Open Source in K-12 Education

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Contents

[edit] When and Where

Google Summer of Code 2008 Mentor Summit, Day 2 1:30pm in Accra

[edit] Hosts

Bill Kendrick, Caroline Ford and David Bruce, Tux4Kids.

[edit] Attendance

Name Mentoring Org Focus
David Bruce Tux4Kids TuxMath, TuxType
Bill Kendrick Tux4Kids Tux Paint
Greg Lund-Chaix OSUOSL
Hironobu Suzuki The Free Software Initiative of Japan Edu-based Knoppix on USB Stick
Caroline Ford Tux4Kids Tux Paint
Ludovic Dubost Xwiki Curriki.org
Anthony Borrow Moodle Contrib coordinator
Charles Severance Sakai/IMS
 ?? OLAT
 ??  ??
Karsten Wade Fedora
Joel Sherrill RTEMS

[edit] Notes

[edit] Acceptance: Problems

  • some trouble convincing schools to use OSS (IT staffs don't want to deal w/ more apps) (even if fully hosted and maintained, e.g. osuosl)
  • teachers are in crisis mode. worried about 'no child left behind' test scores. change is too difficult.
  • places like UK, they get funding and 'everything handed down on-high'. getting anything else (even Free Software) costs money (i.e., support/installation).
  • sometimes have to battle govt over propositions that are anit-OSS
  • weird questions about 'permission' to use OSS (despite the license). school/districts have weird requirements.
  • schools entrenched w/o proprietary software due to vendors (e.g., win32 software came with a microscope, software that comes with books, inability to access content (e.g., discovery channel?))
    • textbook industry needs to produce more platform-neutral, software-wise (good luck!)
  • UK has a 'european computer driving license' (microsoft-centric!!!?)

[edit] Acceptance: Success Stories

  • recognition/familiarity beginning to be outweighed by cost savings
  • some teachers subverting IT - kids then get excited about the alternatives
  • charter schools a good 'target' / entrance point for OSS.

[edit] Pros of OSS in K12

[edit] Cons of OSS in K12

  • volunteers can be great w/ donating hardware, installing software, etc., but in some cases it's _never used_ due to lack of training!
  • pro-OSS people in schools worry about risking their jobs by not going with the 'typical' vendors (despite budget savings)
  • curriculum is a big issue
    • check out curriki.org (a content organization, a la wikipedia, but for curric.)

[edit] Stumbling blocks to development of K12 OSS

  • how do OSS projects get coursework out to schools (example: Fedora at college level; but obviously need to be end-to-end: kindergarten and up)
  • insane copyright issues (e.g., cannot use british money stamps in tux paint!!!??)
  • worry about volunteer burn-out

[edit] Things OSS developers should consider doing

  • OSS software should look to get 'certified' by organizations like BECTA in UK.
  • get into ed/tech conferences (vendors not allowed in 'ed' side, must stay in vendor side. OSS projects are neither.) (even when OSS people get into the vendor section, teachers and IT people expect it to cost, and wonder "what's the catch?")
  • get your name trademarked. fedora has a 'secondary' mark (remix concept). draft guidelines: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/User:Pfrields/NewTrademarkGuidelines
    • careful about trojans/etc. in your OSS
    • get EFF excited about protecting trademarks
    • can SPI take your trademark as IP?
  • OSS projects should talk to Apple about including software in their "distribution" (e.g., someone in Apple Edu.)
  • sometimes we need to accept that 'things are the way they are'

[edit] Noted items

  • note to caroline: you want to look up UK ed/tech conf in january
  • this list was reorganized and categorized by Bill Kendrick after the session, on 2008-10-27
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