Education

How open educational resources from pre-K to 12th grade present accessibility problems

Digital technology and open educational resources have enormous potential and power with young children. For parents of special needs children, especially those who are blind or visually impaired, dyslexic, or physically or cognitively impaired, the situation is compounded. Parents usually have to advocate to ensure that teachers and schools, even preschools, have educational materials are accessible and available for their child's use. » Read more

4 CommentsPosted 14 May 2012 by Carolyn Fox

Nepal and the impact of open source

Nepal is one of the poorest countries in the world with many gender, educational, and digital divides. Yet it is gradually being transformed by open source and digital technology. There's little question that as Nepal seeks to help its citizens become a part of the global digital economy, it faces a series of challenges: political instability, remote physical access, poor infrastructure, and rural poverty. In April 2012, the World Economic Forum released a report that identified Nepal as one of the least networked countries in the world, at the bottom of world rankings. » Read more

4 CommentsPosted 8 May 2012 by Carolyn Fox

The day TuxPaint became contagious

I work at a public library with 28 Linux stations made publicly available in four separate rooms. The room in which I spend most of my time has 10 computers, and elementary and middle school students stop by daily after school to use them. About 90 percent of the children use the computers for games, and about 10 percent use them for doing homework. Very few use the computer for creative graphics applications. I'm bent on changing that. » Read more

14 CommentsPosted 4 May 2012 by Phil Shapiro

Thoughts on President Obama's comments on higher education on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon

President Obama was on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon which was recorded at the University of North Carolina. Higher education and student loans were a big part of their conversation (see vidoes below). » Read more

15 CommentsPosted 26 Apr 2012 by Mary Ann (Red Hat)

Teaching open source: Team operating principles that can be used on any project

Team operating principles: the open source way

Matt Jadud and Mel Chua have been friends of opensource.com from the beginning. Together with others they "are working on (the) Craft of Electronics, a curriculum for college-level electronics in a craft-first (and theory-sometime-later) format, through learning from, participating in, and contributing to the open hardware movement."

In efforts to explain what it means to operate in the "open source way," Matt wrote a set of guidelines for their team. We thought he was on to something so we’ve taken the liberty (with Matt’s blessing, of course) to build on what he started. We think they make fine tips for anyone contemplating a project the open source way. » Read more

0 CommentsPosted 25 Apr 2012 by Mary Ann (Red Hat)

Evolution of open source and commercial providers for learning management systems

Evolution of open source and commercial providers for lms

The recent announcement by Blackboard (Bb) that it was acquiring two Moodle service providers was quite interesting to anyone who follows open source in higher education. Over the years, Blackboard has emerged as a market leader in the learning management system (LMS) arena, through both product development and acquisition. At the same time, Blackboard has attracted considerable heat and a large dose of scorn for a patent the company filed and tried to enforce. That patent was viewed by many to be an attempt to corner the LMS market and to claim invention of many LMS features in use well before Blackboard’s supposed date of invention. (Read coverage of the long story and eventual Blackboard loss in the courts.) Particularly for fans of open source, this sort of behavior does not make Blackboard an admired company, and acquisitions in the Moodle niche are much more likely to raise eyebrows than cheers. » Read more

0 CommentsPosted 19 Apr 2012 by Greg Hislop

Five Questions with LadyAda (Limor Fried)

This 5-questions interview is with Limor Fried (Ladyada of Adafruit Industries), and in it I ask some questions about open hardware and, more specifically, the Flora, her newest open hardware creation. » Read more

0 CommentsPosted 17 Apr 2012 by Matt Jadud

Unschooling is the open source way

The words unschooling and open source often make people take a step back. But if there is any mode of learning that fully embraces the philosophy of the open source way, it is unschooling. Some even use the phrase open source learning to describe unschooling. Both unschooling and open source are revolutionary concepts based on freedom of choice. They encourage us to rethink and reassess what, when, where, how, and why we learn. » Read more

9 CommentsPosted 5 Apr 2012 by Carolyn Fox

Infographic: The higher education bubble, Part two

In part one of this infographic series, we looked at the circumstances surrounding a “bubble” forming and the specific three factors for higher education: the dramatic increase in the cost of college, the rise in student loans, and a tough job market. In part two, we take a closer look at the second and third factor.

» Read more

11 CommentsPosted 2 Apr 2012 by Mary Ann (Red Hat)

Infographic: The higher education bubble, Part one

We often talk about the higher education bubble and it being on the verge of bursting but what does that really look like? How does a “bubble” form and what causes it to burst? The following two part infographic does a great job explaining just that by showing where higher education has been, where we are, and without change where we will be. To me, it further highlights why open source technology and open source principles have such an important role in education reform from lowering costs to demonstrating a better way for educating our youth in the 21^st century and beyond. » Read more

3 CommentsPosted 29 Mar 2012 by Mary Ann (Red Hat)