Open Source Schools

The Open Source Schools Project is an initiative to help schools with awareness, adoption, use and development of Open Source Software (OSS). A number of schools are already realising the benefits of OSS within their ICT strategy. This project will work to share their experiences along with good OSS practice from other sectors with the wider community of educational practitioners, including teachers, decision makers and IT specialists.

The project will provide an informative and impartial website that will raise awareness of how OSS can be used to enhance learning, teaching and school infrastructures. The project will develop and support a community of practice that engages those who are currently using OSS and welcomes and supports new members who wish to explore the potential of OSS.

Our aim is to create an educationally focused project driven by the needs of the community – responding to their questions, providing tailored advice and guidance, broadening choice, stimulating contributions and discussion from the community and giving them the means to make informed decisions and become confident users of OSS where it meets their needs. In the early stages, the project will develop resources with the support of existing champions of OSS, encouraging them to share their experiences with those members at the start of the OSS learning journey.

The project will work to complement existing OSS community initiatives within schools and elsewhere. We will provide a directory of OSS products and OSS service providers, along with community case studies of successful practice, focusing on the achievable benefits to learning, teaching and schools.

While the provision of information is important, the heart of this project is the development of a web based community of practice whose membership will comprise people with an interest in exploring open source software solutions to enhance learning and teaching within schools and between schools and their communities.