While it has been relatively easy to find schools that have used the odd open source software package such as Open Office or Seashore it has been far more difficult to find a school that has gone much further and are using OSS tools for admin, pupil management and within the curriculum.
The old arguments always seem come up - 'its not industry standard' or 'it may be free but it is costly to support' or 'we have had a look at using open source but staff and parental pressure has made it impossible to change'.
Many of the arguments put forward for adopting OSS solutions are financial ones. The fact that the software is free to use could save a school or college significant sums of money which could be used for other things.
There have also been a number of reports generated by various education organisations and governments seeking to explore the use of Open Source Software for Education. In the UK an organisation called BECTa (British Educational Communication and Technology Agency - now closed down) undertook an in depth research study on the potential use of OSS software. Their report entitled:
'Open source software in schools: A study of the spectrum of use and related ICT infrastructure costs'
set out to explore the cost benefit of using OSS and demonstrated that savings could be made but that there were issues about the lack of curriculum specific software (something that was prevalent at the time in the UK with software to help deliver the National Curriculum). The report indicated that the take up of OSS solutions were affected by the perceptions of staff and that training issues might mean that it would be timely and expensive to move staff from one approach to a more OSS rich set or resources. Administrative staff were reported to be lukewarm about the use of OSS due to its inability to integrate or inter operate with already existing systems.
'Open source software in schools: A study of the spectrum of use and related ICT infrastructure costs'
set out to explore the cost benefit of using OSS and demonstrated that savings could be made but that there were issues about the lack of curriculum specific software (something that was prevalent at the time in the UK with software to help deliver the National Curriculum). The report indicated that the take up of OSS solutions were affected by the perceptions of staff and that training issues might mean that it would be timely and expensive to move staff from one approach to a more OSS rich set or resources. Administrative staff were reported to be lukewarm about the use of OSS due to its inability to integrate or inter operate with already existing systems.
Looking elsewhere in the world a typical example of the type of research is the paper published in International Journal of Education and Development using Information and Communication Technology (IJEDICT), 2013, Vol. 9, Issue 2, pp. 64-84 which was written by researchers in South Africa looking at the potential of OSS in Western Cape Schools. In this report the same issues emerge, integration or compatibility with other systems is seen as a barrier as does training of staff.
In both reports the pre-existing situation had a much greater impact than any the actual quality or effectiveness of OSS solutions. the barriers seem to be more about integrating with existing products or services or the effort needed to re-train or try a different approach.
In my search for a school that has gone further than most with open source software I discovered Albany Senior High School in Auckland, New Zealand and their decision to explore the full potential for OS in schools was driven by an educational vision and not by a financial argument. Albany's WikiEducator pages make interesting reading and they set out five key educational arguments for their approach with Open Source Tools. The page also lists the tools they use, which includes some that have been put together by students for use within the school.
In my search for a school that has gone further than most with open source software I discovered Albany Senior High School in Auckland, New Zealand and their decision to explore the full potential for OS in schools was driven by an educational vision and not by a financial argument. Albany's WikiEducator pages make interesting reading and they set out five key educational arguments for their approach with Open Source Tools. The page also lists the tools they use, which includes some that have been put together by students for use within the school.
Hamish Chalmers is Deputy Principal at Albany Senior High School now responsible for the continued development of their OSS approach building on work done by a former colleague who has now moved on to another post. The fact that the use of OSS continues at Albany pays tribute to the fact that its use has now become embedded in the school and unlike many projects I have witnessed elsewhere disappears when the person who began it is no longer around.
Hamish kindly agreed to speak to me via Skype about their approach and some of the issues that have encountered along their developmental journey with OSS.
Posts
