Free and Open Source Learning

If you are a geek like me, you are probably enamored with the concept of free and open source software (FOSS) for a number of reasons. I underscore the "free" part as like all folks working in education, there is never enough money to do the things you need to do. "Open source" is an more interesting concept. Sounding oh so socialistic in its intent, the idea of open source is that multitudes of people contribute to the common good by producing intellectual property that has no individual owner. Someone generates a kernel of an idea, this is added to and improved upon by the next person and the next person and the next person. Eventually you have a product that rivals the commercial application, costs nothing to produce (except individuals' time) and it costs the public nothing.

The free and open source software movement has a long history (starting in the early 1980s) and has grown to becoming a true force in the software development field.

But this is not about software, this is about curriculum.

According to e-News:

Tired of investing in expensive textbooks and proprietary software programs, Florida education officials are looking to an open online-learning platform to teach young students basic reading skills

FreeReading.net is a free, sequential, research-based reading intervention program designed for students in kindergarten through first grade. Educators are invited to participate in discussion boards; take part in the full, 40-week scope and sequence of lessons; or tailor materials to their students’ individual learning needs.

The site’s content is provided under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License, sometimes referred to as the “wiki” license. This license lets any site visitor copy, share, and distribute the content in any medium, as long as the visitor includes appropriate attribution.

I will be watching the development of FOSC with great interest.

~John Brandt