SaaS is a model that is receiving much hype at the moment. Behind the hype I believe their is some valuable benefits. As someone who is active in the schools sector and the development of applications for it I wanted to gauge peoples views on this area.
Web-based applications
Is SaaS a model that will work in the Schools sector?
By jamiecblake - Posted on March 10th, 2010
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Meet the TCExam author at CeBIT 2010
Date:
02/03/2010 - 06/03/2010 
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.
Google Chrome OS
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30684_3-10401524-265.html?tag=nl.e703
Google announce an Open Source web based operating system for next year. What are the implications for schools? Few thoughts to kick off.
- Nothing to install
- Low cost netbook and smartphone terminals
- No viruses or spyware - nothing user-installed on the terminal
- No need for local servers or storage
- Reduce management all round
Overall a massive reduction in costs for school ICT to the extent where all written work is done through a terminal.
SchoolTool V1.0 Released
Those who've been following the recent discussion thread on open source MIS systems will be pleased to learn of the release of SchoolTool v1.0 after what developer Tom Hoffman describes as a long and winding road, stretching back to 2000.
SchoolTool, whose development has been supported by the Shuttleworth Foundation, is a web-based, open source, student information system and calendar server designed for primary and secondary schools worldwide. The goal of the project is for a simple, turnkey system. Today's version 1 release supports demographics, gradebook, attendance, calendaring (inlcuding timetables and resource booking) and reporting. With a well documented API and modular architecture, it should be possible for other developers to customize SchoolTool to local requirements and add in extra functionality, as well as supporting integration with other web-based tools. There are more details of the feature list at http://book.schooltool.org/htmlhelp/features.html
Schools that have embraced the G
There seems to be this fear of Google Apps for some reason....
Is anyone aware of a school system which has embraced Google apps, in particular Google docs?
I'd be curious how they handle the naysayers....
Open Content and the National Digital Resources Bank
Excellent news today from Gary Clawson, CEO of Northwest Learning Grid about the upcoming launch of the National Digital Resource Bank, a nationwide repository of adaptable, re-useable resources shared under a creative-commons non-commercial, share-alike licence, hosted on an open source platform. Initially, resources will be available for free to those local authorities willing to share their resources with others.
Laconica
Given the increasing interest in Twitter amongst educators, and indeed the general population, it's hardly surprising that a number of teachers are starting to explore ways of using this in class, with ideas including collaborative storytelling, gathering feedback, home-school links, e-penpals and word games (see, eg Tom Barrett's colaborative presentation). The sort of personal learning network which we see people developing through Twitter in their professional lives is certainly something which many students would undoubtedbly benefit from, although, as with much social networking technology, there are challenges here for purposing micro-blogging towards educational rather than social ends, as well as the obvious e-safety issues associated with children's participation in the open web.
Web-based applications
Software that installs on a webserver and is then accessed on-line via the Internet or an intranet.
