VALS: Virtual Alliances for Learning Society

[EN] VALS has the aims of establishing sustainable methods and processes to build knowledge partnerships between Higher Education and companies to collaborate on resolving authentic business problems through open innovation mediated by the use of Open Source Software. Open Source solutions provide the means whereby educational institutions, students, businesses and foundations can all collaborate to resolve authentic business problems. Not only Open Software provides the necessary shared infrastructure and collaborative practice, the foundations that manage the software are also hubs, which channel the operational challenges of their users through to the people who can solve them. This has great potential for enabling students and supervisors to collaborate in resolving the problems of businesses, but is constrained by the lack of support for managing and promoting collaboration across the two sectors. VALS should 1) provide the methods, practice, documentation and infrastructure to unlock this potential through virtual placements in businesses and other public and private bodies; and 2) pilot and promote these as the “Semester of Code”. To achieve its goals the project develops guidance for educational institutions, and for businesses and foundations, detailing the opportunities and the benefits to be gained from the Semester of Code, and the changes to organisation and practice required. A Virtual Placement System is going to be developed, adapting Apache Melange, and extending it where necessary. In piloting, the necessary adaptations to practice will be carried out, particularly in universities, and commitments will be established between problem owners and applicants for virtual placements

Open Source for Education in Europe, Research & Practise Conference proceedings Heerlen, The Netherlands, November 14 and 15, 2005

Open Source Software (OSS) is of increasing interest in education. It can provide better quality software, increased pedagogic choice, enhanced flexibility and new business and social models. Furthermore, the idea of Open Source is being extended into other areas including the production of e-learning materials. This conference on Open Source for education in Europe – Research and Practice has been organised by two European eLearning Initiative sponsored projects, SIGOSSEE and JOIN, which have been investigating the potential of Open Source and providing services for educational institutions wishing to implement Open Source products, together with the Open University of the Netherlands (OUNL) which has a long track record of innovation in e-learning

The OpenDock project: Putting in place the infrastructure for sharing learning activities

The OpenDock project is introduced, and the approach to supporting the sharing of online educational resources outlined. The functional requirements for the OpenDocument repository are stated, and their significance discussed. The system which is currently being implemented is described. This is a light weight, open source, peer to peer system. The peer nodes are the users web presence, rather than their own computer, reducing the infrastructure requirements for small institutions and individuals. Support for IMS Learning Design is provided, with Content Packages being unzipped and stored as a hierarchy, and a parser provided to analyse the manifests and represent the UoLs. The effectiveness of the system in supporting sharing will be established in trials and demonstration activities in the OpenDock project

Open Source and IMS Learning Design: Building the Infrastructure for eLearning

The development of open, flexible eLearning specifications has significant implications for and interactions with the FOSS movement. A short overview of eLearning specifications is provided, focusing on the difference between SCORM and Learning Design (LD). The significance of LD for FOSS is examined, and common values identified. The particular contribution made by FOSS to LD infrastructure is discussed, and the importance of reference applications described. An overview is given of the FOSS applications available, divided into design time and run time, with particular reference to LD editors and the CopperCore Learning Design engine.The UNFOLD Project [www.unfold-project.net

Open Source for Education in Europe, Research & Practise Conference proceedings Heerlen, The Netherlands, November 14 and 15, 2005

Open Source Software (OSS) is of increasing interest in education. It can provide better quality software, increased pedagogic choice, enhanced flexibility and new business and social models. Furthermore, the idea of Open Source is being extended into other areas including the production of e-learning materials. This conference on Open Source for education in Europe – Research and Practice has been organised by two European eLearning Initiative sponsored projects, SIGOSSEE and JOIN, which have been investigating the potential of Open Source and providing services for educational institutions wishing to implement Open Source products, together with the Open University of the Netherlands (OUNL) which has a long track record of innovation in e-learning