Open Mind Open Source

Name of Concept: Open Mind Open Source

Overview

Mine is not a new idea, but a proven strategy for business and institutions of all sizes to motivate all stakeholders to embrace responsibility for fiscal awareness which leads to ownership and pride in a socially responsible work environment.  Simply, establish a "Tight Tiger Suggestion Box" for credible ideas for eliminating unnecessary waste of institutional resources, both tangible and intangible.  Drive motivation for these suggestions by establishing tiered level of monetary rewards, with extraordinary idea rewards based on annual dollar savings to the institute.

Consider 2025 cost savings if RIT were to wean itself away from proprietary online learning portals like BlackBoard and Desire2Learn.  Adoption of NO LICENSE FEES open source alternatives like moodle and Sakai,  are more fluid in adapting and responding to technological advancements.   Additionally, open-source systems will  allow greater flexibility and opportunity for IT faculty and majors to support ETC staff in systems upkeep and development with full control for faculty student collaborations RIT-wide.   Both moodle and Sakai have a significant international presence in higher education that could provide an expanded range of coop opportunities for students beyond IT majors. 

Who knows how many RIT resources may be better used?  Ask to find out.

References:

http://sakaiproject.org/whos-using-sakai

http://moodle.org/stats/

http://www.instructure.com/try-canvas, https://github.com/instructure/canvas-lms/wiki

How this idea leverages current areas of RIT expertise

RIT has an excellent ETC staff that currently are constrained to a proprietary learning management system that has exorbitant annual licensing fees. RIT has the Galisano College of Information Technology that not only has excellent faculty,  but also attracts gifted students.  Both moodle and Sakai are collaborative LMS  that offer flexibility and innovations limited only by faculty, staff, and student imaginations. What an in-house opportunity for hands-on problem solving experiences! Again, the possibilities for inter-disciplinary collaboration with ETC, faculty and students is boundless.

Main RIT on-campus champion(s) for this idea

Allen M. Ford, Assistant Professor and Certified Moodle Teacher (2007), has broad experience with a variety of online course management systems including Desire2Learn and moodle.

Tracy Magin, Instructor, is an academic administrator for OnlineNTID.rit.edu

Dr. L. K. Quinsland, is in his second year of using moodle for courses within the Lab Science Technology curriculum.  

There are unidentified others on campus that would love an open source option.

Additional on-campus champions willing to collaborate with this individual and take a lead role in driving the idea

I have several people in mind but would prefer to keep them anonymous at this point.

Is there potential off-campus advocacy and support for the idea?

Yes, any entity wanting or  using open source.

Are you aware of another university that is working on a similar idea?

Numerous name universities world-wide use open-source LMS

Explain how you envision this idea advancing RIT's national or global stature in an important or emerging field

Given the current trend for social technology and interaction, an experience with open source technology is quite attractive as it puts faculty and students in control, as opposed to limitations imposed by licensing restrictions imposed by closed systems. Certainly international collaboration is more accessible when a course management system is available and supported world-wide in over fifty languages. further, it allows RIT's satellite campuses to offer open-source courses in a format that matches what is used here. If RIT is pushing innovation, then making available  innovative course management systems supports this and furthers RIT's credibility in this regard.

Why you believe RIT has a unique opportunity or an ability to differentiate itself through this idea

Money drives a lot of things.  Money not spent on licensing fees is money that can be spent on faculty professional development as well as faculty/student collaborations. Open source platforms invite innovation and sharing. The learning curve for faculty new to open source is significantly faster than other systems because of intuitive interfaces is based on a platform designed by people who are educators first, and technology experts second.   Integration of new modules, and scripting unique routines are not major challenges based on the quantity of add-ons listed online that are also open source and free to others.