Matthew Sutton

Sharon Adamavage
Chapter 9: Web 2.0 New Tools, New Schools:
Open Source Educational Applications

Open Source Educational applications could be the wave of the future for education
both in and out of the classroom. According to Bob Tinker (2006), "A body of education
applications that are all free, open source, and maintained by a collaborating
community, could result in an exciting new generation of computer-based learning
activities that are well designed, robust, and highly effective." (Solomon & Schrum,
2007, p. 183)

Incorporating technology into the modern classroom is beset with several

challenges including cost of software and the effectiveness of that software. By
developing and implementing open source, educational software for public schools
teachers can have direct input into the tools they will use to ensure proper
effectiveness on their students educational progress. Using open source software will
also free up additional monetary resources for the hardware necessary to ensure the
success of the software.

There are a large variety of open-source applications for use in the classroom, and
one such application with a direct impact to student learning is the use of video games
(specifically computer based.) According to David Warlick, there are five elements of
the video game experience that makes it both compelling and instructionally potent:
Responsiveness, Convert-able and Convers-able rewards, Personal Investment,
Identity Building, and Dependabiltiy. (Solomon & Schrum, 2007, p. 185-186) These five
elements are what draw students attention to the activity, and holds it for a exteneded
period of time to create the best opportunity for their long term, cognitive
development of specified educational concepts.

A study was completed in Taiwan supporting this very theory of educational

practices. A peer-reviewed article titled "Effect of Computer-Based Video games on
Children: An Experimental Study" was completed and analyzed by Tsung-Yen Chuang
and Wei-Fan Chan. In 2008, they completed a study in which 115 Taiwanese 3rd grade
students learned and were assessed upon the concept of fire safety. Half the students
read text based information on the concept individually on a computer. The other half
played a video game covering the same concepts. "In conclusion, computer-based
video games might improve students’ achievement in learning factual knowledge,
problem-solving strategies, and higher-level cognitive thinking processes." (Chuang
and Chan, 2009) The students who used the game averaged a four point higher score
in all three levels of Bloom's Taxonomy than those students how didn't.

Open source software, such as educational games, not only have the ability to
engage our students more in the classroom, but it gives schools free tools to use to
reach their students. Teachers can differetiate instruction for their students and use
and adapt the software to their student's needs and wants. This idea is discussed in
the article, "It's Time to Consider Open-Source Software," where Jay Pfaffman,
assistant professor of instructional technology at the University of Tennessee, says,
"Free software gives everyone the freedom to run, study, change, and redistribute
software. It is these freedoms, not the price, that is important about free software"
(Pfaffman, J., 2007, p. 38).
 The article goes on to explain how schools, regardless of the old proprietary
software norm, need to carefully consider whether their needs could be better met by
the use of open source software as an alternative. Doing so will not only relieve some
of the economical burden of the schools and community to fund proprietary software,
but also, may actually serve as a better choice educationally. F/OSS (Free Open
Source Software), as it continues to be supported and created, most definitely has
potential to equal (if not exceed) proprietary software.

With economic and educational advantages in mind, it seems hard to imagine why
more schools are not quick to embrace valuable resources. John K, Waters, respected
freelance writer based in Palo Alto, CA, says in his article entitled, "Opening a New
Door," that there will be a tipping point in the open source evolution. He believes that
acceptance will most likely occur due to “peer pressure” where people in charge of
making software decisions for school districts will be influenced by what other schools
are doing effectively. “The school’s need to feel safe making the decision to implement
open technologies, and there’s safety in number” (Waters, 2007, p. 34).

An example of this is Christel Powell, manager of information systems for School

District 118 in Danville, IL. When presented with a similar decision, she decided to
embrace OpenOffice as an alternative to Microsoft’s Office suite. She is quoted in
Waters article as saying:

Everybody said, we've got to have Word, we've got to have Word! We
decided not to try to change anybody's mind about that. We just pushed
OpenOffice to every desktop in the district. We never said a word, and people
just started using it. For us, that application was the toe in the door (p. 32).

Change un-evidently will be slow, but in the minds of many educators following the
topic, it will happen. During the week of October 3 - 9, 2006, techLearning.com
conducted a series of polls to see the opinions of teachers who are currently using
technology in their classrooms. They wanted to see what these educators believe will
be the future of the Internet. They all agreed that by 2020, a low-cost global network
will be thriving and creating new opportunities in a flattening world (Solomon &
Schrum, 2007, p.181). If this to be true, as educators we need to engage students in
our classrooms and start using the Internet as an educational tool and stop fearing it.
This may be a new Web for many teachers, but to our students it has been their
home. They are used to using the Internet for gaming, social-networking, etc., but it is
our responsibility to show them the educational prospects the Internet can offer.
Open-source educational applications are an economical way to help model this
behavior.

References:

Chuang, T.-Y., & Chen, W.-F. (2009). Effect of Computer-Based Video Games on
Children: An Experimental Study. Educational Technology & Society, 12 (2), 1–10.,
12 (2), 1–10.

Pfaffman, J. (2007). It's Time to Consider Open Source Software. TechTrends. 51(3). p.
38-43

Solomon, G., & Schrum, L. (2007). Web 2.0: New Tools, New Schools. Washington,
DC: International Society for Technology in Education.
Waters, J. K. (2007). Opening a New Door. T.H.E. Journal. 34(8). p. 30-2, 34-6.

Concept Maps
http://s809.photobucket.com/albums/zz18/sadamava/?
action=view&current=mindmap.jpg

Figure 1 Matt Sutton Mind Map

Figure 2 Sharon Adamavage Mind Map