Open technologies in K-12 education.

Our students today understand the concept of collaboration more clearly than any previous generation. Growing up in a connected world has enabled them to reach well beyond typical geographical and social boundaries to communicate and learn with peers who share interests.

While their socializing may involve less face-to-face interaction than we're used to, there is little doubt this current generation values the ability to learn and create new knowledge together. Primarily because of this, our students also embrace the concept of open technologies as fundamental to the way the world should operate. The term "open technologies" generally refers to freely shared and modified digital resources, often in the form of software.

Typically, open technologies includes open-source software such as operating systems, applications and content that is available with no or few licensing restrictions, such as the Creative Commons License model.

A Wide Umbrella

Our students learn to become more socially conscious by re-mixing content that falls under the open technologies umbrella, whether it's music, video or text, in addition to following copyright requirements on proprietary work.

In addition, as school budgets become tighter each year, all teachers and administrators look for ways to stretch dollars and keep cuts from affecting students and their classroom learning environments. Increasingly, school technology leaders are weighing the hefty license fees associated with operating systems, software applications and instructional content against a growing number of open-source alternatives.

The most well-known and widely used open-source operating system is Linux. Versions of Linux have found their way not only to server and personal workstations but also to devices ranging from Google appliances to iPods to cell phones to the latest Nokia 770 Internet tablet.

School leaders need to consider Linux as an alternative operating system and plan for related support costs even though the operating system itself may be free. These costs are generally substantially lower than other operating system license costs. The fact that Linux is not just a server operating system but also a desktop operating system available with a full graphical user interface (the Novell Linux Desktop) lends credibility to its consideration for school use.

Open-source software applications have made their way into mainstream school use already. Whether it's a web browser such as Firefox, a productivity suite such as OpenOffice, a graphics program such as GIMP, or even a concept mapping tool such as IMHC Cmap Tools, high quality, open-source applications exist that can provide virtually 100 percent of the functionality that proprietary tools with licensing costs of hundreds of dollars give schools currently.

With a graphic user interface, these software applications install easily and have familiar user interfaces that minimize the amount of staff and student training that is required. All popular productivity tools have equivalents available in open-source format and, of course, any web-based application works fine in an open-source web environment.

Latent Merits

The third area to consider is open content. The most widely used collection of open content is Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org), an online encyclopedia that contains more entries than any other. But the total collection of eight open content areas in the Wikimedia Foundation (www.wikimedia.org) is truly astounding. Additionally, collections such as the New York Public Library's Digital Gallery (digital gallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/), with more than 300,000 images available for use, gives credence to the idea that authoritative works really can be placed in open content form.

Keep in mind there have been other famous examples of collaborative work to create what are now considered authoritative works, yet they were not highly regarded as academic as they were being created. The Oxford English Dictionary is one such example where thousands of contributors, many of dubious academic standing, took 54 years to create the first edition of that now-renowned work.

While it's true that this open technology movement has gained more traction around the world than here in the United States, it is becoming apparent that schools no longer can afford to spend their shrinking dollars on proprietary software licensing without considering open-source alternatives. Once again, let's consider following the lead of our students and their understanding of the value of collaborative work in the area of open technologies in schools.

Resources

Links to resources discussed in this column and those below can be found at k-12.pisd.edu/open.

* Primer on Open Technologies in K-12 Education; Consortium for School Networking, wwv.cosn.org

* Creative Commons Licenses, creativecommons.org

Jim Hirsch is associate superintendent of technology for the Piano Independent School District, 2700 W. 15th St., Piano, TX 75075. E-mail: [e-mail]