New coalition to advance open resources in education

Keywords: Match:

Jan. 08, 2002

The Internet -- (press release excerpt) -- Schoolforge, a global coalition of online groups dedicated to promoting open resources in education, announced its formation today. The online project is located at www.schoolforge.net.

In November of 2001, members of the online groups SEUL/edu, Open Source Schools, the K-12 Linux in Schools project, and the Open Source Educational Foundation decided to develop a central organization to provide help for educators seeking the advantages of open resources and open source/free software. Composed of 30 open-resource-focused educational organizations on five continents, the all-volunteer Schoolforge project hopes to harness the collective strengths of educators by enabling them to share technical and pedagogical expertise far beyond their localities.

"For too long," said SEUL/edu leader and Schoolforge spokesman Doug Loss, "our many projects suffered from isolation and low visibility. Our lack of a unified organization often meant that our efforts as educators and as technologists were duplicative. Isolated, we could neither build on our colleagues successes, nor learn from their failures."

Schoolforge is intended to help its member organizations to . . .

introduce open resources, including free/open source software, to primary and secondary educational settings;
help educators use and develop open resources, including free curricula and free software;
foster local and global volunteer support networks to implement free/open source educational solutions; and
provide open forums for educators to share information with colleagues, and with corporate and governmental educational stakeholders.

Schoolforge member organizations are made of volunteers, teachers and technologists in elementary and high schools around the world who are committed to harnessing the Internet and open resources to help teachers teach and help students learn. Contributions to open resource projects are free and open to anyone who desires to use them, and can never be withdrawn from public use.

Schoolforge's member groups are delivering the power of open resources to primary and secondary educators. While some Sourceforge groups are focused on bringing open source and free software resources to schools in need of low- or zero-cost alternatives to proprietary software, other member organizations have broader goals: "When we use the term 'open resources,' we mean a lot more than free software," said David Bucknell, Open Source Schools Project head and Schoolforge co-spokesman. "Open resources are educational tools made by educators, for educators, sharing the experience they've gained in both the classroom and the lab. That can include everything from folk wisdom to lesson plans, and from software to documentation."

Visitors to Schoolforge.net will find links to SEUL/edu's successful case studies from around the world (http://richtech.ca/seul/casedex.html), and Open Source Schools' how-tos, reviews, and informative essays (http://opensourceschools.org). Links are also provided to projects dedicated to free and open source educational and administrative software, and free curriculum and free science instructional texts. A list of all current members, and information for organizations interested in joining, can be found here.

"We're hoping to put behind us the day when computers were used to teach students how to use branded computer products, and to lock hapless school districts into a never-ending treadmill of hardware and software spending," Loss said. "We don't want another teacher ever to have to learn a proprietary interface, only to have his or her experience rendered useless with the next product upgrade or business failure. Open resources promise to make technology a powerful tool for education, not the other way around."

(Click here for further information)

Approaching the Linux Desktop
The purpose of this paper is to help organizations evaluate the Linux desktop against their own enterprise needs and discover what benefits the Linux desktop might bring to their organizations.

Migrating To Linux: Application Challenges and Solutions
Several solutions exist to help organizations migrate in an orderly fashion from Windows to Linux desktops. This paper establishes the characteristics of an ideal cross-platform solution and reviews these alternatives in light of this ideal standard. The paper takes a closer look at the pros and cons of various solutions and outlines the business benefits that can be achieved.

Linux Advantages: Publicly Available Information on Linux Software
This paper offers a brief summary of readily-available Linux information to help businesses sort out this widely misunderstood operating system.

Top 5 Strategies for Managing Linux
Despite continuous evolution in the manageability of Linux, a 2006 survey cited manageability concerns as a top reason why organizations are hesitating to adopt Linux. Levanta believes Linux can be as manageable, if not more so, than other operating systems by following key strategies. These strategic recommendations were developed from experiences in numerous customer environments, both large and small.

Why Choose Novell for Linux?
This paper outlines the benefits of switching to the Linux platform and choosing Novell as a high-performance, enterprise solution.

Enterprise Linux Selection Guide
Considering moving your enterprise to the Linux operating system? Since there are so many similar versions, choosing the right one can be tough. This paper offers a clear process to help you make an informed decision and get the features, support, and cost that are right for your business and technical needs.

Overcoming Challenges in Managing Linux
Levanta has created a new administration model with innovative technology that breaks down the barriers to making the most of Linux systems. This paper will provide an in-depth look at the workings of Levanta’s product, the first Linux appliance of its kind.

SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 for Retail Businesses
Discover why major retailers have switched to SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop in the back office. SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 is a low-cost desktop that offers a complete set of productivity applications and interoperates seamlessly with the other Windows, Macintosh and UNIX desktops in your store.

Moving to a Linux Desktop
Migrating from Windows to Linux on the desktop can be a substantial undertaking because it has the potential for touching -- and perhaps disrupting -- every user in your organization. Unlike a data center (server and infrastructure) migration that is largely transparent to users, the cultural and administrative transitions and environment readiness required to support a Linux desktop migration are extensive.

Seven Good Reasons to Exchange Exchange
This paper describes seven compelling reasons why you should switch from Exchange to Scalix.

Got a HOT tip? please tell us!

ADVERTISEMENT
(Advertise here)

Resource Library

Popular recent stories: • Linux an equal Flash player • Linux, netbooks threaten Microsoft's fat profits • gOS 3.0 goes gold • Browser swallows OS • Lenovo denies ditching Linux • Lightweight, Linux-compatible browser evolves • GNOME 2.24 gains "Empathy" IM • Review: Pardus Linux • Ubuntu to fund Linux development • Ubuntu "Intrepid Ibex" available All-time Classics: • Choosing a desktop Linux distro • Banshee -- the next best thing to Linux iTunes • Running World of Warcraft on Ubuntu • A simple Linux backup method • The Best Free Desktop Linux . . . and how to make it better • Linux-powered Asus Eee PC mini-laptop arrives • The well-tempered Debian desktop • Lenovo launches a netbook • What's the best Linux for beginners? • Getting to know Puppy Linux • Xandros 4: The best desktop Linux for Windows users • VirtualBox: The best virtualization program you've never heard of Linux-Watch headlines: • GPLv2 copyright suit targets 14 firms • Amid controversy, Microsoft launches open source foundation • As open source surges, Microsoft admits Linux threat • Open source lobbying group emerges • Open source Linux device drivers submitted by -- Microsoft? • Google names Chrome OS partners • Google's new OS marries Linux and Chrome • Debian plans draw sharp warning from GNU guru • OpenSource World announces keynote speakers • Linux 2.6.30 gets new filesystems Join our Desktop Linux discussion forums: • Moving to Linux • Linux/Windows debate! • Linux Q&A . . . and more	Visit the...

BREAKING NEWS

• Cloud-oriented distro gets site-specific
• OpenSUSE 11.3 ships with Btrfs, LXDE
• Minimalist Linux distro rev'd to version 3.0
• Music sharing app sounds out Linux
• Mandriva fights through money woes, releases 2010 Spring
• Open source media player embraces HD
• Fedora 13 praised for security and permissions enhancements
• GPL'd Linux driver released for MPEG-4 compression
• Netbooks still hot, but tablets starting to cut in, says study
• Linux gaining on Windows among Eclipse developers
• Linux inches up on desktop, holds steady on servers
• More software firms line up behind MeeGo
• Chrome 5.0 ships for Linux, and MeeGo for Netbooks is released
• Puppy Linux turns to Ubuntu for version 5.0
• Novell's SLE update adds full KVM support, improved clustering

Linux Netbooks

Linux smartphones!

news feed

Or, follow us on Twitter...

Home \| News \| Articles \| Forum \| Polls \| About \| Contact

	Ziff Davis Enterprise Home \| Contact Us \| Advertise \| Link to Us \| Reprints \| Magazine Subscriptions \| Newsletters Tech RSS Feeds \| White Papers \| ROI Calculators \| Tech Podcasts \| Tech Video \| VARs \| Channel News
	Baseline \| Careers \| Channel Insider \| CIO Insight \| DesktopLinux \| DeviceForge \| DevSource \| eSeminars \| eWEEK \| Enterprise Network Security \| LinuxDevices \| Linux Watch \| Microsoft Watch \| Mid-market \| Networking \| PDF Zone \| Publish \| Security IT Hub \| Strategic Partner \| Web Buyer's Guide \| Windows for Devices
	Developer Shed \| Dev Shed \| ASP Free \| Dev Articles \| Dev Hardware \| SEO Chat \| Tutorialized \| Scripts \| Code Walkers \| Web Hosters \| Dev Mechanic \| Dev Archives \| igrep
Use of this site is governed by our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Except where otherwise specified, the contents of this site are copyright © 1999-2010 Ziff Davis Enterprise Holdings Inc. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Ziff Davis Enterprise is prohibited. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. All other marks are the property of their respective owners.

Home \| News \| Articles \| Forum \| Polls \| About \| Contact

	Ziff Davis Enterprise Home \| Contact Us \| Advertise \| Link to Us \| Reprints \| Magazine Subscriptions \| Newsletters Tech RSS Feeds \| White Papers \| ROI Calculators \| Tech Podcasts \| Tech Video \| VARs \| Channel News
	Baseline \| Careers \| Channel Insider \| CIO Insight \| DesktopLinux \| DeviceForge \| DevSource \| eSeminars \| eWEEK \| Enterprise Network Security \| LinuxDevices \| Linux Watch \| Microsoft Watch \| Mid-market \| Networking \| PDF Zone \| Publish \| Security IT Hub \| Strategic Partner \| Web Buyer's Guide \| Windows for Devices
	Developer Shed \| Dev Shed \| ASP Free \| Dev Articles \| Dev Hardware \| SEO Chat \| Tutorialized \| Scripts \| Code Walkers \| Web Hosters \| Dev Mechanic \| Dev Archives \| igrep
Use of this site is governed by our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Except where otherwise specified, the contents of this site are copyright © 1999-2010 Ziff Davis Enterprise Holdings Inc. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Ziff Davis Enterprise is prohibited. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. All other marks are the property of their respective owners.