For this list, we've collected educational apps from a variety of categories that can replace popular commercial software. In many cases, the open source options listed here offer features that aren't matched by their closed source counterparts. And while we limited our list to 50 apps, you can find many more on the Web.
Free-Reading is an open source instructional program that helps educators teach early literacy. Because it is open source, it represents the collective wisdom of a wide community of teachers and researchers. Free-Reading contains a 40-week scope and sequence of primarily phonological awareness and phonics activities that can support and supplement a typical kindergarten or first grade "core" or "basal" program.
Open source educational tools development site for school. Large projects including student information systems, utilities, anti-virus and more. Fun take on the Sourceforge concept of open-source commercial developers.
The online-savvy administration on Saturday switched to open-source code for http://www.whitehouse.gov - meaning the programming language is written in public view, available for public use and able for people to edit.
The whitehouse.gov will look the same to most people except that what is behind it is part of the open source movement with the whitehouse code - now powered by Drupal -- is open source.
For educators, if you've found administrators objecting to the open source movement, maybe you should consider using the white house as an example.
One of my students, Z, brought this application desktop customizer to me for his geniushour project. A very cool way to customize a Windows Computer XP-8. Interesting.
Interesting tidbit in their press release this week:
"Flat World has announced 17 new author
titles under contract. Flat World's in-classroom beta test gets underway this
week, with 20 participating colleges and universities nationwide."
Open Textbooks may be closer -- this model is a more hybridized version. If we had a "wiki to print" tool or technology, then we could literally have grassroots teachers writing and creating textbooks together. This is interesting to follow
Those people who are open source junkies -- this is a great google gadget custom search engine to add to your igoogle or gadget. It will help you easily find open source software.