Education
From OpenEGov
Contents |
Primary and Secondary Education
Free software is widely used by schools, but rarely dominant. It's progress has been hampered by BECTA's procurement policies, which favour larger companies oriented to proprietary software. BECTA deny this. As in other areas, it is more likely to be found 'behind the scenes' running servers and networks than on the desktop, though increasingly schools are realising the disadvantages of teaching children in a computing monoculture. The big success story in this area is Moodle.
Organisations
UK
SchoolForge is the main UK organisation co-ordinating work on free software in schools, including liason with BECTA. The site contains numerous case studies of schools using free software as well as information on many packages, support organisations, and planned developments.
The Open Schools Alliance is a UK organisation set up to encourage effective use of free software in schools and to combat the problems caused by the new BECTA framework.
International
Flosse Posse is a Finnish group blogging (in English) about Free Software in schools
Organization for Free Software in Education and Teaching (OFSET) is a not for profit French international association, set up in response to the slow development of free educational software for the GNU system. It will promote all possible forms of development and localisations needed by the world wide education system.
Education about software
Why is the government funding training courses for Microsoft? And that in spite of the widespread dissatisfaction with earlier Microsoft-tied training, such as CLAIT. Learn to push the right buttons...
The ECDL
The ECDL is an example of the problem.
In principle ECDL is a general qualification in general purpose computer skills. In practice, it assumes that the student will be using a proprietary closed system that just happens to be popular at the present time. As a Section 96 qualification Learning and Skills Councils will provide the funds for students to take the ECDL ( European Computer Driving Licence ), at around £40 a candidate. The debate about the suitability of qualifications of this type is an old one. Education v training. The problem with training specifically in a narrow set of skills specific to one set of applications is that it breeds aversion to change and in technology that is highly damaging. If students learn not about generic software applications but about using Microsoft software (there is one alternative: Lotus. Not the most likely software for students to have access to!) its the most effective marketing the software vendor has, reinforcing a known monopoly, and its effectively funded by the tax payer.
There has been reaction to this across Europe. The goal is to turn the ECDL into a generic course which can as easily be taught using free software as using proprietary. There are German and Hungarian language sites dedicated to this, but the only country where the proposal has been officially accepted appears to be Italy. Even in Italy - and in spite of the actual availability of OpenOffice based courses, such as those run by Pescara council - there is a feeling that the courses need more drastic improvement than simply changing the packages used because the fundamental way in which the qualification is assessed is both expensive and inflexible. http://ecdl.linux.it/ is trying to create an acceptable full replacement (Italian language only).
Is there any similar activity in the UK?
INGOTs
INGOTs (International Grades in Office Technology) are a generic set of IT qualifications starting from entry level which don't depend on any particular software. The INGOTs scheme has a completely different philosophy to ECDL, and while it promotes vocational learning and specific skills in software operation it also encourages consideration of open standards and the underlying generic skills that enable change. This is particularly important for pre-16 age children but also has relevance to anyone who works in a technologically changing environment.
The National Curriculum in ICT is a very broad set of generic criteria with virtually no reference to specifics of software operation. Schools have taken up ECDL and and other skills based certification at least partly as a result of this. Yet for younger children these certificates are not only unaffordable without further government subsidy, they are actually educationally damaging if we want to prepare young people for future technological change.
The INGOTs enable teachers to improve their professional knowledge through dialogue with their students. One of the key reasons why closed training systems are used is because they are easier to teach. Dumbing down the scheme because we are not prepared to make an effort with the professional development of teachers is not a good long term strategy. Despite spending 1 billion pounds of New Opportunities Fund money on IT training for teachers, most teachers are still not confident with basic technical skills in IT. Again the reason is the methods used. Throwing money at technological problems is rarely the answer. Ignorance is expensive and just leads to more waste of money. The best solutions save money and solve problems. This is what the INGOTs were designed to do.
Over the last few years, assessment designed to set up league tables and promote competition has grown in emphasis which is rather ironic given the malaise about doing anything about competition in the software industry. Extremes produce reactions and assessment that is focused on motivating learning through short term progressive goals is becoming accepted as most beneficial to the process of learning. The INGOT assessment model is fundamentally focussed on this rather than assessment as a competition to rank people on the basis of their cognitive capability and memory. In reality, few people will get a job or a place in University because they have an ECDL or a Bronze INGOT, the qualifications are supposed to motivate general IT literacy that most people can achieve so there is no real need for a lot of complex examination bureaucracy that in general serves a completely different purpose. INGOTs are assessed against criteria by trained assessors, mostly just alongside their normal work. This means that there is no need for special courses, just some changes in emphasis eg in all schools 11-14 aged children are supposed to build a web site. The Silver INGOT just requires they test it with 3 web browsers and use a tool designed for the purpose rather than say MS Publisher and that they are aware that there are free tools available. This is providing credit for good practice that should exist but might not. It steers the teacher to best practice without causing them a lot more work so its a manageable way of providing professional development without having to spend billions on formal training systems. The rhetoric of "life long learning" for the 21st Century is not sustainable by assuming 20th Century examination practice or just as bad simply transferring this to a computer.
Another feature of the INGOTs is the requirement of the student to make a meaningful contribution to World resources. Students are given credit for doing so by making this part of the accreditation. To achieve a Gold INGOT they have to do 25 hours of international community service by making a meaningful contribution to the OpenOffice.org project. eg Clip art, marketing, QA, support, anything that's useful and they have an interest in. They are supported in doing this using the standard mailing list practice of Open Source projects. The acceptability of their contribution is through peer review from the community so they learn about 21st Century models of digital resource development. This also fits government policy on vocational education, internationalism, citizenship, enterprise and inclusion.
So really INGOTs are not at all like ECDL. Its a scheme probably more similar to the Duke of Edinburgh Award od the CREST and BAYS awards pupular in science and design and technology education. The scheme is designed to appeal to grass roots teachers on their professional terms by being low in administrative bureaucracy, flexible and high in educational potential well beyond the mechanistic operation of software.
So far there are around 17 Academies up and running with one in Serbia and one in Romania. Its early days yet but the first two students achieved Gold a couple of weeks ago. Details at the OpenOffice site.
Information on INGOTs supplied by Ian Lynch.
Software for School Administration
ClaSS is a complete student tracking, reporting and information management system.
SchoolTool: funded by Mark Shuttleworth, founder of Ubuntu:
Our vision is for a common information systems platform for school administration from California to Calcutta, via Cape Town! We hope to provide a single tool that will be readily adapted to the specific regulatory requirements and practices of different countries and regions, but that retains enough common functionality to make a shared development effort worthwhile.
Software for network management in schools
Karoshi is a 'point and click' server setup for secondary schools, The servers run Mandrake Linux and will allow you to either keep your Windows 2000/XP curriculum (client) computers or change to Linux computers (in progress). The aim is to have a server up and running in well under an hour with minimal Linux knowledge. It provides a simple graphical interface that allows easy installation, setup and maintenance of your network.
Educational Software
VLEs
Moodle is the most widely used free software VLE. Becta have given it a good review, and it is used as the main VLE by the Open University. There is an annual moodle conference known as the 'Moodlemoot'.
ATutor is a (Canadian) VLE
Companies providing Support for Free Software in Schools
Further and Higher Education
Centre for Educational Technology Interoperability Standard (CETIS) A proponent of open standards in education.
SHERPA - open eprint archives
OSS Watch provides the UK further and higher education community with neutral guidance about free and open source software, and about related open standards. Its activities include producing a Knoppix Live CD with education-related software, running workshops in the regions and coordinating with European and international partners.
