Open Source and Free Softwarein Education

Rich FieldingIT Director

Regional School District 13

What I hope to cover

• Brief descriptions of – Open Source Software– Free Software and the GNU GPL• Not the kind of free that normally comes to mind

– Free Software• The kind you were thinking about before, $$$• Special focus on Google Apps for Education

Is it difficult?

• Yes and No• Yes – some aspects of open source require

advanced knowledge of programming languages such as C+ and Perl…that said

• No – there are many programs that install on Windows and Mac just like any other program

• No – most of the major projects have detailed instructions and wikis developed to support implementation

Open Source Software

• OpenSource.org• Any software developed under the GNU

General Public License (GPL). IE: Linux, Mozilla Firefox and others to be discussed

The GNU Project

• Principally sponsored by the Free Software Foundation. www.fsf.org

• The GNU Project was launched in 1984 to develop a complete Unix-like operating system which is free software: the GNU system.

• The name “GNU” is a recursive acronym for “GNU's Not Unix”

The GNU GPL

• While the GNU kernel is still incomplete, the GNU General Public License is widely used for other GNU and non-GNU projects

• Write this down: http://directory.fsf.org/• Has enabled the “Open Source Community”

by allowing input on projects from volunteers who contribute on all levels.

How Open Source Projects work

• Sites dedicated to hosting Open Source projects like Sourceforge.net where thousands of projects are worked on

• Software distributions(versions) are available to download as source and compiled for a variety of Operating Systems. Linux, Windows, Mac OS X and Unix

How Open Source Projects work

• Programmers test and tweak the software, uploading changes or patches to the code to the developers website.

• The developers take the modifications along with others and incorporate them into their next distribution, or build.

• Some software apps have daily or weekly builds depending on how many resources they have

Web 2.0 Apps

• The Web as a platform – Blogs, Wikis, Social Networking, Video Sharing

• Requires that websites (front end) interconnect to live databases (back end) that can then record and display data.

• The Tools – Apache, PHP, MySQL, and phpMyAdmin.

Currently in use at District 13

• These three packages require a web server that runs Apache, PHP and MySQL. All are open source and free and are found on hundreds of web hosts.

• Moodle – “Blackboard” type web based course management system - www.rsd13ct-moodle.org

• Wordpress – Blog and website tool for teachers’ websites. Host it yourself or wordpress.net will do it for free.

• Joomla – Website Content Management system for our school newspaper. - www.crhsnews.org

Apache

• www.apache.org - Apache Web Server runs 65% of the world’s web servers.

• Cross Platform• Not exactly an Open Source model – a

“meritocracy”• The Apache Group(95’ish), later the Apache

Software Foundation (ASF) 1999.

MySQL

• www.mysql.org - The Database• It holds the data. • Kind of boring.

PHP

• www.php.net - One of many scripting languages, including Perl, Java, Python, Ruby and more.

• Can be embedded into html.• Connects the html to the database• phpMyAdmin – the tool to administer the

database

Building Your Own Web Server

• A computer – PC or Mac• Operating System – Windows 2000 or XP, Mac

OS X or Linux• Apache• Host HTML websites – use NVU• Add PHP and MySQL for more capabilities• Highly recommend a hardware firewall

NVU

• www.nvu.com• NVU – Pronounced N-View is a full fledged

WYSIWYG html editor with FTP capabilities.

Moodle

• Course Management system that requires Apache, PHP and MySQL.

• www.moodle.org• Can be used for one teacher or an entire

university. • Extremely well resourced Open Source

Community, Lots of documentation, not too easy to get setup

Wordpress

• www.wordpress.org• Another extremely well supported application• Very easy to get setup.• Lots of free plugins and themes• Free hosting from wordpress.net

Joomla and Drupal

• www.joomla.org and www.drupal.org• Extremely powerful content management

systems• Very flexible• Not as easy to get setup• Lots of free and commercial add-ons.

Others Currently in use at District 13

• Koha – library automation system that we are still implementing. Based on PERL, also free. New Beta is not always better.

• Tux4Kids – a suite of programs including easy to use programs like TuxPaint as well as games that reinforce simple math, typing and others.

• Seashore – more advanced image editing tool for Mac OS X

Google Apps for Education

• www.google.com/a• Primary Features – Email (Gmail) – Uses your own domain name, or sub-domain. Our

students addresses are example@student.rsd13ct.org

– 7+ GB of storage space per user– Web Based– Unlimited Number of Accounts– FREE FOR SCHOOLS! Compared to $75/user for

comparable business edition

Google Docs

• Word, Excel and Powerpoint compatible programs.

• Online, live, collaboration on documents with other users.

• Upload/download documents and files

Google Docs Screen Shot

Sample Doc using collaboration

Document Revision History

Additional Features

• Calendar – Allowed• Google Sites – Not Allowed• Google Chat – Not Allowed

• Web Based Management – http://www.student.rsd13ct.org

Downside

• Web based administration has major limitations with regard to mass changes.

• Email archiving by Postini is expensive, though comparable to any other archiving system.

• Security is difficult to achieve– email blacklist/whitelist issues.

Contact Info

• Rich Fielding – rfielding@rsd13.org• Websites to check out:– www.rsd13ct-moodle.org– www.crhsnews.org– www.moodle.org– www.wordpress.org– www.nvu.com– www.icdsoft.com