OSS Watch publishes list of open source options for schools
OSS Watch, a service for higher and further education institutions in the UK, has this week published a list of open source alternatives to proprietary software for schools, according to a report posted today on Joinup, the EU’s public sector open source news website.
“Where possible, we’ve included real-world examples of their usage,” said OSS Watch development manager Mark Johnson.
The list itself is divided into 7 sections, including E-Learning, Assessment and Classroom Tools. In addition, the list contains open source options for subjects such as Music, Film and Media production, Theatre and Drama, Design and Technology. In the E-Learning section, for example, it lists Moodle, Sakai and Canvas as open source alternatives to proprietary products.
Mark Johnson announced the OSS Watch list yesterday in a post on the OSS Watch Team blog, stating that the OSS Watch ‘Open Source Options For Education’ complements the UK Cabinet Office’s Open Source Options (PDF), which was made public last April.
OSS Watch compiled the list by working with the educational community and the open source communities involved in many of the featured projects. Johnson writes that the list contains several generic packages, but OSS Watch “looked at them specifically in the context of their application to an educational situation, such as using an office package to author e-books”.
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