Appendix Four:
Open Source Software
Applications in Education
Open source is the concept and practice of enabling access by both users and developers, to the programme source code, enabling both developers and users to be able to modify or add features to the source code and redistribute it.[1] In this regard, collaboration and circulation are central tenets to the open source movement. Open source software offers an alternative to proprietary courseware, in education. Open source software is cost effective as it does not entail licence fees, has open standards that facilitate integration with other systems and can be easily customised. Aberdour[2] has highlighted that the low cost of open source Learning Management Systems (LMSs) allows institutions to dedicate funds they would otherwise have spent on licensing, to the development of the open source LMSs or on professional development for efficient use of the LMSs. Further, open source LMSs open up spaces for participation in communities of practice that support each other in the development of the software.
Aberdour specifies that there are over 50 open source LMSs to choose from, but only a few of these are recommended as they
- Have an open source initiative approved licence;
- Have an active development community
- Have released stable versions
- Are SCORM compliant
- Have published details about previous adopters
- Have a stable organization supporting ongoing development
- Have had third party reviews published.
Examples of some commonly used Open Source Educational Software and their compatibility and usage are specified in the following table.
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