Supporting Open Source Software for Education
March 3, 2011
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from external blog: http://xolotl.org/blog/xolotl/instructures-open-source-strategy
I have been watching Instructure and it's move to offer part of its Canvas learning platform under an AGPLv3 open source license with great interest.
First, Canvas is a compelling product, with some great usabilty and features. I also welcome Instructure's move to a (forked?) open source path, which I think helps evolve platform options and the marketplace in useful ways.
I am unconvinced, however, by a main thread Instructure CEO Josh Coates takes up in his recent blog post on Instructure's open source strategy.
June 3, 2010
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from external blog: http://xolotl.org/blog/xolotl/more-or-less-google-cloudcourse
After the announcement of Google's CloudCourse being open-sourced, I decided to give it a try and see exactly what's under the hood...at the very least, it would give me a chance to try out a Django app via Google App Engine, which alone is worth the time.
Long story short: I got CloudCourse up and running in a matter of minutes.
November 12, 2009
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from external blog: http://xolotl.org/blog/xolotl/who-using-sakai-moodle
A recent exchange online with colleagues in the Moodle community led me to take another look at the statistics about which institutions are using Moodle in comparison with Sakai. Before you read further, know that I think of Moodle as a sister open-source project to Sakai and would celebrate Moodle's increased adoption and success just as I would Sakai's.
October 19, 2009
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from external blog: http://xolotl.org/blog/xolotl/sakai-3s-commonplace-destiny
I've recently been enjoying some (possibly) healthy, irreverent debate with colleagues at Blackboard and beyond about some of the differences between such proprietary regimes and the open-source community of Sakai. While the Twitter channel we've been using generates plenty of pithy ripostes, at times a tweet calls out for more sustained thought and response.
A recent tweet from @georgekroner—one of my favorite Blackboarders—set me thinking and led to some longer—if not deeper—reflections, likely to be far less entertaining than the short salvos in our ongoing snarkument on Twitter.
May 2, 2008
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from external blog: http://xolotl.org/blog/xolotl/where-sakai-headed-or-i-want-my-user-centered-mash-extra-gravy
Hearing Chuck Severance's presentation at JA-SIG St Paul 2008 about work on the IMS Learning Tools Interoperability 2.0 (LTI) standard restarted some thinking I'd already been doing about where online learning technology is (should be?) headed.
March 1, 2008
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from external blog: http://xolotl.org/blog/xolotl/looking-open-source-portfolio-systems
Thanks to the University of London, I was able to try out a few open source portfolio systems, including Elgg, Mahara and Moodle.