Open Source and Free Software in Education Rich Fielding IT Director Regional School District 13.
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Transcript of Open Source and Free Software in Education Rich Fielding IT Director Regional School District 13.
Open Source and Free Softwarein Education
Rich FieldingIT Director
Regional School District 13
What I hope to cover
• Brief descriptions of – Open Source Software– Free Software and the GNU GPL• Not the kind of free that normally comes to mind
– Free Software• The kind you were thinking about before, $$$• Special focus on Google Apps for Education
Is it difficult?
• Yes and No• Yes – some aspects of open source require
advanced knowledge of programming languages such as C+ and Perl…that said
• No – there are many programs that install on Windows and Mac just like any other program
• No – most of the major projects have detailed instructions and wikis developed to support implementation
Open Source Software
• OpenSource.org• Any software developed under the GNU
General Public License (GPL). IE: Linux, Mozilla Firefox and others to be discussed
The GNU Project
• Principally sponsored by the Free Software Foundation. www.fsf.org
• The GNU Project was launched in 1984 to develop a complete Unix-like operating system which is free software: the GNU system.
• The name “GNU” is a recursive acronym for “GNU's Not Unix”
The GNU GPL
• While the GNU kernel is still incomplete, the GNU General Public License is widely used for other GNU and non-GNU projects
• Write this down: http://directory.fsf.org/• Has enabled the “Open Source Community”
by allowing input on projects from volunteers who contribute on all levels.
How Open Source Projects work
• Sites dedicated to hosting Open Source projects like Sourceforge.net where thousands of projects are worked on
• Software distributions(versions) are available to download as source and compiled for a variety of Operating Systems. Linux, Windows, Mac OS X and Unix
How Open Source Projects work
• Programmers test and tweak the software, uploading changes or patches to the code to the developers website.
• The developers take the modifications along with others and incorporate them into their next distribution, or build.
• Some software apps have daily or weekly builds depending on how many resources they have
Web 2.0 Apps
• The Web as a platform – Blogs, Wikis, Social Networking, Video Sharing
• Requires that websites (front end) interconnect to live databases (back end) that can then record and display data.
• The Tools – Apache, PHP, MySQL, and phpMyAdmin.
Currently in use at District 13
• These three packages require a web server that runs Apache, PHP and MySQL. All are open source and free and are found on hundreds of web hosts.
• Moodle – “Blackboard” type web based course management system - www.rsd13ct-moodle.org
• Wordpress – Blog and website tool for teachers’ websites. Host it yourself or wordpress.net will do it for free.
• Joomla – Website Content Management system for our school newspaper. - www.crhsnews.org
Apache
• www.apache.org - Apache Web Server runs 65% of the world’s web servers.
• Cross Platform• Not exactly an Open Source model – a
“meritocracy”• The Apache Group(95’ish), later the Apache
Software Foundation (ASF) 1999.
PHP
• www.php.net - One of many scripting languages, including Perl, Java, Python, Ruby and more.
• Can be embedded into html.• Connects the html to the database• phpMyAdmin – the tool to administer the
database
Building Your Own Web Server
• A computer – PC or Mac• Operating System – Windows 2000 or XP, Mac
OS X or Linux• Apache• Host HTML websites – use NVU• Add PHP and MySQL for more capabilities• Highly recommend a hardware firewall
NVU
• www.nvu.com• NVU – Pronounced N-View is a full fledged
WYSIWYG html editor with FTP capabilities.
Moodle
• Course Management system that requires Apache, PHP and MySQL.
• www.moodle.org• Can be used for one teacher or an entire
university. • Extremely well resourced Open Source
Community, Lots of documentation, not too easy to get setup
Wordpress
• www.wordpress.org• Another extremely well supported application• Very easy to get setup.• Lots of free plugins and themes• Free hosting from wordpress.net
Joomla and Drupal
• www.joomla.org and www.drupal.org• Extremely powerful content management
systems• Very flexible• Not as easy to get setup• Lots of free and commercial add-ons.
Others Currently in use at District 13
• Koha – library automation system that we are still implementing. Based on PERL, also free. New Beta is not always better.
• Tux4Kids – a suite of programs including easy to use programs like TuxPaint as well as games that reinforce simple math, typing and others.
• Seashore – more advanced image editing tool for Mac OS X
Google Apps for Education
• www.google.com/a• Primary Features – Email (Gmail) – Uses your own domain name, or sub-domain. Our
students addresses are [email protected]
– 7+ GB of storage space per user– Web Based– Unlimited Number of Accounts– FREE FOR SCHOOLS! Compared to $75/user for
comparable business edition
Google Docs
• Word, Excel and Powerpoint compatible programs.
• Online, live, collaboration on documents with other users.
• Upload/download documents and files
Google Docs Screen Shot
Sample Doc using collaboration
Document Revision History
Additional Features
• Calendar – Allowed• Google Sites – Not Allowed• Google Chat – Not Allowed
• Web Based Management – http://www.student.rsd13ct.org
Downside
• Web based administration has major limitations with regard to mass changes.
• Email archiving by Postini is expensive, though comparable to any other archiving system.
• Security is difficult to achieve– email blacklist/whitelist issues.
Contact Info
• Rich Fielding – [email protected]• Websites to check out:– www.rsd13ct-moodle.org– www.crhsnews.org– www.moodle.org– www.wordpress.org– www.nvu.com– www.icdsoft.com