Open Technologies

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Open Technologies
Challenges and Opportunities in their use within
K-12 Education
http//k-12.pisd.edu/open
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Our Students

• Have access to a far greater number of
  information resources than traditional learning
  environments provided
• Understand and expect information to be readily
  available and free
• Discern little difference between virtual and
  physical worlds

Student Speak Up Day Survey - NetDay
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Our Students

• Enjoy new opportunities to create, remix, and
  share digital content thanks to the Internet
• Live in a world filled with self-authored,
  customized, and on-demand content, much of which
  is easily replicated, manipulated, and
  redistributable
• More than half of online teens are Content
  Creators

Teen Content Creators and Consumers, Pew
Internet American Life Project, 2005
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Open Technologies

• Open flow of rich global knowledge resources to
  support learning
• Make knowledge more publicly accessible
• Build and support a culture of willingness to
  share resources
• Promote production of web-based resources by
  students and teachers

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Open Technologies

• Based on collaboration (not just sharing) as the
  underlying theme with the resulting product
  providing much of the satisfaction in place of
  money
• Typically considered equivalent to open source
  software such as operating systems, applications
  and content that is available with no or few
  licensing restrictions such as the Creative
  Commons License model

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Open Technologies Include

• Open source software
• Operating systems
• Applications
• Content
• Data interoperability using open standards
• interoperability is the ability of two or more
  ICT assets (hardware devices, communications
  devices, software or data) to work together
• Hardware devices using open source operating
  systems

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Do You Use Open Technologies?

• Linux runs the 100,000 servers used to provide
  Google services
• Amazon.com runs primarily on open sourceLinux,
  MySQL, Mason
• HTML the Page Source menu

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What is Open Source software?

• Three primary categories of open source software
• Operating systems
• Linux
• Applications
• Apache (web server) MySQL (structured database)
  OpenOffice (office suite) Firefox (web browser)
  WordPress (weblog)
• Content
• Wikipedia (online encyclopedia) New York Public
  Library Digital Gallery (photos)

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Key GNU Public License (GPL) Terms

• Licensee may run the Program
• Licensee may copy and distribute verbatim copies
  of the Programs source code
• Licensee may create derivative works of the
  Program
• Licensee may distribute such derivative works

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Key Creative Commons License Terms

• Attribution
• Others may copy, distribute, display and perform
  works as long as they give credit
• Noncommercial
• Every use OK as long as noncommercial
• No Derivative Works
• Only verbatim use of works
• Share Alike
• Distribute derivative works under the same type
  of license

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In Contrast to Open Source

• Typically, no source code is available
• Proprietary software that has restrictions on
  use, distribution and modification prevented by
  legal or technical means
• Freeware software made available free of
  charge, but users do not have the freedom to
  study, modify or redistribute
• Shareware obtained free of charge but
  accompanied by a request for payment after a
  trial period
• Public Domain no laws restrict any use

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Proprietary versus Open Source
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Open Source Operating Systems

• Novell SUSE Linux
• Red Hat Linux
• Ubuntu Linux
• NetBSD
• KDE Desktop

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Open Source Applications

• OpenOffice
• Firefox
• GIMP
• Moodle
• Nvu

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Open Source Content

• Wikimedia Foundation
• New York Public Library Digital Gallery
• MIT Open Courseware Project
• Creative Commons

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Why Use Open Source?

• Cost savings
• Stability
• No forced upgrades
• Access and broad rights to source code
• Access to skilled community of developers
• Ability to define and expedite new development
• Global collaboration and social prudence

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Why NOT Use Open Source?

• Free like a puppy
• Migration costs
• Uncertainty about open development model
• Lack of IP warranties and indemnities
• Lack of performance warranties
• Copyleft provisions of GPL, LGPL and similar
  licenses require
• distribute the source code for the Program and
  for the work based on the Program, and
• cause such works to be licensed at no charge
  under the terms of the GPL

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What is Data Interoperability?

• Open Formats are specifications for data file
  formats that are based on an underlying open
  standard, developed by an open community,
  affirmed and maintained by a standards body and
  are fully documented and publicly available.

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What is Data Interoperability?

• Standards and specifications for the presentation
  of data as office documents, text, numbers, maps,
  graphics, video and audio. The selection of
  format must consider the access channel being
  used (Web, PDA, cell phone), the nature of the
  data and structure (legal requirements that
  address preservation of document structure), and
  ease of accessibility for users.

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Examples of Data Interoperability

• Open Standards
• Organization for the Advancement of Structured
  Information Standards (OASIS)
• Open Government Interoperability Standard (OGIS)
• Open database connectivity (ODBC)
• Extensible markup language (XML)
• Schools Interoperability Framework (SIF)

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Hardware Devices Using Open Source

• Computers
• Handhelds
• MP3 players
• Digital cameras
• Game systems
• Cell phones
• Watches

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The New Technology Decision Model?
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The New Technology Decision Model?

• Considerations for adoption
• Financial
• Initial implementation cost
• Ongoing support and training
• Customization
• Social
• Provide maximum access to all users
• Collaborative effort benefits users and
  developers
• Political
• Internal stakeholders experience clearly
  identified benefits
• External stakeholders understand and support
  decision to investigate non-traditional
  technology options

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The New Technology Decision Model?
Source Gartner Research (adapted)
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And Back to Our Students
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And Back to Our Students
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Your Discussion and Suggestions

• Where should K-12 education systems begin their
  investigations into open technologies?
• What are the greatest opportunities in applying
  open technologies within K-12 education systems?
• What are the greatest risks in applying open
  technologies within K-12 education systems?

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Open Technologies
Challenges and Opportunities in their use within
K-12 Education
http//k-12.pisd.edu/open