Michigan, like several other states, is adopting the #GoOpen movement. Michigan is planning on rolling out their #GoOpen site in June of 2018.
I think that this is great news. I’ve long been an open source advocate. I believe that you are investing in yourself or investing in someone else. Teachers have long created a wide variety of materials. Many of these excellent materials could be shared and utilized across the state (nation, world).

Challenge

Quite frankly, I’d like to call on Michigan to really #GoOpen. Let’s have school districts across Michigan utilize open source and share those resources. Let’s see Michigan start developing (or coordinating the sharing from districts) of a wide variety of open source projects.
Most school districts have similar concerns. We have similar needs. Let’s start with some curriculum resources. Michigan is doing that with the development of Michigan #GoOpen hub on OER Commons (or see OER Commons).

Kudos

This is a great start (at least it will be when unveiled in June of 2018). But why stop there? Why not work with great educators around the state (and maybe even some college students who are studying programming at some of our fine colleges) to develop resources for teachers? For example, many students learning programming need a real world project to help them learn and refine their skills. Why not take some of the open source projects and specifically adapt them for educational use in Michigan?
Michigan has adopted the Ed-Fi platform for sharing information. According to what I’ve been told, this has resulted in improvements and sharing between Michigan and at least one other state.
Michigan has also developed some textbooks that are OER. The Michigan Open Book Project is great. This project has created some good social studies materials.
However, Michigan chose not to use open source software to provide professional development (instead going with a vendor who gave them a “great deal” for a couple of years – a vendor that has a history of losing money to gain customers).
Anyone who reads this knows that I’m a big supporter of Moodle. It’s open source, free and can be pretty and effective.
However, there really are a lot more open source options that Michigan could lead the way on implementing.

Options

Here is a quick list of open source software that I’ve used:

  • Moodle– powerful, efficient, pretty learning management system.
  • WordPress – powers about 30% of the web. Give every teacher the power of a blog.
  • Anki – powerful, intelligent flashcards. A great tool that supports retrieval practice (spaced retrieval).
  • LimeSurvey – survey software
  • Scribus – desktop publishing. Schools need to do a variety of desktop publishing. Some of these revolve around security.
  • Linux – operating system. Lots of tools.
  • OpenBoard – Interactive whiteboard software. Can be used with a variety of interactive projectors/boards.
  • H5P – creates interactive tools to use within Moodle.
  • GIMP – Image manipulation. This is powerful, but training is important.
  • Mahara – ePortfolio solution. We have ours integrate with Moodle for a wonderful user experience for students. Imagine students being able to create portfolios and “take them with them”.
  • Pressbooks – create books that can be shared and repuposed.
  • Hypothes.is– annotate the web. Also bookmark and share the web.
  • VUE – mindmapping and non-linear presentation software.
  • Blender – 3D creation suite. Give students the power to create.
  • OpenShot Video Editor – video editor.
  • Minetest – game creation engine (developed in conjunction with MineCraft).

Potential Projects

Just about every school district will have some needs that open source software can help address. Things like HelpDesk software and approval processes. Michigan could lead the way in coordinating options for schools. This could be high leverage, low cost for Michigan.

Final Thoughts

I’m sure that I’ve missed some software that I use frequently. Not every school district would want to implement that same options. Different schools have different needs. However, our needs are close enough that opening up these options and creating these resources could open up a great wealth of money for schools to use in other ways.
Come on Michigan, Let’s Truly #GoOpen!