular, monthly basis. The group initially consists of:

• Tim Bateson, Network Manager, Houghton Kepier Sports College
• Alan Bell, CTO, Open Forum Europe
• Miles Berry, Senior Lecturer in ICT Education, Roehampton University
• Gary Clawson, CEO, NWGfL
• Leon Cych, CEO, Learn 4 Life
• Paul Haigh, Assistant Head, Notre Dame High School
• Brian Lockwood, Head of IT, Egglescliffe School
• Anne Matthews, Director, AlphaPlus Consultancy Ltd
• David Willmot, Head of D&T, St Thomas More Language College 

This informal steering group agreed to work together on a voluntary basis and a number of tasks are already in hand.  Over the summer work on the website will be undertaken to develop the navigation to provide tailored content for specific audiences, initially senior leadership and network managers.

The openSUSE Education team have released a version of of openSUSE Edu: Linux for Education(Li-f-e) which is based on openSUSE 11.3. It would appear to have a good mixture of desktop software and programming languages. It also has wine preinstalled to allow Windows applications to run. It also includes some Learning Management Systems and Course Management systems.

It's interesting how open source approaches are gradually tipping the balance in favour of open platforms when it comes to developing for smart phones. Whilst Apple's highly locked down iOS4 platform continues to command a large slice of market share, things are gradually tipping the other way, with the news that for Q1 2010 in the US at least phones using Google's open source Android platform (such as my shiny new HTC Desire :-)) actually outsold Apple's handsets. Although the iPad and iPhone 4 will have given Apple sales a boost, the connectivity problems with the iPhone when it's held the wrong way, the continued absence of Flash support and the restrictive terms imposed on iOS developers are unlikely to do Apple many long term favours. Witness, for example, the removal from the App Store of the Scratch 'player'.

At the moment, Apple continue to command a lead in the sheer number of apps available in their App Store when compared to the Android Marketplace. However, all this may now be set to change, with Google now inviting applications to access a beta of its App Inventor suite of applications, which takes the building block approach to programming familiar to users of Scratch via the Open Blocks Java Library to make it possible for pretty much anyone to make a start on creating their own mobile phone application, making use of all of Android's core functionality like its accelerometer, GPS and text to speech, as well as interfacing with public APIs for services such as Google Apps and Twitter.

Originally posted to Naace's Advisory Talk List

For Local Authorities the world has changed for us all with the recent cuts to HT Grant and it is very clear that IT support services and products that we currently provide will not be provided next year. This is likely to have a serious detrimental impact on Local Authority staff employed in supporting ICT.......unless we quickly put in a cost effective way of providing ICT services to schools that incorporates these valuable people and yet is a lower cost than before. I firmly believe that this can be done through the implementation of open services.

Oringinally posted at MerlinJohnOnline, but comments welcome below...

So far, things have not gone particularly well for ICT in schools under the new government. We've seen Becta's funding withdrawn, the Rose curriculum thrown away, £100 Million removed from the 'low priority' Harnessing Technology grants and now BSF 'frozen'. Mike Baker's piece for the BBC on Saturday provided a good summary of the story so far. The worst, I fear, is yet to come with 25% cuts overall in public sector spending. The need to save money wherever possible suggests that open source may be the solution that had been waiting for this particular problem. I've remarked elsewhere on the fit between open source principles and coalition policy/rhetoric, but I suspect it's the massive cost savings which open source could offer that will perhaps lead many to start exploring open source even if it doesn't fit perfectly with their vision.

Becta's 2005 survey of the total cost of ownership savings from open source is well worth another look, claiming savings of 24%-44%, but I think, with a little imagination and perhaps a little more courage, significantly greater savings would be possible. I offer below a few thoughts on how to do this, in part inspired by Ray Fleming's list of ten money saving tips on his Microsoft UK Schools Blog, which include good, platform independent ideas like using virtualisation, switching on power management, and stopping photocopying and printing, although I don't think Ray goes nearly far enough in terms of how much schools can save by doing things for free and for themselves. As with Ray's list, some of the following aren't specific to particular software solutions, but I think the freedom, community and empowerment that are at the heart of the open source movement characterise those suggestions which aren't directly about open source software.