When we talk about open source, we should already be past the cost/benefit discussion on it. It's for a good cause. It unlocks information for benefit of all, it provides a resource for students, faculty and alumni that supports learning and collaboration.
Now what comes to my mind is: maintenance issues. Since it's open, we are supposed to build a community that contributes to one or more courseware projects. I guess unlike the packages that are more technical and have more tendencies of bugs, I suppose there aren't any potential "patches" or "updates" on the technical side of our e-learning materials. However, if there is one change that needs to be made, then the whole package needs to be updated and uploaded.
I definitely embrace open source/courseware. It benefits the whole world. However, will I be participating in the development and maintenance, and keep up with it? I'm not too sure unless I become old and still passionate about what I do in my professional life. Also key word here is TIME, the time that I can set other priorities aside and the amount of time I can commit to this meaningful endeavor.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
The maintenance issue highlighted is very real. There bound to be bugs in these ope source softwares and developer seldom get it right the 1st time. I can imagine the frustration when we are deep in using the open source software and then found out some bugs and got stucked. Well, that's probably the price we have to pay since it is FREE!
ReplyDeletehi,it's me. is that you?
ReplyDeletehi,it's me,one of your old friends.
ReplyDelete哈哈，我又找到这里了
ReplyDelete