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9/25/2006
Higher education hasn’t yet made a big shift toward open source applications.
Open source infrastructure software, such as
operating
systems, authentication systems, and
web servers—software
likely to be used directly
by the IT department—shows 57
percent adoption
in the higher ed institutions represented in
A-HEC’s study, versus the 34 percent adoption of
open
source software applications for more general
use, such as
course management systems,
portals, and a range of desktop
applications.
Source: A-HEC Higher Education Open Source Study 2006.
IN CLASSIC MODELS of open source adoption— such as Linux and Apache —a grassroots, lower-end market rallied around a variety of well-known and widely shared causes among software developers: innovation, customization, cost control, and security. None of these values are foreign to higher education. Still, though IT leaders in higher ed have expressed a lot of interest, it looks like open source adoption in higher education application areas may still be in somewhat of a low gear.
The first study in a series from the Alliance for Higher Education Competitiveness and IMS, Best Practices in Open Source in Higher Education Study: The State of Open Source Software (2006), by IMS CEO Rob Abel, attempts to characterize attitudes toward open source in higher ed and provide insight into adoption by surveying approximately 200 CIOs (or IT leaders in similar positions) across all Carnegie classes. A brief look at data selected from the more than 40 charts in this detailed study may offer a little perspective on the cautious adoption of open source applications within higher ed.
Infrastructure vs. Applications
A-HEC’s study reported that open source infrastructure software (implemented and used mostly by the IT department) was adopted at some level in more than half of the responding institutions. In contrast, open source application software (used more generally throughout the institution) was adopted at only about one-third of the institutions surveyed, and only about 25 percent of institutions implemented any of the short list of leading open source applications identified by the A-HEC researchers.
Today, it's clear to almost every campus executive that moving an institution from the traditional purchasing model to a strategic eProcurement program can greatly increase staff efficiency and save the institution money. Because eProcurement automates so many purchasing processes, it eliminates reams of paperwork and allows procurement staff to refocus their efforts on cutting costs and improving strategic partnerships.
Mary Jo Gorney-Moreno didn't start out in IT. She joined San Jose State University (CA) in 1981 as an assistant professor in the school of nursing. But somewhere along the way, she realized her energy was focused on academic technology, and how it could help a variety of learners gain knowledge.