[PRC] Topics for students papers + 10 best articles (fwd)

[Frederick Noronha (FN)]

Thanks to bailetti at ICHU.COM (Tony Bailetti) for posting this. FN

---------- Forwarded message ----------

Fifteen topics for students papers have been proposed.  In addition, it has been proposed that we identify and maintain the best 10 articles/books/reports on open source software for education.

This is a request for participants to please:

1. Submit nominations for the best 10 articles/books/reports on open source for education
2. Encourage your students to write theses/papers on the topics listed below
3. Suggest additional topics


Thanks

Tony

PROPOSED TOPICS FOR STUDENTS PAPERS




1. A full cost-benefit study that compares adoption of FOSS vs proprietary software
Identify a number of case studies and examine the full cost (including unbilled time) of adopting FOSS and comparable proprietary software. There have been some ad hoc studies but mostly by one side of the argument or the other, each - not surprisingly -producing data that support their own cases. The study can be done in real time so that accounting for unbilled time can be accurately undertaken.



2. A study of the marketing tools and techniques available to FOSS providers compared to proprietary software.

Compare:



   a.. pre- and post-installation activities of suppliers of open source with
   pre- and post sales activities of suppliers of proprietary software
   b.. marketing activities of suppliers of open source SW vs marketing
   activities of suppliers of proprietary SW
   c.. distribution channels of suppliers of open source SW vs distribution
   channels of suppliers of proprietary SW

3. The FOSS movement will encourage and permit the development of indigenous software industries in poor countries. True or False.
Examine the issues facing software developers in countries seeking to move into the IT industry, ways in which FOSS can help or hinder and whether software patents will kill FOSS in those countries before the industry has a chance to begin (I note the USA's intention to push Pakistan to IP Protection including - it seems - software patents as a precondition of favourable trade conditions. And also the 500 delegates at WIPO last month who said that WIPO should rally against the US model of software and other IP protection).


4. The responsiveness of open source communities
Assess responsiveness of the communities that develop open source software for education using the following experiment.



   a.. identifies "things" that users expect from software suppliers
   b.. organizes these "things" into types or categories
   c.. sends requests for "things" to the communities that develop open source
   software, one request for each category of "things"
   d.. for each community, student measures the time of response, response
   quality and response variety
   e.. ranks communities based on their responses


5. Use of theory to predict the adoption of open source software in the education market

Use the theories of innovation reviewed in Appendix 1 (p. 275-290) of Christensen, Clayton, Scott D. Anthony, and Erik A. Roth (2004) Seeing What's Next. Harvard Business Review Press to make predictions about future adoption of learning content management systems, digital libraries, in the education market in a set of selected countries.



6. Comparing the communities that develop open source software for education

Identify the dimensions of a software development community and use these dimensions to identify the differences and similarities of the communities that develop open source software for education.  I think we would all be very surprised to find the big differences that exist across open source communities.



7. Identify the most important trends that affect online education in developed and developing countries

Undertake an online worldwide delphi exercise to identify the trends that affect the online education.



8. Compare LCMS in terms of usability

Select a method used to assess usability and then compare open source learning content management systems in terms of their usability.



9. Status of open source adoption in education by country

Select a format, and then write about the adoption of open source software in education in the 65 countries from which we have drawn participants.



10. Identify the most effective ways to bridge the digital divide

Select criteria to assess the effectiveness of a method used to bridge the digital divide, then Identify the ways used to bridge the digital divide and then assess their effectiveness.



11. Assess the business models used to generate income from open source in education

Build an inventory of the business models being used by companies to generate income from open source in education and compare then with the business models being used to generate income in non-education sectors



12. Migration from proprietary to open source software

Document the case studies of organizational migration from proprietary to open source software and identify the key obstacles and suggest ways to overcome these obstacles.



13. Infrastructure for open source software in education

Describe the infrastructure that exists to support open source software in education and identify the bottlenecks.



14. Adoption of open source software

Document the experiences of educational organizations that have adopted open source software.



15. Relationship between the use of open source software in education and economic development

Examine the various models of economic development and develop a model that relates the use of open source software in education and regional economic development