Open Source Schools ICT

Selling Open Source software into the Public Sector

Why is it so hard to sell Free, Open Source solutions into the Public Sector especially Local Authorities?

You would have thought that it would be easy - after all FOSS solutions for services such as e-mail, collaboration software, and learning platforms are demonstrably cheaper and more effective than their proprietary equivalents.

You would also be encouraged by the Government mandating that all public sector IT procurements show that due consideration has been given to Open Source solutions alongside proprietary ones.

Windows in Schools, Open Source at Home

Anyone remember Computer Assisted Learning or CAL? No? Well it's back.

Ever since the first computer to draw a graph or do that parsing thing to allow kids to fill in missing words, ICT has been the 'Great Beige Hope' that would revolutionise teaching and learning.

It's all tosh by the way. Ignore the fake stats and the deluded evangelists. CAL (or interactive computer lead learning) is simply a gimmick perpetuated by the faux trendsetters with good hair that stalk education.

Are we mis-selling 'open source'?

I am currently re-reading an oldish book on post-Piagetian child brain development. It has proved to be a real thought provoker, ironically for me not so much about young children but about the way adults think when you get the communication wrong. Hence the title of the article.

Specifically I am thinking about our attempts to explain the nature and importance of open source Software to people who have barely heard of it.

Swine Flu, Schools and Open Source Software

If the epidemiologists are right, which they most probably are, in the Northern Hemisphere this September onwards should see the now firmly established and officially pandemic virus known as Swine Flu re-emerge with potentially serious consequences.

Hopefully, its pathological effects will be mild but, one thing is for sure, in order to limit the progress of the virus, schools and colleges will have to close. If not, many parents will be reluctant to send their children to the schools which stay open where they could be exposing them to infection.

Linux, Open Source and SharePoint in the Public Sector

The take up of free, open source software in the public sector is painfully slow despite the Government's Open Source Action Plan...are we to blame?

'You should get out more' is a phrase worth reminding yourself of on a regular basis. I mention this in the light having just presented, with our team, at a recent conference, a range of Open Source products which included Alfresco, MediaWiki, WordPress and Moodle on PostgresSQL.

Microsoft into all UK Primary Schools

Microsoft, not content merely to dominate the UK secondary school ICT curriculum with Office 'skills,' are now set fair to introduce them to children as young as 4. This brings to mind, a phrase long attributed to the Jesuits, "Give me the child till the age of seven and I will show you the man."

Now Steve Balmer is no Jesuit so how has this come about?

The recent Primary Curriculum Review by Sir Jim Rose has been widely reported in the press and there is plenty to read. The ICT part of the review is aptly summarised by this BBC reporter's title.

Computer technology is to move centre stage alongside English, Maths and personal skills in an overhaul of England's primary school curriculum.

Home Education and Open Source Software

Home education is all the rage and for good reasons. The likes of the Daily Mail have convinced us that state-funded education has returned to all but a feral condition and the Independent school sector having priced itself out of reach is making staff redundant at every level and is to use the phrase of the month 'sweating out'* its ICT resources.

Meanwhile new energy-efficient computers are cheap, and software and information are freely available.

Low power, flat-screen nirvana with Open Source software

I know sometimes I am inclined to rant on about ICT in UK education - how much it costs; how it is unsustainable (that was even before 'le crunch' ); how unutterably rubbish the qualifications in schools are; what a rip-off proprietary licences are and so on and on.

I don't blame folk for getting bored with the same old message about how much free, open source software could save the taxpayer and benefit the student. A typical 80% cost reduction is worth billions. But hey, down with the doom-mongers, I say. Let's keep on doing what just we have always done until it all falls apart in one fell swoop.

Will Twitter in UK schools create a generation of narcissists?

The extract from this week's Guardian on the major upcoming Primary School curriculum review can be found in full here.

A slice of it is reproduced below:

The Future of Thin-Client Computing

An obesity crisis in the making: thin is good, slim is better, fat is best

For years I have been a fan of the ‘free, open source software/terminal server/disk-less terminal’ model of computing. I am obsessed with the  absurdly large savings on software, licences, maintenance and energy consumption that are there for the having.

I am not alone. Since January, more and more recession-driven education and public sector personnel have been asking me about the latest 'new' (and now fully buzzword-compliant) computing paradigm known as 'thin-client'. I guess the word has got out at last that PCs are a tad overkill.