TOS: Taxonomy

The phrase "Open Source in Education" is extremely unclear. If we're going to further the goals of Teaching Open Source, we need to talk from the same book.

Please edit this page ruthlessly. Note that many projects cited as examples could fit into multiple levels.

Levels of Open Source in Education

Level 1: Teaching Using Open Source

This level includes initiatives such as OLPC, K12LTSP, and the Fedora Education Math spin, which use Open Source educational software to teach other subjects, such as Mathematics or Media Arts.

Level 2: Teaching the Use of Open Source Software

Teaching students how to use Open Source software in various ways.

2A: Non-technical Use of Open Source Software

Open Source provides applications that are useful in many different fields of endeavor, ranging from the general ([editing documents] and [balancing chequebooks]) to the very specific (learning management systems and electronic circuit simulation).

2B: Technical Use of Open Source Software

Some Open Source software is used in very technical ways that require integration, configuration, and testing. This can range from using an Open Source operating system (such as a Linux or BSD distribution) to controlling devices (model trains) or setting up enterprise IT (using [http://jboss.org JBOSS, Apache, AMQP, and so forth). The distinction between level 2A and 2B is that users in level 2B have a greater understanding of what the software does, and generally configure it to perform a specific task or operate in a specific configuration.

Level 3: Working Within an Open Source Community

Teaching students how to contribute to and work within an Open Source project, collaborating with other community members on development, support, testing, documentation, bugfixing, and other collective tasks. This is the "Open" in Open Source.