Open Source Schools

Miles BerryMichelle Walters

José PicardoDoug Belshaw

BETT, January 2009

What is Open Source?

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Free (as in speech)

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So, what are the advantages?

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Case Studies

• OpenOffice.org

• Audacity

• Linux Netbooks

• Moodle

OpenOffice.org

Michelle Walters

OpenOffice.org

A free, open-source alternative to Microsoft Office

OpenOffice has six basic components: Writer, a word processor and HTML editor; Calc, a spreadsheet; Draw, a graphics editor; Impress, a presentations program; Math, an equation editor; and Base, a database application

OpenOffice.org

OpenOffice uses a single interface for all its features, instead of running separate applications like Excel and Word.

OpenOffice.org

Retains the essential look and feel of Microsoft Office 2003 and earlier versions, instead of imitating the new ribbon interface of Office 2007. Anyone familiar with Microsoft 2003 or below should be able to jump straight into OpenOffice with minimal, if any, training.

OpenOffice.org

If you've been thinking about taking the plunge into Microsoft Office 2007 (or 2008 on the Mac), which often requires training because of significant interface changes, you should be evaluating OpenOffice as well.

OpenOffice.org

One attractive feature of OpenOffice is that it's the only major application suite that runs on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux with almost exactly the same feature set on all platforms.

For anyone thinking of switching from Office to OpenOffice, the biggest question is, How well will OpenOffice handle your old Office documents and worksheets? The answer is, incredibly well, even with the new Office 2007 formats.

OpenOffice

In addition to read and write support for the Microsoft Office binary file formats (.doc, .xls, .ppt, etc.), OpenOffice is capable of opening files created with Microsoft Office 2007 or Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac OS X (.docx, .xlsx, .pptx, etc). Thus, OpenOffice users can interact with users still using Microsoft Office.

OpenOffice.org

The interface closely mirrors the familiar Office standard, and it places some features more logically so that, for example, headers and footers are on the Insert menu instead of the View menu.

OpenOffice.org

Adds some conveniences that Office doesn't provide, such as the ability to create .pdf files. This is useful when you want to guarantee what the recipient sees on their computer.

For Pupils and Students

OpenOffice forms an ideal teaching platform for core computer literacy skills, without tying students to commercial products.

The free software licence means students can be given copies of software to use at home - perfectly legally - a useful 'added value'.

For IT students, OpenOffice's component based software is also an ideal platform for developing IT skills and understanding real-life software engineering

OpenOffice.org

OpenOffice is free software. That means you are free to download it, free to install it on as many PCs as you like, free to pass copies to as many people as you like.

More than a one-off cost saving. legal No need for software audits, No need for keeping invoices for years, No worry about ending up in court because

you misread some small print in a licence agreement.

José Picardo

Using Audacity in Schools

• What is Audacity?

• Why would you use Audacity?

• What can you do with Audacity?

• What do you need?

What is Audacity?

Free and Open Source desktop sound recorder and editor

Why would you use Audacity?

• It’s free

• It’s intuitive and easy to use

• It does the job as well as commercial alternatives

What can you do with Audacity?

• Create and edit teaching resources• Podcasts: Deliver content to your students• Coursework, homework and assessment• Links with VLEs

What do you need?

• A computer with Audacity (and Lame encoder for .mp3)

• A microphone

Quick demonstration

Netbooks in the Classroom

Doug Belshaw

‘Asus EeePC’ by TDR1 & ‘netbook’ by -eko- @ Flickr

• Lightweight

• Good battery life

• Small form-factor

• Wi-fi enabled

• Robust

• Asus Eee 1000– Xandros Linux– Fast boot time– 10” screen– 5-6 hour battery life

Moodle

Miles Berry

Getting Started

Michelle Walters

Getting Started

OpenDisc / OpenCD Collection of free software that runs under

Windows

Getting Started

Portable Apps Compact version of

software applications:

office suites, graphics programs, web browsers and

more

Moving on

SchoolForgeUK List of education software for different

curriculum areas (incl case studies of schools)

• Open Source Schools Software directory

Moving on

SourceForge one of the largest directories of software

Moving on

Loving it? Install a completely free OS (netbooks)

Ubuntu Live

Support

Although free – you can get commercial support as well as free support

Training is available for software Because the code is available, it is possible

to customise the software, or request new features

Commercial support and hosting of particular apps by the vendor (Zimbra, RedHat), and community support

Communities

Major applications discussed have community groups volunteers (often project's own support staff) developers

General forums Mailing lists Chat rooms

For more information

opensourceschools.org.uk

Any questions?

opensourceschools.org.uk

Miles: miles@opensourceschools.org.uk

Michelle: msmwalters@gmail.com

José: jose.picardo@boxoftricks.net

Doug: dajbelshaw@gmail.com