FLOSS In School - Open Source Software in the Education System

Ashley Michelle Papon has a new post on alternatives to college, including OpenCourseWare. From the post:

“It’s kind of like a self-paced class, except that I don’t need to worry about receiving a grade when it’s all said and done,” King [open education participant] says. “I never learned well with a teacher just talking at me from the front of the room. I can read until I understand it.”

“crve” is reporting that Microsoft’s Security Development Lifecycle is being licensed CC BY-NC-SA. From the post:

This should make it easier for others to use and distribute the principles behind SDL and for programmers to integrate SDL components into their own development processes.

Jane Park has a new post noting CC License functionality has been added to yolink, a browser plug-in that enhances search.

Drew Wilson is reporting that a proposed bill in the Czech Republic may harm Creative Commons adoption. From the post:

The draft suggests that the government is preparing a bill that would require anyone wanting to take out a Creative Commons license to first submit their work to a copyright collective. After that, the creator has to prove that their work is authentic. Only then would they be permitted, under the draft legislation, to license their work under Creative Commons.

Yesterday OEN reported that the Chronicle of Higher Education put an article on open courses behind a pay wall. That article is now available for free. Alan Levine has a new post discussing the article in part, but making larger points about openness in general. From the post:

Not only love, much more flowers best in openness and freedom. It’s not that complex.

Jason Hoyt, Chief Scientist for the citation program Mendeley, posted several days ago affirming their support of open access. In the comments section of the post, questions arose regarding just how open Mendeley itself was. “Petermr” blogs his disatisfaction (post 1, post 2). “iPhylo” responds.

David Bollier has a new post on FLOSS as commons. From the post:

Without such a language of the commons, market metrics and discourse tend to prevail. This is fine as far as it goes. But the conventional market narrative provides a misleading ontology and epistemology for describing FLOSS communities.

Thanks to Michael Bauwens for the link.

“tinh” has a new post announcing a white paper on how faculty can implement open access at their institution. From the post:

This excellent companion piece, providing a thorough overview and careful analysis of legal issues related to public access policies, is written by Simon Frankel and Shannon Nestor, who are lawyers at Covington & Burling, a prominent Washington D.C. law firm.

Dave Cormier has a new post on possible use cases for open courses. From the post:

I think there’s a middle ground somewhere where we can bring in people who aren’t exactly ‘opposed’ to the idea of openness to understanding the power of supporting networks and network creation.

Link and commentary by Stephen Downes. Gabi Witthaus expands on Cormier’s thoughts.

Mike Linksvayer has posted an interview with author Lewis Hyde, who has written a new book Common as Air. From the interview:

I am obviously someone who cares about gift-exchange and sharing in the creation of knowledge and culture but I am also a bit of a contrarian and thus find that sometimes I want to underline the complications that necessarily arise around gift-exchange in our current situation.

Robert Darnton at the New York Times reviews the book.

George Siemens reacts to an article on open courses that was placed behind a pay wall on The Chronicle of Higher Education website. From the post:

I haven’t read the article. I’m sure it’s good. But it’s against the grain of what I wanted to communicate about openness.

D’Arcy Norman posts similar thoughts.

Victor Yu has posted an interview with Richard Baranuik, founder of Connexions. From the interview:

In 1999, frustrated by the fact that there was no appropriate textbook for my class, I considered writing my own. But on careful reflection, i realized that
the educational publishing system was broken and that writing a new book and publishing it through this system would not make a meaningful impact.

Thanks to Daniel Williamson for the link.

Steve Carson announces that MIT OCW was listed by Time magazine as one of the best websites of 2010. From the post:

“It’s truly remarkable to see MIT OpenCourseWare listed beside these other well-known sites,” says Professor Shigeru Miyagawa, chair of OCW’s Faculty Advisory Committee. “It really speaks to the impact the site is having not only on the individuals who use it, but on the culture of the Web as a whole.

Jane Park has a new post noting that the Peer-2-Peer University is starting its third round of courses. One of the courses is “Copyright for Educators.” From the post:

Sign-ups for all other courses are available at http://p2pu.org/course/list. The deadline to sign up is September 8, and courses will run until October 27th.

Taulant Ramabaja has a new post on open educational resources at the American University in Kosovo. From the post:

Another big issue, or at least an issue for me, was the lack of coherent OER platforms and standards. Most of what has gotten out onto the web has s far been driven by personal initiative of some open minded intellectuals.

Columbia Univesity has posted a panel discussion on paying for open access on YouTube.

David Wiley has a new post summarizing the state of open education in Utah. From the post:

Open education seems to be getting some traction here in Utah.

Rodd Lucier has posted slides explaining Creative Commons to educators.

Steve Vosloo has issued a press release announcing Yoza, a open content mobile library. From the press release:

Yoza’s goal is to get young people reading and writing, and in the ‘book-poor’ but ‘cellphone-rich’ context of South Africa, the phone is a viable complement and sometimes alternative to a printed book.

Thanks to Creative Commons for the link.

A few days ago OEN pointed out an article by Professor Amy Kinsel, who gave a critique of open education. David Wiley has now posted a response. From the post:

I think it’s a terrible shame that our face-to-face courses end after 15 weeks. Just when you’re finally learning everyone’s personalities and preferences, and students are starting to really master the material, it all ends. In a traditional, physically-bound classroom setting, this may be inescapable. But again, if we step back and critically reimagine teaching and learning in the context of modern technology, there is no a priori reason that courses must work in this manner.