This slide is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.5 License. Some rights reserved.Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.5 License 26 June, 2006ED-MEDIA 2006 LMS Symposium1 Open Source Learning Technology: Lessons and Opportunities Robby Robson Eduworks, Corporation

This slide is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.5 License. Some rights reserved.Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.5 License 26 June, 2006ED-MEDIA 2006 LMS Symposium2 About me (full disclosure)  Former researcher, faculty member, academic administrator: Mathematics, Learning technology, Outcomes-based Education  President of an e-learning R&D company producing open technology  Architect / Designer / Market Strategist / of e- learning products  Researcher, author, commentator in the e- learning space  Standards wonk

This slide is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.5 License. Some rights reserved.Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.5 License 26 June, 2006ED-MEDIA 2006 LMS Symposium3 OUTLINE  Open Source 101 What is Open Source? What is a license and a CLA? Why Open Source?  Open Source 201 Open source in business Open Source in education  Open Source 301 Open Source in the LMS world Open Source beyond the LMS Open Source beyond academia

This slide is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.5 License. Some rights reserved.Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.5 License 26 June, 2006ED-MEDIA 2006 LMS Symposium4 OS101: What is Open Source  Richard Stallman: FREE as in “freedom” not “free beer” Code is available for all to see Code may be modified by anyone Modifications must be shared (See  More practical: Licensed under an approved Open Source license ( Code is available (the source is open)

This slide is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.5 License. Some rights reserved.Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.5 License 26 June, 2006ED-MEDIA 2006 LMS Symposium5 OS101: Licenses and CLA’s  License defines rights of users  May include Obligation to share changes Prohibition from sharing changes Viral licensing clause  Contributor (or Committer) License Agreement defines rights of contributors  May include: Copyright assignment Copyright sharing Patent Poison Pills Obligation for “steward” to use for the public good  Common Licenses GNU Public License (GPL) Lesser GPL (LGPL) Apache Mozilla Public License BSD / MIT Common Development and Distribution License (“cuddle”) SUN Public licence

This slide is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.5 License. Some rights reserved.Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.5 License 26 June, 2006ED-MEDIA 2006 LMS Symposium6 OS101: Why Open Source?  Enables community development Thrives on distributed efforts Empowers communities of practice Enables innovation Requires participation  Transparency provides security  Lowers barrier to entry  Enables new business models  The “right” thing to do

This slide is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.5 License. Some rights reserved.Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.5 License 26 June, 2006ED-MEDIA 2006 LMS Symposium7 OS201: Open Source Business  Open source shifts Development Costs Sales & Marketing Costs Acquisition Costs Maintenance and Service Costs  Monetizing open source development Sell services Sell bundled solutions Sell advertising Sell commercial versions  Standard business model: Open Source plus Secret Sauce  Not “either or” Most commercial LMS vendors are incorporating open source components System integrators are recommending combinations of proprietary and open source solutions

This slide is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.5 License. Some rights reserved.Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.5 License 26 June, 2006ED-MEDIA 2006 LMS Symposium8 OS201: Open Source in Education  Development Costs Developers are paid for other things or receive other rewards  Sales & Marketing Costs Through community infrastructure (e.g. Web sites) at a low marginal cost  Acquisition Costs Close to zero  Maintenance & Service Costs Very real but hidden  Community development Multiple communities of practice with specialized needs  Secret Sauce Opportunity for publication and technology transfer  Ethics Fits in with image of public good  Innovation Open Source is all about innovation … see next slide

This slide is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.5 License. Some rights reserved.Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.5 License 26 June, 2006ED-MEDIA 2006 LMS Symposium9 OPEN STANDARDS The Economics of Innovation* Innovation Early Adoption Commoditization Majority Adoption Consumers with specific unmet needs Mass MarketLarge enterprises Products move up the value chain * Clayton Christiansen et. al. Opportunity for disruptive innovation

This slide is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.5 License. Some rights reserved.Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.5 License 26 June, 2006ED-MEDIA 2006 LMS Symposium10 OS301: Open Source LMS  LMS are commoditized Basic feature sets are the same Commercial products focused on enterprise features Teaching & learning have not significantly changed  This is an ideal situation for open source Commercial products have moved up value chain Disruptive innovation is needed There is a large market for which almost any barrier to entry is too high Specialization is needed for specific application

This slide is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.5 License. Some rights reserved.Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.5 License 26 June, 2006ED-MEDIA 2006 LMS Symposium11 OS301: Beyond the LMS  Areas of innovation Semantics and metadata beyond the basics Learning design Multi-learner environments  Areas in transition Content assembly & repurposing Modeling & simulation Gaming as learning Learning object repositories  Commoditized areas LMS Student information systems Group learning environments (“virtual classrooms”) Hardware

This slide is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.5 License. Some rights reserved.Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.5 License 26 June, 2006ED-MEDIA 2006 LMS Symposium12 OS301: Discussion  Open Source LMS Projects (not exhaustive) Moodle OLAT Sakai ILIAS LON-CAPA Atutor DotNetSCORM  Questions Are there too many? Too few? Are they serving the community? Is innovation taking place? Where do we go from here?

This slide is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.5 License. Some rights reserved.Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.5 License 26 June, 2006ED-MEDIA 2006 LMS Symposium13 Easiest Contact Information