Open Source Software in Higher Education: Oman SQU Case Study
Many organizations are opting to adopt Open Source Software (OSS) as it is the current trend to rely on each other rather than on companies (Software vendors). It is a clear shift from organizations to individuals, the concept being to rely on collective participation rather than companies/vendors.
The main objectives of this research are 1) to identify the current level of OSS usage in Sultan Qaboos University; 2) to identify the potential benefits of using OSS in educational institutes; 3) to identify the OSS applications that are most likely to be used within an educational institute; 4) to identify the existing and potential barriers to the successful adoption of OSS in education.
To achieve these objectives a two-stage research method was conducted. First a rigorous literature review of previously published material was performed (interpretive/descriptive approach), and then a set of interviews were conducted with the IT professionals at Sultan Qaboos University in Oman in order to explore the extent and nature of their usage of OSS.
[1] Rooij, v. and Williams, S., (2007), Open Source software in US higher education: Reality or illusion?, Education and Information Technologies, vol. 12 (4), pp. 191-209.
[2] Madey, G., Freeh, V. and Tynan, R., (2002), The open source software development phenomenon: An analysis based on social network theory, In the proceeding of Americas conf. on Information Systems (AMCIS2002), 1806-1813
[3] Lee, M. Y., Albright, S., O'Leary, L., Terkla, D. G. and Wilson, N., (2008), Expanding the reach of health sciences education and empowering others: the OpenCourseWare initiative at Tufts University, Medical Teacher, vol. 30 (2), pp. 159-163.
[4] Sharma, S., Sugumaran, V. and Rajagopalan, B., (2002), A framework for creating hybrid‐open source software communities, Information Systems Journal, vol. 12 (1), pp. 7-25.
[5] Brown, A. W. and Booch, G. (2002), Reusing open-source software and practices: The impact of open-source on commercial vendors, In Software Reuse: Methods, Techniques, and ToolsSpringer, pp. 123-136.
[6] Moriarty, G. L., (2009), Web 2.0 LMS opportunities and obstacles: exploring OpenSocial, OpenID, and OpenCourseWare in NIXTY, On the Horizon, vol. 17 (3), pp. 226-231.
[7] Bogdanov, E., Salzmann, C. and Gillet, D., (2011), Contextual Spaces with Functional Skins as OpenSocial Extension, In the proceeding of ACHI 2011, The Fourth International Conference on Advances in Computer-Human Interactions, 158-163
[8] CETIS, J., (2008), Open educational resources–Opportunities and challenges for higher education.
[9] O'Hara, K. J. and Kay, J. S., (2003), Open source software and computer science education, Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges, vol. 18 (3), pp. 1-7.
[10] Romero, C., Ventura, S. and García, E., (2008), Data mining in course management systems: Moodle case study and tutorial, Computers & Education, vol. 51 (1), pp. 368-384.
[11] Melis, E., Andres, E., Budenbender, J., Frischauf, A., Goduadze, G., Libbrecht, P., Pollet, M. and Ullrich, C., (2001), ActiveMath: A generic and adaptive web-based learning environment, International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education (IJAIED), vol. 12, pp. 385-407.
[12] Lakhani, K. R. and Von Hippel, E., (2003), How open source software works:"free” user-to-user assistance, Research policy, vol. 32 (6), pp. 923-943.
[13] Boulos, M., Maramba, I. and Wheeler, S., (2006), Wikis, blogs and podcasts: a new generation of Web-based tools for virtual collaborative clinical practice and education, BMC medical education, vol. 6 (1), pp. 41.
[14] Johnson, M., (2013), Open Source Options For Education, Accessed on Available at: http://oss-watch.ac.uk/resources/ossoptionseducation
[1] Rooij, v. and Williams, S., (2007), Open Source software in US higher education: Reality or illusion?, Education and Information Technologies, vol. 12 (4), pp. 191-209.
[2] Madey, G., Freeh, V. and Tynan, R., (2002), The open source software development phenomenon: An analysis based on social network theory, In the proceeding of Americas conf. on Information Systems (AMCIS2002), 1806-1813
[3] Lee, M. Y., Albright, S., O'Leary, L., Terkla, D. G. and Wilson, N., (2008), Expanding the reach of health sciences education and empowering others: the OpenCourseWare initiative at Tufts University, Medical Teacher, vol. 30 (2), pp. 159-163.
[4] Sharma, S., Sugumaran, V. and Rajagopalan, B., (2002), A framework for creating hybrid‐open source software communities, Information Systems Journal, vol. 12 (1), pp. 7-25.
[5] Brown, A. W. and Booch, G. (2002), Reusing open-source software and practices: The impact of open-source on commercial vendors, In Software Reuse: Methods, Techniques, and ToolsSpringer, pp. 123-136.
[6] Moriarty, G. L., (2009), Web 2.0 LMS opportunities and obstacles: exploring OpenSocial, OpenID, and OpenCourseWare in NIXTY, On the Horizon, vol. 17 (3), pp. 226-231.
[7] Bogdanov, E., Salzmann, C. and Gillet, D., (2011), Contextual Spaces with Functional Skins as OpenSocial Extension, In the proceeding of ACHI 2011, The Fourth International Conference on Advances in Computer-Human Interactions, 158-163
[8] CETIS, J., (2008), Open educational resources–Opportunities and challenges for higher education.
[9] O'Hara, K. J. and Kay, J. S., (2003), Open source software and computer science education, Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges, vol. 18 (3), pp. 1-7.
[10] Romero, C., Ventura, S. and García, E., (2008), Data mining in course management systems: Moodle case study and tutorial, Computers & Education, vol. 51 (1), pp. 368-384.
[11] Melis, E., Andres, E., Budenbender, J., Frischauf, A., Goduadze, G., Libbrecht, P., Pollet, M. and Ullrich, C., (2001), ActiveMath: A generic and adaptive web-based learning environment, International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education (IJAIED), vol. 12, pp. 385-407.
[12] Lakhani, K. R. and Von Hippel, E., (2003), How open source software works:"free” user-to-user assistance, Research policy, vol. 32 (6), pp. 923-943.
[13] Boulos, M., Maramba, I. and Wheeler, S., (2006), Wikis, blogs and podcasts: a new generation of Web-based tools for virtual collaborative clinical practice and education, BMC medical education, vol. 6 (1), pp. 41.
[14] Johnson, M., (2013), Open Source Options For Education, Accessed on Available at: http://oss-watch.ac.uk/resources/ossoptionseducation
@article{"International Journal of Business, Human and Social Sciences:67837", author = "Amal S. Al-Badi and Ali H. Al-Badi", title = "Open Source Software in Higher Education: Oman SQU Case Study", abstract = "Many organizations are opting to adopt Open Source Software (OSS) as it is the current trend to rely on each other rather than on companies (Software vendors). It is a clear shift from organizations to individuals, the concept being to rely on collective participation rather than companies/vendors.
The main objectives of this research are 1) to identify the current level of OSS usage in Sultan Qaboos University; 2) to identify the potential benefits of using OSS in educational institutes; 3) to identify the OSS applications that are most likely to be used within an educational institute; 4) to identify the existing and potential barriers to the successful adoption of OSS in education.
To achieve these objectives a two-stage research method was conducted. First a rigorous literature review of previously published material was performed (interpretive/descriptive approach), and then a set of interviews were conducted with the IT professionals at Sultan Qaboos University in Oman in order to explore the extent and nature of their usage of OSS.
", keywords = "Open source software; social software, e-learning 2.0, Web 2.0, connectivism, personal learning environment (PLE), OpenID, OpenSocial and OpenCourseWare.", volume = "8", number = "8", pages = "2617-5", }
