Increasing use of open source technologies
Technological driving force of The Future of Technology in Secondary Education in 2020
Description:
An open source curriculum (OSC) is an online instructional resource that can be freely used, distributed and modified. OSC is based on the open source practice of creating products or software that opens up access to source materials or codes. Applied to education, this process invites feedback and participation from developers, educators, government officials, students and parents and empowers them to exchange ideas, improve best practices and create world-class curricula. These “development” communities can form ad-hoc, within the same subject area or around a common student need, and allow for a variety of editing and workflow structures.
Enablers:
- Schools supporting OSC
- Increasing availability of internet at schools
- Human need for distinction
- The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor
- The freedom to study how the program works, and adapt it to your needs. Access to the source code is a precondition for this
- The freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits. Access to the source code is a precondition for this.
Inhibitors:
- Complexity of the system
- No access to internet at schools
Paradigms:
With the help of open source, lots of information can be provided for free. From one way, people have more chance to get access to advanced technology supporting the education. From the other way, it saves the cost and it will be popular to be used in education which is non-profitable, and it will stimulate the development of education. People can learn from the ideas and knowledge of others and vice versa.
WEB Resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source_curriculum
http://www.gnu.org/