Transcript File

Open Source and Free Software
in Education
Rich Fielding
IT 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.
MySQL
• www.mysql.org - The Database
• It holds the data.
• Kind of boring.
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
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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