Archive for the ‘Open Source’ Category

Shaheen E. Lakhan and Kavita Jhunjhunwala write about open source software in online learning for the April-June 2008 issue of Educause Quarterly. They discuss the history of open source, its implementations in the educational sector including virtual universities and education portals, and its impact on learning. The authors offer a comparison matrix featuring some of the most widely used open source learning management tools including Moodle, .LRN, and Dokeos.

“Open source and digital education and learning, separately and together, aim to reach everyone. Although both movements have gained considerable maturity, a need for greater coordination exists. A cohesive plan must bring together open source principles and technologies, educational institutions, and economic factors so that each component’s role is clearly defined. Both open source and digital education projects are taking their first tentative steps into the consumer world. They have a long way to go before they enter the mainstream, but together they have great potential to change forever the face of education.”

Bloggers and librarians alike will be interested in checking out this list of 50 Awesome Open Source Resources for Online Writers which links to loads of free/low-cost applications to help you write, edit, and get organized. I noticed a few that I’ve already used such as GIMP, OpenOffice, and FileZilla FTP, and a few more which I’ll be checking out including PDF Creator, Tellico, and Mozilla SeaMonkey. The software resources are divided into the following categories:

• Word Processors
• Reference
• Organization
• Helpful Tools
• Web Tools

Today at the Computers in Libraries 2008 conference, I presented on the open source content management system Drupal and how it’s being used by libraries and librarians. For those of you who weren’t able to make the conference but are still interested, I’ve created a Slidecast of my talk which is a combination of my PowerPoint presentation and an audio track. You can also just download the presentation and check out the speaker notes if you’d rather.

Stephen Downes at eLearn Magazine identifies Ten Web 2.0 Things You Can Do in Ten Minutes to Be a More Successful E-learning Professional. Here’s what made his list:

1. Listen to a conference presentation.
2. Record a 10-minute presentation about something you are working on.
3. Do a search on the title of your most recent post.
4. Write a blog post or article describing something you’ve learned recently.
5. Tidy your e-portfolio.
6. Create a slide on Zoho.
7. Find a blogger you currently read in your RSS reader and go to their website.
8. Write a comment on a blog post, article, or book.
9. Go to a website like Engadget, Metafilter, Digg, Mixx, Mashable, or Hotlinks.
10. Catch up on one of your online games with a colleague.

Other eLearn top stories you may want to check out:
Open Source Software: Finding Its Place in Higher Education

Learning through Blogging: Graduate Student Experiences

Mashable presents a guide to 12 Screencasting Tools For Creating Video Tutorials. If you’ve ever wondered about how to create video tutorials which record your screen actions, you’ll want to check out this list of programs, many which are free, including CamStudio, an open-source video and audio capture software application.

Inside Higher Ed reports on a new open source software application for publishing online collections and exhibits called Omeka. The free program was created by George Mason University’s Center for History and New Media, who also developed Zotero, the Firefox extension for citation management. It is currently being used by the April 16 Archive at Virginia Tech to preserve the stories of the tragedy that happened there.

Inside Higher Ed talks about open source library initiatives today in their piece titled Open Minds, Open Books, Open Source. The article highlights projects such as:

• Rochester’s eXtensible Catalog (XC) project - a Web 2.0 library catalog interface.
• Villanova’s VuFind - a catalog offering faceted search results.
• Oregon State University’s LibraryFind - a federated search engine.

Jimmy Atkinson at the WHDb blog has created a mammoth list of quality open source programs in his Top 50 Proprietary Programs that Drive You Crazy — and Their Open Source Alternatives. The resources are divided into helpful categories including:

• Basics
• Office Suites
• Office Tools
• Productivity
• Graphic Programs
• Web Editors
• Publishing
• Communications
• Media
• Utilities
• Security
• Financial

Priced for a student’s budget - free - open source desktop software presents a viable alternative to commercial software packages for those who can’t shell out the big $$$. I’ve never personally been an open-source zealot myself, but at these prices - you can’t afford not to consider them! These programs all run on multiple platforms (yes, even Windows!), and are surprisingly easy to download and install.

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Office Suites - OpenOffice is the multi-lingual, multi-platform productivity solution which includes a word processor, spreadsheet program, presentation application, database creator, and math and drawing programs. All of the programs are very similar to the Microsoft Office applications and are compatible with their files. As an MS Office user, I found them all quite intuitive to use and had no problems opening my MS Word and other files. Compare to Microsoft Office at $399

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Project Management - Released only days ago, OpenProj is a free project management application which aims to be a complete replacement for Microsoft Project. It operates on multiple platforms, is compatible with MSProject files, and offers advanced scheduling and project management features including Gantt charts, PERT Charts and more. During my test of the software, it did indeed offer impressive functionality, and successfully opened my Microsoft Project file without any loss of data or formatting. Compare to Microsoft Project at $999.95.

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Image Editing - GIMP is a free image editor similar to Adobe Photoshop. It offers a lot of functionality including working with layers, channels, paths, filters, and more. GIMP is compatible with Photoshop and many other file types. As a die-hard Photoshop user, I don’t know if I could make the transition as GIMP seems to lack some of my favorite PS tools such as adjustment layers, specifically Levels and Curves. But for many people who are not spoiled…er…accustomed to Photoshop’s advanced image editing features, GIMP is worth a look. Compare to Adobe Photoshop CS3 at $649

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Organization - qOrganizer is a new open-source general organizer which was just released a couple of days ago. It includes a calendar and schedule, to-do list, and journal/notes sections. Extras for students include a booklet section where they can enter and track their grades as well as absences. Think MS Outlook without the contacts and email functionality.

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Stress Management - What better way to relieve the tension of a tough day of classes, than striving for world domination? This open-source version of Risk offers all the functionality of the Risk II software including playing games across the network or online as well as hotseat games. The only notable difference is the lack of sound effects which can be a bit disarming (excuse the pun) at first. Peace-lovers can try Open Yahtzee.