ScholarPack - An Open Source MIS for schools
We are offering ScholarPack, an open source MIS, for release today. You can download it from http://www.scholarpack.com along with some documentation. It's free to download and use in your school.
Shortly we will be offering up Census Returns and Statutory Assessment modules, as well as a Parents portal.
There's a forum we've set up on our site where you can discuss the software but I'll be active here to answer any questions too.
Enjoy!
Classdroid – An eportfolio app
Pure on-line learning isn’t working as well as we (or at least I) hoped it would. So I decided to merge on-line and “offline” learning by creating an app that allows a teacher to record a pupils piece of physical work (drawing, writing, sculpture etc.), grade it then send it up to their e-portfolio. All from their mobile phone, using free and open source and open source software.
Classdroid is very much in its infancy as an application and the likelihood is we will maintain a free/light version whilst working on a premium version.
The idea came from working in primary schools during art lessons and running a school blog service at the same time (Primaryblogger). The mash up is obvious and feels natural. It saves the need to pick up a digital camera, copy the file to the computer, upload it, type in the pupils name etc. Now its done with just 3 clicks on the device and boom, job done.
Transfer Summit
Ross Gardler of OSS Watch writes:
With nearly all global organisations using Open Source software today, the industry faces a challenge of properly understanding the development, contribution, and communities instrumental to creating an enterprise-grade Open Source policy and ensuring its successful adoption.
BarCamp Oxford
From http://barcamp.org/BarCampOxford
"BarCamps are ultimately themed by the attendees: what you want to present, the BarCamp will host.
Open Source in Telecommunications
From BCS OSSG Events. Fruther details from http://ossg.bcs.org/2010/03/22/open-source-in-telecommunications-london-220410/
Open Source Hardware User Group Meeting: An Introduction to XCore XS1 & Amino
From BCS OSSG Announcements:
Thursday 29th April, 18:00 – 20:00 BT Westminster, 1A Broadway London, SW1H 0AY
Open Source Show and Tell
"The Open Source Show And Tell (#OSSAT) is a free event taking place roughly twice a year - a chance for fans of open source, open standards and open data to come and show what they've been up to. The next OSSAT is scheduled to start at 6.30pm on Wednesday 14th April. Entry is free, and we ask that you register via the event page on Upcoming. It's not compulsory, but does give us a nice idea of numbers!
Meet the TCExam author at CeBIT 2010
Community members and visitors who are using TCExam in their schools or authorities might be interested in meeting the TCExam author at CeBIT 2010 from March 2nd-6th in Hannover, Germany.
Moodle Moot 2010 Call for papers
Community members and visitors who are using Moodle in their schools or authoties might be interested in presenting a paper at April's UK Moodle Moot in London. The Moots are friendly gatherings with a stong culture of learning from and sharing with fellow delegates from all sectors of the UK Moodle community, and it would be great to have a strong representation from schools at this year's moot.
FOSDEM 2010
From www.fosdem.org/2010/
FOSDEM is a free and non-commercial event organized by the community for the community. The goal is to provide Free Software and Open Source developers and communities a place to meet to:
JISC Developer Days
From www.dev8d.org
Dev8D is 4 days of 100% pure software developer heaven. It will be intense. It will be exhilarating. It will make you a better programmer.
Latest OSS Watch Newsletter
Elena Blanco of OSS Watch writes:
The first OSS Watch newsletter of 2010 has been published and is available on our website at http://www.oss-watch.ac.uk/newsletters/january2010.pdf
We wanted to start the New Year with a bit of a bang and so we are pleased to announce the publication of one of our most difficult-to-produce articles 'Microsoft: an end to open hostilities?' I say difficult-to-produce because we take our non-advocacy role very seriously and so balancing this article with all of the history and strong feelings on all sides was both delicate and time consuming. We are pleased with the result; we hope you will be too.
Moodle Moot 2010 Announced
Next year's Moodle Moot is to be hosted by University of London Computer Centre on 13th and 14th April. Here are the details...
“We are very excited at the opportunity to host MoodleMoot UK 2010” says Mick Kahn, Head of Application Services at ULCC. “Moodle is now the VLE of choice for the UK education sector and a triumph for the Open Source approach and this conference will bring together teachers, developers and administrators to learn from each other and advance the UK e-learning agenda."
We will be hard at work, putting together two days packed with thought provoking keynotes and engaging workshops whilst offering you the chance to meet fellow Moodlers.
Sean Keogh from pteppic.net, a member of the Programme Group for MoodleMoot UK 2010, who organised MoodleMoot UK since it started in 2004, says "I'm very pleased to be handing over the reins of MoodleMoot UK to ULCC. With their engagement of all sectors of the Moodle community, I am sure that they will organise an excellent conference and I look forward to working with them". The conference will be held on 13 & 14 April 2010, at Senate House, the University of London’s iconic Art Deco building, which has recently undergone major refurbishment.
UKUUG Spring 2010 Conference
From UKUUG. See http://www.ukuug.org/events/spring2010/ for details.
UKUUG's annual Large Installation Systems Administration (LISA) conference and tutorials will be held in Manchester on 23-25 March 2010 at the Manchester Conference Centre. The call for papers is now open and we are accepting submissions for tutorials and conference talks.
This conference is a must-attend event for system and network administrators.
“Question Time” on Open Source – Bournemouth
From the BCS Open Source Specialist Group. Details at http://ossg.bcs.org/2009/09/20/question-time-on-open-source-bournemouth-...
In the style of the BBC program “Question Time”, join us for an evening of Q & A on Open Source software. BCS Dorset Branch welcomes the Open Source Specialist Group (OSSG) – for an entertaining evening debating this hot topic. Is Linux the answer to everything?
Public Funds in the UK: Open Source for Document and Content Management?
From BCS Open Source Specialist Group. See http://ossg.bcs.org/2009/09/20/public-funds-in-the-uk-open-source-for-document-and-content-management-london-070110/ for details.
Is Open Source a viable way for the public sector to contain its IT costs? Government policy is gradually becoming more favourable to open source (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7910110.stm).
Creative Computing and Open Source: BETT Seminar
Open Source Schools will be presenting a BETT seminar on 'Creative Computing with Open Source' at 15:45 on Wednesday 13th January. We will showcase a number of case studies about how school students are learning to program and contribute to the development of open source projects using a range of free, downloadable tools. Examples range from Scratch programming in primary schools, through Greenfoot in the secondary curriculum to the development of modules in PHP for web-based applications such as Moodle.
The BETT Open Source Café
Open Source Schools and Open Forum Europe, supporters of open source and open standards, have joined forces to create something rather special for this year's BETT.
We hope that teachers, techies and leaders who are successfully using open source software in education will join us to share their experience and expertise in an informal, friendly environment at the Open Source Café on Stand L20 in the Supporting Next Generation Zone (formerly the Policy in Practice Zone). In open source barcamp style, there will be at least 24 slots throughout the four days for community members and supporters to host 30 minute sessions in a manner of their choosing; this could be a presentation, workshop or round table discussion. We plan to film sessions for later upload to YouTube etc.
Update: Press release below
Update: session sign-up wiki online, plus further details.
Open Source Schools will also be presenting a BETT seminar on 'Creative Computing with Open Source' at 15:45 on Wednesday 13th January. We will showcase a number of case studies about how school students are learning to program and contribute to the development of open source projects using a range of free, downloadable tools. Examples range from Scratch programming in primary schools, through Greenfoot in the secondary curriculum to the development of modules in PHP for web-based applications such as Moodle.
Open Source and Services
Dear All,
I have been teaching ICT for four years in a secondary school in the UK and have always been an open source advocate. Unfortunately the picture I have seen so far is that most of the closed source software vendors (such as Microsoft, RM and co) have nearly 100% of the market.
It is actually extremely difficult to convince people of the benefits of Open Source, except for the part that "it is free" (no charge). The problem is not the price, but the guarantee of support when things go wrong. Hence, preference is given to closed source solutions.