The Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Open Source

Software and Technology Solutions in Secondary Schools

Nathan D. Miller

1742 Broxton Hwy.

Hazlehurst, GA 31539

An Annotated Bibliography Submitted to:

Dr. D. A. Battle of Georgia Southern University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for
EDUF 7130 NET

April 24, 2007

Statesboro, Georgia

1
 The Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Open Source
Software and Technology Solutions in Secondary Schools

The topic of open source technologies is one that is becoming

much discussed in education is one that is becoming more and more

prominent. As educators, we all know the strains, especially financial

strains, which our public schools are under today. Open source

technologies have opened many doors to schools that lack the funding

to acquire these technologies from traditional sources. These

technologies also make possible collaboration in technological

development like we have never seen before. I have used many of

these technologies first hand and I know that schools that are aware of

these technologies are definitely going to take advantage of them.

There is no spokesperson, no commercials, and no fancy advertising

for the individuals that develop and distribute this technology. There is

only the satisfaction of knowing that they have filled a need for

someone who could not afford it themselves. This spirit is what makes

open source technology what it is, people helping people.

Carmichael, P & Honour, L. (2002, January). Open Source as Appropriate Technology

for Global Education. International Journal of Educational Development, 22(1).

47-53. Retrieved April 15, 2007 from http://scholar.google.com/scholar?

hl=en&lr=&q=cache:sD0pHCug1MUJ:www.col.org/tel99/acrobat/carmichael.pdf

+allintitle:+Open+Source+as+Appropriate+Technology+for+Global+Education

2
This article is basically a laundry list of examples and reasons why open source

technology is so beneficial. The author specifically cites examples from her experience

internationally in Africa and several other countries. The article outlines how open

source technology takes that monetary and proprietary pinch out of upgrading

technologies. The author goes on to talk about the development of new open source

technologies and how it is likely to continue to change the face of education in the future.

Cataloglu, E. (2006, January). The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology.

Open Source Software in Teaching Physics: A Case Study on Vector Algebra and

Visual Representations. 5(1) 1-8. Retrieved April 22 from

http://www.tojet.net/articles/518.htm

This article was a bit more technical in nature, but did an excellent job

of highlighting the flexibility of open source technology. The article

referred to several programs that are freely available that allow

teachers to “custom build” programs for their own use. Octave is the

name of the program used in this article and it was created in 1994 by

several programmers who wanted a freely available program to help

students better understand chemical reactions and mathematical

problems. This highlights the “spirit” of the open source technology

movement, doing something to help others instead of you.

3
Curtis, B. & Guohua, P. (2007, March). The International Review of Research

in Open

and DistanceLearning. The Emergence of Open-Source Software in China, 8(1).

1-20. Retrieved April 20, 2007 from http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/index

I chose this article because it does a really good job of highlighting the

globalization of the open source technology movement. The author of

this article focuses on a derivative of Linux that the Chinese call Red

Flag Linux. The Chinese government is a big advocate of Red Flag

Linux because they fear that the U.S. government could be embedding

malicious code in Microsoft based products in order to someday control

the Chinese computer network. The Chinese people have adopted

open source technology for many of the same reasons that we in the

west have the flexibility, compatibility, cost savings, and the ease of

implementation in an educational environment.

Hartman, Q. (2007, January). Linux Fits in Education. Sys Admin Journal

for Unix and

Linux System Administrators. 1-6. Retrieved April 22 from

http://www.samag.com/documents/s=10108/sam0701a/0701a.htm

This article focused on the flexibility of Linux and in particular, the ability to use Linux

easily on not only servers, but on desktops and network devices as well. This article had

a section dealing with the K12LTSP project. I am personally involved in an

implementation of K12LTSP at our school and we were able to implement a computer

4
lab for just over $3,000 as opposed to over $30,000 if we had used traditional Windows

based workstations. The article then moved to the flexibility of Linux on servers and

how a Linux file server is compatible with virtually every version of Windows ever made

whereas these different versions of windows were not even compatible with each other.

Kaminski, J. (February, 2005). Moodle – a User-Friendly, Open Source Course

Management System. Online Journal of Nursing Informatics 9(1). Retrieved

April 20, 2007 from http://eaaknowledge.com/ojni/ni/9_1/

This article was about Moodle, and open source course management

system. Once again, this is a technology I get to deal with daily in our

school system. The author described how Moodle helps students by

giving them a way in which to apply the social constructivist learning

theory. The author stated that this was done via journals, private discussion

boards, chat rooms, assignment, workshop and file exchange areas, quiz and survey

support, mail integration and more. Like the other open source solutions we have looked

at, the article said that Moodle is freely available to anyone.

Kay, J. & O’Hara, K. (2003, February). Open Source Software and

Computer Science

5
 Education. Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges, 18(3), 1-7.

Retrieved March 22, 2007 from

http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=771712.771716

This article began with a brief introduction to open source technology and then went into

a detailed discussion of several of the more prominent licenses used in open source

software. The article then addressed the topic of open source software in education in

general, including the K12 Linux Project, of which the K12LTSP later became a part.

The article then moved to address the used of open source technology in science

education in particular. Here the author addressed both large open source software

packages as well as open source programs that allow the instructor to develop their own

work.

Pfaffenberger, B. (2000, March 2). Linux in Higher Education: Open Source, Open

Minds, Social Justice. Linux Journal. 1-10. Retrieved April 20, 2007 from

http://www.linuxjournal.com/node/5071/print

This article began with a brief introduction and quickly turned to questioning closed

source software. The point was that when a piece of open source software is released,

you essentially have thousands of people “proofreading” your work and making

corrections. The author then entered a lengthy argument that the concept of computer

literacy is now becoming more or less “Microsoft literacy”. The author then addressed

the potential for open source software to help close the digital divide. With its greatly

reduced cost and incredible hardware independence, open source software could be the

answer to this problem. The author then expanded this idea to the idea of social justice

6
worldwide and then promoted Linux as the new international computing standard.

Sharp, J. & Huett, J. (2006, October 6). The Use of Open Source

Software in Education.

Information Systems Education Journal, 4(45), 3-10. Retrieved

March 22, 2007, from http://isedj.org/4/45/.

This article was basically a culmination of a large amount of literature on open source

technologies in education. This article was the only one that really addressed the

negative aspects of open source in education. This article even went so far as to contrast

the pedagogical strengths and weaknesses of open source technologies. The article then

moved into different examples of the applications of open source technology. The author

began with applications in underdeveloped countries and moved to applications in

educational environments.

Conclusion and Implications

These articles really did a great job of restating what I have been learning since I

have been working at the Jeff Davis County school system. We contract part of our

technology work to a group called Linux Solutions Providers and they are the

embodiment of the ideas that these articles refer to. There is virtually nothing that we

have needed that there has not been an open source solution for. As a matter of fact, the

only real instance we have of using proprietary, commercial software is on our desktops

and some of the educational software packages that we use.

The general consensus of these articles was that open source technology is the

direction in which the world is headed. It is just an all-around better solution than

7
anything the world has ever seen. It offers unparalleled flexibility, scalability, cost

savings, reliability, and security. I guess you could say that the only reason that people

are not fully adopting open source software today is that it is not what they are used to.

Windows has become the de-facto desktop operating system but with Linux and Mac

steadily chipping away at their market, we could see a drastic shift in the software world

over the next few years. I can only look forward to what the future will bring with

regards to open source technology, not only in education, but in the life of everyone on

this planet.