16.1 Open source and open standards  (Page 8/10)

But, who knows - we may evolve to a different or better model in the future :-) Best, Rob

11. patrick masson - september 27th, 2007 at 9:28 pm

Rob, Your introductory question got me really excited. “Open source, open content, open technologies, open standards – is there any relationship between these things?” I was hoping (dreaming, no fantasizing) your post would outline not only a technical roadmap, for implementing an architecture around integration and interoperability (I think these terms are often inappropriately interchanged, see below) between services, but also a political roadmap with advice for those looking to include standards as a technical requirement within campus systems.

But perhaps the introduction was not rhetorical, so I’ll bite: yes I believe there is a strong relationship between these things. (Although I admit to being very thin with regard to open content, but the other issues related to openness: definitely)

The theme of Terra Incognita’s “OSS and OER in Education Series” seems to revolve around learning management systems and the integration/interoperability (there they are again) of teaching and learning tools, with the contributions, perspectives, opinions etc. primarily from those within higher ed with some role in the design, development and/or deployment of educationally focused software.

I can’t put my finger on it, but there seems to be another set of values, or perceived benefits, that drives interest in, and adoption of OSS, within education, particularly higher education—and I think the four postulates that Rob presents highlights this.

Reference Implementations. I’m not sure if a parallel can be drawn between Apache and Moodle, Sakai, uPortal, Kauli, etc. My interpretation of a reference implementation includes, not just the methods for collaboration, design, development, communication, control, governance, etc. but also the user-developers and “customers,” i.e. those defining technical requirements based on functional requirements. Apache, the project, is driven by a (rather narrow) shared need and understanding of an http server. However, sitting through several conferences regarding educational technology, I’m not sure if there is a shared vision of how teaching and learning tools should function, and thus the technologies (including those standards). I never really know where a “Content Management System” ends and an “ePortfolio” starts; or if a Learning Management System needs a blog or wiki or both for “small group work.”

Standards Organizations: I know I have played both the roles Rob describes, “Can I get the standards library for grade books integration/interoperability,” (again): student, faculty, course, section, session, assignment, date, values, weights, etc. (or whatever you called them when you “standardized”). And of course, “this app will be so bitch’in everyone will want to use it and thus our specifications will become the standard. Yet the complexity of teaching and learning definitions and thus the feature set included in those tools don’t allow for “standards” because there are no standard definitions for functionality. Again, what is a grade book vs. an ePortfolio, vs. a content management system? And thus what is a standard set of functions to be described? I guess I wonder what comes first, the standard or the definition?