Open Source
Update:
Sakai, OSPI, Chandler, DSpace
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Scott E. Siddall |
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Denison University |
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Future of the software
market
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We share unique software
requirements |
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Education is a tiny piece of
the global software market place |
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Who will create our software,
at what cost? |
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Will we have to craft our own
software? |
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What will be the impact of
software development by for-profit education? |
Build-Buy-Borrow
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Build your own? |
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Bear all the development costs |
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Provide all your own support |
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Buy? |
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Share development costs with
others, plus a vendor profit |
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Pay for support from vendor |
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Borrow (open source)? |
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No licensing costs, or share
the costs |
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Provide your own support, buy
it, get it from the community |
Open source is a
licensing model
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Open Source Initiative |
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55 licensing models |
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GNU Public License (GPL)
applies to 40,000 projects at Sourceforge |
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GPL, BSD, Mozilla, MIT are all
popular |
“The Cathedral and the
Bazaar”
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Every good work of software
starts by scratching a developer's personal itch. |
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Good programmers know what to
write. Great ones know what to rewrite (and reuse). |
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When you lose interest in a
program, your last duty to it is to hand it off to a competent successor. |
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Treating your users as
co-developers is your least-hassle route to rapid code improvement and
effective debugging. |
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Release early. Release often.
And listen to your customers. |
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Given a large enough
beta-tester and co-developer base, almost every problem will be characterized
quickly and the fix obvious to someone. |
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- Eric S. Raymond, 1997 |
“Open source is moving
up the stack” *
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Central services and
infrastructure |
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Email systems, servers, network
management tools |
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Desktop operating systems |
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Linux, Sun Java Desktop |
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Web applications |
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ePortfolios, portals, course
management, digital asset management, collaboration and communication tools |
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* Brad Wheeler, Indiana
University |
The Pros and Cons
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OSS costs less than proprietary
software |
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OSS licensing is easy |
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OSS is more reliable, fewer
bugs |
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OSS can be customized |
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OSS is more secure |
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OSS is better because it uses
open standards |
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OSS is by and for a community |
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Proprietary software has better
support |
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OSS is difficult to install,
distribute, migrate to |
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OSS avoids vendor lock-in |
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OSS reuses software elements
efficiently |
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Proprietary software developers
have better resources |
The Culture of Open
Source
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Complex software development |
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By loosely coordinated
developers and contributors |
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In an informal meritocracy |
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software specifications are
rarely written |
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continuous design instead |
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virtual project management |
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a gentle hierarchy |
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Need for leadership
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“People think just because it is
open-source, the result is going to be automatically better. Not true. You
have to lead it in the right directions to succeed.” |
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- Linus Torvalds |
Community Source
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Purposeful coordination of work
within a community |
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Based on the principles of open
source development |
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A greater reliance on |
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Defined roles |
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Responsibilities |
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Funded commitments |
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In between the cathedral and
the bazaar |
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Practical
recommendations
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Examine the entire cost |
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Licensing, hardware, support,
training, documentation, migration from legacy tools |
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Ask why you are considering any
application |
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Are learning outcomes the
driver? |
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Pilot the software |
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Directly involve all
stakeholders; consider outsourcing the pilot |
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Start with “low hanging fruit”
– not mission critical applications |
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Understand and plan for support
needs |
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Spend avoided licensing costs
on local staff development |
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Keep looking – new
opportunities arise each week |
Slide 12
Slide 13
Consortial piloting in
Ohio
"Four universities
– Mellon funded"
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Four universities – Mellon
funded |
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Collaboration and Learning
Environment |
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Community Source based on open
standards |
Slide 16
Sakai 1.5.0
Open Source = Freedom
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Samigo as an example of
flexibility |
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Stanford Assignment and
Assessment Manager |
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Navigo (Indiana University) |
Samigo features
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Assessment Authoring |
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Assessment Publishing |
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Assessment-taking Management |
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Assessment Grading |
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Question Pools Management |
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Publishing Template Management |
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Slide 20
Organize & Publish
Assessments
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Library of assessments for a
course |
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Question & Test
Interoperability XML format |
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Published assessments with
responses, grades |
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Can be published to sections,
groups in course |
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Can have different release,
due, retract dates |
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Question Types
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Multiple Choice (single and
multiple correct) |
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Multiple Choice Survey |
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True/False |
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Matching |
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Essay/Short Answer |
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Fill in the Blank |
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File Upload |
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Audio Recording |
Pedagogical Flexibility
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Online Test |
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Self-study questions |
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Homework, problem-sets |
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Essay, code, or project
submission |
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Language drills |
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Quick knowledge probes |
Online Testing
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Unique tests for each student |
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Randomized order of questions |
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Randomized draw from question
pools |
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Timed test-taking during access
window |
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Auto-submit at end of timed
period |
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One submission only |
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Higher Security |
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IP Addresses restricted |
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Secondary Password (proctored) |
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No late submissions accepted |
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Scores transferred to gradebook |
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Self-Study Questions
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Immediate feedback |
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Random access to questions
during quiz-taking |
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Table of contents |
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Marked for review list |
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No record of score in gradebook |
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No due date; always available
to student |
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Unlimited submissions allowed |
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Slide 26
Homework/Problem Sets
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Published with multiple release
and due dates for different sections |
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Multiple methods for handling
late submissions |
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Students can save work during
assignment period. |
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Auto-grading with methods for
question type for diagnosing learning problems |
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Quick-reviews of student
aggregate performance by instructors viewing histograms, statistics. |
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Pools for organizing questions
for reuse |
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Essay and Project
Submission
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Use file upload question type
for submitting any type of document |
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Grader can download assignment;
upload marked-up file to return to student |
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Grades are recorded in
gradebook |
Templates
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Create Assessment “Types” for
different disciplines, different uses |
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Select what which choices are
available to the instructor. |
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Hide complexity by making
choices for the type (e.g., self-study always has immediate feedback) |
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Open Source Portfolio
Initiative
OSP 2.x coming
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A major curricular project for
any campus |
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Integrate e-Portfolio into CMS |
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WebDAV access |
Problems to solve
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Innovators deform CMS tools to
carry out learning activities |
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Innovators use many tools |
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Innovators burn out |
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Innovations do not transfer
because they are complex |
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Slide 33
Slide 34