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.

tbateson's picture

How to move forward with Open Source: the network managers’ perspective

By tbateson – Posted on March 24th, 2010

I have copied my "straw man" discussion paper for use this Friday.

Would love to hear any views on OSS in relation to other peoples experiences,ROI, TCO or anything else 🙂

Thanks,
Tim

Introduction

Tim Bateson ICT Strategy Manager for Houghton Kepier Sports College – a Trust School A collection of personal thoughts and questions on using OSS.

Why Use Open source in Schools

To add value to the curriculum in relation to the depth and breadth of software that can be made available to staff and learners.

To save tax payers money. Our school once saved £32,000 in a single year, so I thought I would extrapolate  a possible average saving  per school.  According to the DCSF Stastical First Release (SRF) there were 25,018 schools in 2007. I have "guesstimated" an average saving for each school designation. Interested to hear other peoples views on what a school could save or maybe even use this to show how much value could be added?

Date Primary Schools Secondary Schools Nursery Schools Special Schools/PRU Pupil Referral Units Independent Schools Total
2007 17361 3343 448 1078 448 2340 25018
Avg Saving £2,500.00 £5,000.00 £1,000.00 £2,500.00 £2,500.00 £2,500.00  
1 Year £43,402,500.00 £16,715,000.00 £448,000.00 £2,695,000.00 £1,120,000.00 £5,850,000.00 £70,230,500.00
5 Years £217,012,500.00 £83,575,000.00 £2,240,000.00 £13,475,000.00 £5,600,000.00 £29,250,000.00 £351,152,500.00
Tagged:  
Doug Belshaw's picture

How to move forward with Open Source: a teacher’s perspective

By Doug Belshaw – Posted on March 24th, 2010

The Problem(s)

Open Source Software is not used extensively in most schools in the UK. Where it is used it is mostly used because it is free (as in beer), solving a particular need. 

In addition, teachers are exceptionally time-poor (especially those who hold whole-school responsibilities) and are bombarded with information and offers from companies wanting to gain a slice of a guaranteed market.

Examples from the field

1.   A teacher, frustrated with Internet Explorer, looks for an   alternative. She comes across Mozilla Firefox, installs it and is   happy. The add-ons/extensions are an added bonus and the teacher   makes her colleagues aware of it. 

Later, the teacher (as well as her new converts) attempts to access   the school’s Management Information System   (MIS) through Firefox, but can’t.   Upon approaching an ICT technician she is informed that the MIS ‘only works with   Internet Explorer.’ 

After some searching online she finds that Firefox can be configured to work with   the MIS. She provides this evidence to the network manager’s team but is rebuffed   as ‘Firefox cannot be locked down in the same way as Internet Explorer’.

Tagged:  

Software Directory Review

Submitted by Admin on Sat, 13/03/2010 – 7:04am

We’ve added a few software titles to the Software Directory recently, but this is not by any means, a final or definative list. 

Are there applications that you are using that we’ve missed?

Are there applications that you would like to see, but don’t know if they exist with Open Source licences?

Many of the tools that we have listed are Windows based.  Are there FOSS tools that you use that are Linux or Mac only?

Most important of all, which tools are really, really good to use in a school setting and which are just "ok".

What’s on your bookshelf?

By Admin – Posted on March 8th, 2010

Packt publishing have a rather nice line in technical guides to a wide range of software applications, with a particularly strong list of open source titles. A couple of new titles look interesting, and I hope to include reviews when I’ve had chance to read them. 

Michael Badger’s Scratch 1.4: Beginner’s Guide, covers the basics of Scratch, covering some elementary programming concepts in the process: "This book provides teachers, parents, and new programmers with a guided tour of Scratch’s features by creating projects that can be shared, remixed, and improved upon in your own lesson plans. Soon you will be creating games, stories, and animations by snapping blocks of "code" together." [Sample chapter]

maharaAlso of interest is a book, Mahara 1.2 E-Portfolios by community member and unconference presenter Glenys Bradbury and others introducing Mahara, the popular e-portfolio, blogging, social networking software that, thanks to single sign on with Moodle, is the platform of choice for many institutions: "This book will introduce to the exciting features of Mahara framework and help you develop a feature-rich e-portfolio for yourself." [Sample chapter]

Tagged:  
mberry's picture

Social Constructivism and Open Source

By mberry – Posted on March 8th, 2010

Teachers TVLast November, I had the rather strage experience of having one of my lectures filmed, the resulting programme now having been broadcast on Teachers’ TV. Whilst the BBC haven’t yet been in touch about my taking over from Jonathan Ross, folks here might be interested in a 45′ peek into the day job, especially as the subject matter for that Friday’s lecture was ‘Social constructivism and open source software’.

MGB lecture

Tagged:  

Open CPD?

Submitted by Admin on Tue, 02/02/2010 – 3:58pm

Vital, a joint Open University / e-Skills project addressing teachers’ CPD needs funded by the DCSF are inviting contributions of CPD resources for a new Open Course Movement initiative.

Built on open source platforms Moodle and Drupal, the Vital site provides a range of online CPD materials related to the use of technology in schools as well as acting as a hub for other training providers. Project director Peter Twining describes the Open Course Movement as being "to course materials what the Open Source Movement is to software." He says,

The OCM aims to enable ICT CPD providers (and others) to collaborate on the development of course materials which will be available on a Creative Commons licence. The benefits of this will be:

  • reduced development costs for individual ICT CPD providers
  • enhanced quality of course provision through the pooling of expertise and staff time in developing the materials
  • greater consistency of ICT CPD provision across the country
  • greater pool of high quality ICT CPD resources available for everyone to use (on a Creative Commons licence)

 

This sounds like a great opportunity for teachers and others in the open source community to work together to develop Moodle courses to share their insights and experiences of technology in education, either focussing on the use of particular applications to support or extend learning, or addressing broader issues.

Bash's picture

Open Source Schools and the Future

By Bash – Posted on February 1st, 2010

Hi All,

To help inform the future direction of the website and to ensure that the website is relevant to you as the user, it is neccesary to understand why people visit the website. Namely, what are the motivations of the Open Source Schools community.

Tagged:  

New Government ICT Strategy Published Today

Submitted by Admin on Wed, 27/01/2010 – 12:25pm

The Cabinet Office has launched the new Government ICT Strategy today, applying across the whole of the public sector. Open source, open standards and re-use is one of the fourteen strands for delivering the strategy, which promises £3.2 billion savings annually from 2013/14.

Last year’s Action Plan on open source, open standards and re-use has been revised, with a new version released today, which:

  • brings this in line with developments in cloud computing, most notably the G-Cloud (G for government, not Google, this time),
  • stops open source from being rejected because proprietary software has been purchased up front, and
  • adds a line to say that "If [suppliers] are unable to provide evidence of fair consideration of open source solutions, their bid will be deemed non-compliant with government policy and the proposal is likely to be automatically be delisted from the procurement."

The latter point would have significant implications for BSF and other managed service procurements.

The Government Application Store, sort of like an iphone App Sore but for really, really big apps, is another of the strands. This will offer ‘an online portal for the sharing and reuse of online business applications, services and components across the public sector’. If applied to education as well as the rest of the public sector, this could bring big savings and provide a firm basis for interoperability. Given its popularlity in schools, colleges and local authorities, Moodle must surely be a strong contender for the G-AS, as perhaps are other important web-based apps popular with teachers and pupils, such as Drupal, WordPress and Elgg.

Moodle Moot 2010 Call for papers

Submitted by Admin on Fri, 22/01/2010 – 11:08am

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.

A good BETT…

By Admin – Posted on January 19th, 2010

Barcamp on the Open Source Café

The Open Source Café at last week’s BETT show was an undoubted success. Open Source School had teamed up with friends from Open Forum Europe to host the Café over the four days of the show, with a rolling programme of barcamp style presentations, advice and copies of open source software available on CD ROM. The Café had a very vibrant atmosphere throughout the show, with familiar faces stopping by for a chat, visits from schools, both at home and abroad, who are successfully using a range of open source software, and much interest from those with little or no experience of open source in educational contexts.

Online treasures