My points may be used in any way deemed fit 1. ICT in education is more about education and less about ICT. However the vendors of hardware and sooftware make it their business to dictate what education should be. This is dangerous , more so because the governing interests are short term commercial . Free software in education will release the education from these shackles.Nay that is the only way for inclusive education. 2. ICT must be made mainstream education. I.e. the subject teachers must teach subjects thru computers. Not like the boot system i.e outsourced. This implies making computer based learning mandatory rather than optional for the rich. The numbers implied make FOSS as the only option. 3. Constructionism , so far decoratively enshrined in NCF 2005 can actually be brought down to reality only when enabled by freedom in software 4. The seamless integration of skills , open learning, distance learning and formal educatn can happen only if shacles of proprietary softwares are decremented . 5. open standards will encourage open hardware ( i.e. pluggable enhancements ). the scales involved will make hardware cheap. Present scales , restricted as they are by proprietary comaptibility strategies is the biggest obstruction. 6. Even though half hearted , and even if hemmed in by the commercial and corrupt interests, some of the government policies are a good starting point. More particularly the FOSS based educational projects of MHRD and admirable initiaves of Kerala Govt. 7. Student projects in Higher education system must be utilised to generate the innovations for education. Suitable rewards systems , moral and material incentives must be created for this. 8. There must be atleast one portal which invites and incentivises the creation of good content and allows dissemination as free software. www.classle.is close to this. 9. the ecosystem that this will generate will create the mass of content that no private effort with proprietary boundaries can. It will be the quality content as there will be no concern of 'adequate return on investment' blocking the best latest content from being used.
On Sun, Sep 12, 2010 at 12:36 PM, Nagarjuna G <[email protected]>wrote: > ==This is a Draft Declaration== > We request all those who read this to suggest any changes before > Monday 13th September 2010, so that the declaration can be released > sooner than later. > > ==The Role of ICT and Education in Social Inclusion== > Information & Communication Technology (ICT) is one of the most powerful > technologies ever developed by humankind. It has drastically changed > the way we do things, the way we communicate and even the way we > think. Education is one of the spheres of human activity that is being > strongly influenced by ICT. While the teaching of ICT has been > incorporated at the school-level, ICT itself is being used in the > classroom and outside for teaching and learning more > effectively. However, access to ICT is not universal due to various > reasons, including obscurity and the high cost of proprietary software. > > Education is a basic requirement for a comfortable life in > today's society. In view of this, some countries, including India, > have made it a fundamental right. This is certainly a move in the > right direction. Education in ICT and ICT-enabled education are also > becoming wide-spread. Part of the reason for this is the rapid decline > in the cost of hardware. At the same time, the high cost of software > is acting as a hurdle for further progress. Another factor that > prevents more wide-spread use of ICT is the fact that the interface is > not available in many languages, which bothers a lot of people. > > Obscurity stops people and especially students to learn how things work, > software in particular. The right to use, know, change and share > technical knowledge > about modern artefacts is an essential human right in knowledge societies. > > > > ==Why Software Freedom is essential?== > > Proprietary software does not allow community participation in shaping > the ICT to be used for education, and is not suitable for education > since their solutions treat students as consumers. Free software > community (sometimes called free and open source software community) > on the other hand produced GNU/Linux operating system and a > comprehensive stack of collaborative workspaces that enable students > during the last 25 years. Most of the free software workspaces are > made accessible for speakers of all languages of the world, including > physically challenged students. The software freedom granted to the > people (1. to use the software for any purpose; 2. to study how it > works; 3. to modify it and 4. to distribute the modified software) is > unquestionably the core source of the free software revolution that is > being witnessed. Any software that grants these four freedoms is > called Free Software. These freedoms are essential for students to > learn how things work, and to share their experience, knowledge and > collaborate with others without legal encumbrances. > > The software freedom makes it eminently suitable for any purpose, > especially for education. The software used in education has to be > freely available and accessible to all because education has to be > universal. Moreover, the software has to be available in the language > used by the community in that part of the world, however small the > community may be. This is normally not possible with proprietary > software because some communities could be too small to satisfy the > commercial interests of the company. > > But the situation is different with Free Software. Since the source > code is available for study and modification by anyone, students of > computer science and software engineering are able to see code written > by master programmers and learn from them, just as students of > literature learn from works of great writers, or students of art or > cinema learn from the works of great artists and movie makers. This is > obviously not possible with proprietary software. > > Any community that has people with reasonable software skills can > customise the interface to show the menu and other items in their own > language. They can also create fonts for the language if they are not > available. And they can localise applications to suit their culture > and environment. > > Finally, the students who have computers in their homes can use the > same software they use in their educational institutions without > either breaking the law and using illegal software, or spending a lot > of money to buy the same software. > > Thus, Free Software is undeniably the most ideal for use in all > educational institutions at all levels; for primary, secondary or > higher education. Proprietary software keeps people divided and > helpless, while Free Software empowers them. Free software nurtures > the much needed creativity by encouraging us to critical thinking and > reasoning while proprietary software forces us to consume what they > package. > > It is important for the graduating students to become entrepreneurs or > join the various agencies for employment. Considering this > requirement it is essential that the syllabus in educational > institutions focuses on skills and not include any specific branded > applications produced by a commercial company. Therefore, the > syllabus should be neutral and not mention any particular brand. > > Just as the software requires to be free, it is essential that > learning and teaching resources including documentation, books, > journals, and other media should be released with a license (such as > Creative Commons by Share Alike) which grands similar freedoms for > other resources. All these resources must also be encoded in an open > standard so that the exchanged documents are decodable in all > platforms ensuring interoperability. > > ==Therefore== > considering all the reasons mentioned above, we, the undersigned, call > on all educational institutions, policy makers, students, teachers in > all corners of the world to discard all proprietary software and use > exclusively Free Software. > _______________________________________________ > network mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.fosscom.in/listinfo.cgi/network-fosscom.in > -- jitendra
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