Education - Change.org: Smart School Budget-Cutting with Free Open-Source Software

Smart School Budget-Cutting with Free Open-Source Software

Published January 11, 2009 @ 07:04PM PT

axe I've been doing radio news-writing and announcing on weekends for the past few months - English teachers, all that teaching of writing and speaking really is a transferable skill-set - and the job started about the same time as the global economic crisis. Bad economic news dominates our top-of-the-hour newscasts to the degree we call them "the slit-your-wrist updates." Gloom, gloom.

Skimming the Education Week digest of "Education and the Financial Crisis" articles, I can only say I'm glad I don't have to announce them too. I'd choke up as I read. Budget axes falling, student homeless rates rising (and by the way, the National Council of Homeless Education has a site with information on how children and youth whose families have lost their home to foreclosure may qualify for services under the McKinney-Vento Act. If you have homeless children in your classes, their parents should know about this, and from what I'm reading, most parents don't).

I want to hear first-hand accounts not only of how the crisis is affecting your school(s), but more importantly, any innovative measures your school, district, or state is taking to respond to the crisis in a way that minimizes the damage. There are better and worse ways to deal with lower budgets.

And I can offer one way to do that as I close.

Saving School Dollars with Free Software

Besides teaching English and history, I'm also a technology mentor, and I can't tell you how many hairs I've pulled while watching administrators sink tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars into software that they can get for freaking free. Case in point: Blackboard, the e-learning software, costs upwards of $50,000, and does things no better (and arguably worse) than the Free Open-Source Software ("FOSS") called Moodle. Choosing Moodle saves one teacher salary right there.

That's just the tip of the iceberg.

Instead of paying for Microsoft Office, download Open Office for free. It's compatible with MS Office, so there's no cross-platform barriers. From document creation á la Word to presentations á la Powerpoint to spreadsheets á la Excel, Open Office does it all.

Want more? Instead of the ridiculously expensive Adobe Photoshop, try the free open-source Gimp and Gimp Animation. It doesn't stop there. Free software for administration, IT departments, anti-virus protection, math and science and foreign language teachers, audio and video editing and playback, and more is out there too - all thanks to the FOSS community. See these monster lists of FOSS offerings for more: For Windows/PC, here, here, and here. For Macs, see here, here, and here. For background on the FOSS movement, this Wikipedia entry serves admirably.

Knowledge is power - especially in the hands of administrators having to make tough budget choices. Help yours by giving them the knowledge to save dollars, without losing resources. And ask them to support FOSS by donating a small percentage of their savings to the development communities of the software they adopt.

What about you? Any other smart budgeting angles you can share?

Image by Chris Campbell
Thanks to Harold Jarche, djteach, Nathan Rein, S.P. Greenlaw,
and Adrian Bruce for the link-sharing Twitter-assists!

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I know of at least one school district that does one day a week totally online and students and teachers log in from wherever they are. Just in terms of not having to turn the lights on, heat the building the entire day, etc. there is money to save.

Posted by Tim Bray on 01/11/2009 @ 07:24PM PT
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I recently found this list of free web tools; some of them look good, while some are old standbys. I think quite a bit of it (worksheets, books, and visual/audio resources) could probably chip away at the amount of supplemental stuff teachers have to order from text book publishers. http://www.smartteaching.org/blog/2008/08/100-awesome-free-web-tools-for-elementary-teachers/

And, for a free replacement for presentation software, like powerpoint, that students can access from any computer connected to the internet, check out 280 Slides. http://280slides.com/ It's still in beta, but it does a great job for the price.

Posted by SP Greenlaw on 01/11/2009 @ 07:28PM PT
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I use all "FOSS" or free web-based products in my technology classes. I am the only one in the district that does. I have been trying to get our administrators and tech director on the band-wagon, to no avail. I have even suggested that I would teach staff or anyone interested "for free" how to use the products.

Our district still purchases extremely expensive software from companies and is in the process of purchasing a math/reading product that costs an enormous amount of money. I am on the committee to find a product and suggested many free products but for some reason they think "free" means bad.

Another way to save money....
I would love to see administrators and technology directors stop traveling to conferences that costs $$$ and start having conferences via webinar. This would save airfare, hotel costs, dining etc. Ironically in our district supposedly we don't have any money for workmans compensation and our district chose to cut it out all together. But they do have money to fly our administrators and technology department to Cupertino, Seatle etc. several times a year. With the money saved from no more business trips, "FOSS" products, we might be able to hire more Title One teachers to help our ever-growing population of At-risk and needy students. I am sure our district isn't the only district that chooses to spend money on the frivolous verses what is best for students.

A great product that I use with my students is called J2e. It is a free web-based word-processing program/web page maker. Very easy to use, fun to use, and excellent for all grade levels. The technical support is fantastic and the company is eager to help teachers.

Posted by Lisa Smith on 01/11/2009 @ 08:21PM PT
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My opinion is that Arnold should find another way to save money. What I have seen is that every time he wants to save money he wants to cut budgets from schools. It is not right, why do we (students) have to be the ones having our classes cut short. There are many other things out there that we dont need that can be taken out and save money. Our school is on block schedule as in we have

Posted by Karina Millan on 01/13/2009 @ 02:36PM PT
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My opinion is that Arnold should find another way to save money. What I have seen is that every time he wants to save money he wants to cut budgets from schools. It is not right, why do we (students) have to be the ones having our classes cut short. There are many other things out there that we dont need that can be taken out and save money. Our school is on block schedule as in we have all our classes every other day and making school shorter will affect us because we wont get all the credits we need

Posted by Karina Millan on 01/13/2009 @ 02:39PM PT
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StrikeHawk eCommerce sponsors EOS Online Merchant Cart http://strikehawk.com/eos-online-merchant-shopping-cart.html and http://www.oscommerceuniversity.com in which we are in dire need of technical writers, programmers, business ecommerce specialist, supply chain managment, and others to participate in the open source project and moodle course creations, including those with SCORM experience.

We would like to become similar to Open MIT for the eCommerce world. Enabling anyone with an interest in business and technology to learn in a synergistic atmosphere.

Technology, English, Business classrooms can benefit from real world open source participation under a teacher's guideance.

Posted by Denver Prophit Jr. on 01/13/2009 @ 09:24PM PT
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Actually, the people to benefit from open source software are students... Colleges have long been spending 100's of thousands of dollars on crappy systems from overpaid companies.

Additionally, the college textbook industry rakes in money off of the back of students when the cost of information today on the internet is close to zero, and the cost of physcial production is also pretty affordable.

I have a vision of knocking off both industries and lowering the cost of education... (I've been running a bootstrapped startup for the past three years trying to address this issue.)

Posted by David Jaeger on 01/13/2009 @ 10:22PM PT
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Terrific idea. Only last year I jumped off the proprietary operating system wagon for good, and run on Ubuntu linux. It blows my mind how this alternate universe of excellent, free, non-bs software exists out there. The resistance in many minds, no doubt, is the alien concept that something of such quality, that took many hours and many people to create, is offered for free and is not surpassed by products that cost lots of money. Any user of Open Office or Gimp knows that the commercial equivalent really has nothing on them.
Same goes for operating systems. Ubuntu has both volunteer and commercial support, so it's not like there's an advantage with ms because support is consistently available.
Desktops, laptops, servers, embedded systems can all run and many do open source.
It is also a great opportunity for kids who are inclined to become software wizards, just being able to do what they will with code and not have some license restricting their access.
School districts also probably get visited by the friendly software salesmen...you know how your tax dollars get spent and why.
Still, like alternative energy, it's out there, just waiting to be picked up.

Posted by Gordon Clark on 01/14/2009 @ 07:02PM PT
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This is exactly why I started my blog, FreelyEducate.com, for sharing free educational finds. Knowledge should be free for those who desire to learn. Education may not be free - in that, someone may wish to learn by paying for the knowledge (teaching) of another - but knowledge itself should be free if one only cares to search for it.

Great article; thanks for writing it up!

Posted by Freely Educate on 01/14/2009 @ 08:23PM PT
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Makes sense to me !!!

Posted by Leslie Fox on 01/15/2009 @ 03:24AM PT
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How about teaching kids to use Linux instead of the expensive Microsoft Windows OS?

Posted by Kevin Dodge on 01/15/2009 @ 11:17AM PT
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If all of you who are teachers wish to get with us at oscommerceuniversity.com and develope FREE SCORM courses, feel free to do so. http://www.oscommerceuniversity.com promotes open source and open standards. Our forums blog about design, implementation, and security concerns.
Our hopes are to include expertise in all aspects of IT to make it possible for low income families afford the opportunity to sell their wares, crafts, etc and put food on the table.

Where you lack expertise, we will setup a mantis tracker for collaboration efforts from across the United States and become the OPEN MIT of open source solutions for business.
Why teach students to utilize FREE software geared towards business? Resumes, College studying skills, Entrepreneurship, and bedazzle mom and pop at home.
School Administrators, if you want open source solutions, http://www.oscommerceuniversity.com will stand behind you with FREE support. We just have to know there is a need, out there.
We're even willing to go so far as to assist pull in other people in various expertise's via http://www.voa.org/ Volunteer America dot org. We'll screen them for you using http://www.mybackgroundcheck.com/ The American Red Cross uses this service to screen volunteers.
Change.org doesn't like to space out paragraphs, so if it all runs together, point the finger at them! Smile.

Posted by Denver Prophit Jr. on 01/15/2009 @ 12:09PM PT
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I whole-heartedly encourage you folks to move to Linux and open source software. Other countries have done it and are doing it. The benefits are proven and documented. It's very easy to find many successful implementations. There is an initiative underway in Indiana and there is a city government just south from where I live that has been using Linux for several years now.

I'd rather not post the contact info here out of respect for their privacy. Pls feel free to contact me if you'd like more info.

Posted by paul nass on 01/15/2009 @ 12:46PM PT
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You seem to be confusing free software and open source software. They are related, but not identical.

Free software has no restrictions or cost on use.

Open software has source code available for it.

Freeware is an example of software that is free, not open. Copyleft software is an example of software that is open, but not free.

Just hate to see it when prominent writers get this one wrong.

Posted by Shanya Almafeta on 01/15/2009 @ 02:45PM PT
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You have valid points, Ms. Almafeta. Open Source usually has a licensure. It allows the developer to maintain original credit within the source code. You are free to distribute it free or for money. But the trademarks, copyright, syndication marks of acme development et al as well as their images may not be used without permission from the copyright & trademark holder.
Open source seems to be the most popular and widely used because freeware is written, usually, by one company. Open Source is maintained by masses.
Take a look on google for the search phrase 'who uses drupal' and the answers will astound you. Major newspapers, IBM, The United Nations, etc. Open Source makes sense. I suspect http://www.change.gov is also using drupal open source from http://www.drupal.org

Posted by Denver Prophit Jr. on 01/15/2009 @ 03:25PM PT
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Change.org uses Wordpress, BTW - Denver. Does Change.gov use Drupal?

On the general matter of making open source software (or freeware) available to schools, well thats a no brainer but I think that ultimately its of zero sum gain. The technology itself are just tools.

So what if a school district can get a word processor for free. Its no guarantee that it will incentivize the children to write more. Or even blog more for that matter. And the lack of free tools are the major sources of many of these underground hypeculture innovations in any case. Witness the rise of SMS and ultimately the role it played in the election of the President Elect. Nothing very "open-source" about that, per se.

Mind you, I am not slamming FOSS. Far from it. What I am advocating is solutions not technology. What we need are open source models. There are a whole bunch of technologists - me included (here in Ashburn, VA) and (6 members of my team in Bangalore) - who would love to see technical requirements, use case scenarios, and process models for Education that we could develop to and help implement in schools. THAT IS WHAT NEEDS TO BE OPEN SOURCED. The current way of having to gather requirements and pitch every district weights the procurement to companies that can play that game well like Blackboard and Thompson and Apple. FOSS and FOSS service providers have very little opportunities to break on through and even then they cannot do anything that can affect the education community at large since they are usually bound to servicing very narrow needs.

Posted by Sandeep Mohan on 01/15/2009 @ 08:21PM PT
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Hopefully this link will provide additional info re Digitally Free Schools.

http://digifreedom.net/node/55

Posted by paul nass on 01/15/2009 @ 10:11PM PT
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I wish I knew. I do know however that my college used blackboard, and it sucks. Not to mention there's every adobe program on every college campus. I don't know anyone who uses it, but Paint.Net works just as fine, if not better. At least for photoshop, and probably Dreamweaver.

One of my professors actually uses his own website instead of blackboard, and some of the readings are online. It's amazing. Not only does it save money on books, but it's noting an extra ten pounds I have to lug around all day with the already have twenty pound bookbag!

Posted by Andrea Reynolds on 01/16/2009 @ 04:39AM PT
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Textbook education could be a thing of the past. Wasn't there an initiative to send 300 dollar laptops to africa? Here's my thought... publishers can reduce the price of published work by making them PDF downloads. As content changes, updates can be downloaded to keep up with new information. Trees and carbon footprints are reduced.
Students use their laptops to lug around school and home. Snow days become work days as students conduct education online from home. I'd require a webcam so the teacher can see who's being the class dense. Heh!
High School students should be tasked just like the show, "Apprentice". Working in groups to solve real world problems. Lecture based teaching in geography I remember used to put me to sleep. Get us in a group, throw us a real world example and go at it. Heck, even in trigonemtry you can setup electronic labs with oscilliscopes and show students how you solve capacitance discharge in milliseconds using a calculator, memorized equations and elbow grease. They key is to prep them to become innovators and problem solvers not mindless memorization bots.
Mr. Mohan have you considered making for download, free available SCORM courses? Sourceforge.net would be a great place for technology teachers to start posting their projects and ask for assistance from us in the professional realm.
I think I will write to the new secretary of education and request a model similar to Open MIT. Those schools with less resources could lean upon those that do for the best education, possible!

Posted by Denver Prophit Jr. on 01/16/2009 @ 09:33AM PT
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As several people have said already, Linux, anyone? I use Ubuntu on my laptop now. I use OpenOffice, because who wants to spend like a thousand bucks on the full version of Microsoft Office? Not me, that's for sure.

Also, on the issue of textbooks: I'm a computer science student at the University of Manitoba, and last semester I took a course called Technical Writing in Computer Science. The last assignment was, as a class, writing a wiki textbook for one of the first year computer science classes. We eliminated one of the textbooks required for that class, and the previous group to take that class replaced the textbook for another. Also, we all now have lifetime accounts on the website to continue improving the textbooks we wrote for the first years. I thought it was a great idea!

Posted by Lianne Lavoie on 03/04/2009 @ 11:02AM PT
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Author Biography

Clay Burell: Singapore, Singapore; Clay is an American high school Humanities teacher, technology coach, and Apple Distinguished Educator who has taught for the last eight years in Asian international schools. According to law, he's married to his wife. According to his wife, he's married to his Mac.