Open Source Schools is here to share information about open source software in schools. Our aim is to help you decide whether open source software might offer benefits for learning, teaching, engaging pupils and parents, managing information and resources, or school administration.

The website provides information and articles about open source software, advice on getting started, case studies of its adoption in schools, a directory for exploring what is available, and a glossary. All registered members are welcome to create content for the site.

We are building a community of people who have experience of open source software in schools, and those who are just getting started. There are a number of forums for you to share ideas and experiences and contribute to the debate about the use of open source software in schools.

A detailed look at the Open Source VLC media player

By Anonymous – Posted on November 29th, 2010

Now would be a good time to remind people of the cross platform VLC open source media player which has an excellent overview showcased at makeuseof.com.

This is a superb article on all aspects of this player especially what formats it plays for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. If you need a media player to distribute in your school VLC should definitely be worth considering.

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MIT Labs hacks the kinect for Chrome Browser extension

By LeonCych – Posted on November 29th, 2010

In this article via readwrite.com MIT Labs is shown hacking a Kinect via an open source Chrome browser extension. 

These developments could come together to provide an interface for Early Years children and the disabled in all sorts of interesting ways in education.

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101 Lectures for Open Source Education

By LeonCych – Posted on November 27th, 2010

From the onlinecollege.org a list of 101 Lectures for Open Source Education

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Is working smarter going for Open Source or out further to Open Educational Resources in the cloud or on Apps

Submitted by LeonCych on Sat, 27/11/2010 – 8:47pm

Reading Harold Jarche’s latest blog post From learning to working technologies – it is interesting to see how he uses the graph of Moore’s Technology Adoption Curve and applies it to the Learning Technologies Industry.

It has lessons for the schools’ ICT industry in the UK. The Late Adopters and Laggards are still stuck in the doldrums of LMS (VLEs) Compliance and features and functions.

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Stephen Downes on OER – Open Education Resources

By LeonCych – Posted on November 27th, 2010

In this latest video from Stephen Downes he talks about the latest trends, Open Education Resources and the probability of their use.

http://downes.blip.tv/file/4295646/

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Could Analysis and Application of Open Data be where Academic and Vocational subjects meet?

By LeonCych – Posted on November 27th, 2010

Analysing data is the future for journalists, says Tim Berners-Lee in a Guardian article earlier this week.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/nov/22/data-analysis-tim-berners-lee

This whole area is an interesting development where traditional jobs and data are beginning to emerge. I wonder if this has implications for the new curriculum where Academic vs Vocational?

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Open, Social and Participatory media as cognitive learning tools – Cloudworks a new Social Media Networking tool

By LeonCych – Posted on November 27th, 2010

Gráinne Conole is writing a book on the above subject over at http://e4innovation.com/?p=394 – in her blog post she mentions a new Open Social Media Networking tool called Cloudworks which can be seen in practice here:

http://cloudworks.ac.uk/

and open source download is available here:

http://bitbucket.org/cloudengine/cloudengine/wiki/Home

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The K12 Open Source Classroom Website

Submitted by LeonCych on Tue, 23/11/2010 – 11:13pm

An interesting new Open Source Education website in the US has emerged, the K12OpenSourceClassroom has an excellent news section and the beginnings of a Moodle, Forum and Gallery.

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Second Release of System aimed at Two Years Old Kids is on the Way

By ipitgpu – Posted on November 15th, 2010

DoudouLinux is a system designed for children to make computer use as easy and pleasant as possible for them (and why not their parents too!). DoudouLinux provides tens of applications that suit children as soon as 2 years old and tries to give them an environment as easy to use as a gaming console.

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ICT Excellence Award for best secondary school goes to open source users

By Admin – Posted on November 8th, 2010

Belated congratulations to Brian Lockwood and the rest of the team at Egglescliffe school for winning the national award for best whole school (secondary) in the last Becta ICT Excellence Awards.

Here’s what Becta had to say about their entry:

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