The world of open source encompasses software tools, course management systems (CMS), course materials and research. This mainstreaming of user-friendly, easy-to-install, organize and access alternatives continues to welcome and empower users, while challenging proprietary systems and applications.
Wiley’s (2006) argument about the open source movement summons the education industry to have an open mind about the very collaboration educators repeatedly tout and employ. In the article Open Source, Openness, and Higher Education, Wiley (2006) explains how this concept, once so “inscrutable” has removed the unintelligible barrier that kept “average desktop computer users” at bay.
Wiley adds that while open source reception is generally positive, some faculty remain cautious; “the move toward openness takes teaching directly into the heart of the scholarly world for the first time—it exposes teaching to the quality-increasing pressures of peer review” (Wiley, 2006).
A few examples of open source optional replacements are Open Office (word processing), Firefox (browsing) , Japper (messaging), Moodle (CMS), and Merlot- the Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching (educational materials).
ReferenceWiley, D. (2006). Open Source, Openness, and Higher Education. Innovate. Retrieved from http://www.innovateonline.info/pdf/vol3_issue1/Open_Source,_Openness,_and_Higher_Education.pdf
