Fostering Openness - Notes from a SERC09 Discussion Session

Created by Lida L. Larsen (EDUCAUSE) on June 4, 2009

EDUCAUSE Southeast Regional Conferernce 2009

Atlanta, GA

Tuesday, June 2, 2009 DISCUSSION SESSION

Openness: Fostering openness: Fostering Sharing, Collaboration, and Open Access to Knowledge and Resources

Discussion Leaders: Cynthia Golden, Vice President, EDUCAUSE and Joel Hartman, Vice Provost, Information Technologies and Resources & CIO, University of Central Florida

Notes provided by Vijay Verma, Vice Chancellor and CIO, NC A&T State University.

The session, with approximately 15 attendees, began with a brief introduction of the two session leaders.

Cynthia began the discussion with a brief interpretation of “openness”. Joel Hartman agreed that the word “open” can have multiple interpretations and meanings even though we have often used this word As if it has just one meaning. This was followed by several examples of openness by various participants. While the IT folks typically use open to mean open source (or even “free”), the “academics” (faculty and researchers) use open to mean “freedom”.

Joel Hartman then asked as to what is the opposite of open? Is it closed? Is it proprietary?

This was followed by a brief discussion of openness of sharing information in the development of Learning Management Systems (LMS). He then reminded the audience that the previously “open” course are now being replaced with the open content as well as the full user experience associated with the content of the course (e.g. MIT’s Open Course initiative and the like).

A detailed discussion of open source LMS (Sakai and Moodle) followed with several participants giving examples from their institutions. The University System of Georgia uses Blackboard but their challenge remains the integration of their specific needs into Blackboard. Western Kentucky University is happy with Blackboard as their campus-wide LMS but not with the customer service they have received from Blackboard. The state of Kentucky now has a state-wide Blackboard help desk to support various institutions. Joel pointed out that Blackboard’s response to this debate and challenge has been to build interoperability with Sakai and Moodle in version 9.

A brief discussion of open source ERP systems followed but no one offered any concrete example of open source ERP implementation on their campus.

A detailed discussion of “open communication” followed. This included an extensive discussion of distribution lists and listserves on campuses including that of how campuses “moderate”/”gate” these communications as well as the policies dealing with these. How can these discussions be made more efficient as opposed to “being all over the place”?

This was followed by a brief discussion of examples of collaboration – both intra and inter-campus. Are there economies of scale that can be realized in such ventures? Cynthia emphasized that these inter institutional collaboration will become even more significant in light of the shrinking resources. This led into a discussion of “collaboratively” or “jointly hosted” IT systems. Examples of LMS, ERP systems, and other application were given. A special mention was made of the new “centrally hosted” payroll project (by ADP) in the University System of Georgia and that this was an example of collaboration “forced top down” by the Georgia Board of Regents.

The session concluded with a discussion of the “future” of open source applications and system. Joel explained how these systems have gone through “cycles” over the years. For example, several years ago, we went through the age of “building” applications (led by the libraries and followed by the administrative and academic areas) followed by commercial products and now once again “built” applications. However, now these Built applications are by and large “community built” and not just “one institution built” (this has been led by the academic areas, followed by the administrative areas with unclear role of the libraries).

Notes submitted by Vijay Verma, Vice Chancellor and CIO, NC A&T State University.

Lida's blog
Login or register to post comments
107 reads

		Fostering Openness - Notes from a SERC09 Discussion Session Created by Lida L. Larsen (EDUCAUSE) on June 4, 2009 EDUCAUSE Southeast Regional Conferernce 2009 Atlanta, GA Tuesday, June 2, 2009 DISCUSSION SESSION *Openness: Fostering openness: Fostering Sharing, Collaboration, and Open Access to Knowledge and Resources* Discussion Leaders: Cynthia Golden, Vice President, EDUCAUSE and Joel Hartman, Vice Provost, Information Technologies and Resources & CIO, University of Central Florida Notes provided by Vijay Verma, Vice Chancellor and CIO, NC A&T State University. The session, with approximately 15 attendees, began with a brief introduction of the two session leaders. Cynthia began the discussion with a brief interpretation of “openness”. Joel Hartman agreed that the word “open” can have multiple interpretations and meanings even though we have often used this word As if it has just one meaning. This was followed by several examples of openness by various participants. While the IT folks typically use open to mean open source (or even “free”), the “academics” (faculty and researchers) use open to mean “freedom”. Joel Hartman then asked as to what is the opposite of open? Is it closed? Is it proprietary? This was followed by a brief discussion of openness of sharing information in the development of Learning Management Systems (LMS). He then reminded the audience that the previously “open” course are now being replaced with the open content as well as the full user experience associated with the content of the course (e.g. MIT’s Open Course initiative and the like). A detailed discussion of open source LMS (Sakai and Moodle) followed with several participants giving examples from their institutions. The University System of Georgia uses Blackboard but their challenge remains the integration of their specific needs into Blackboard. Western Kentucky University is happy with Blackboard as their campus-wide LMS but not with the customer service they have received from Blackboard. The state of Kentucky now has a state-wide Blackboard help desk to support various institutions. Joel pointed out that Blackboard’s response to this debate and challenge has been to build interoperability with Sakai and Moodle in version 9. A brief discussion of open source ERP systems followed but no one offered any concrete example of open source ERP implementation on their campus. A detailed discussion of “open communication” followed. This included an extensive discussion of distribution lists and listserves on campuses including that of how campuses “moderate”/”gate” these communications as well as the policies dealing with these. How can these discussions be made more efficient as opposed to “being all over the place”? This was followed by a brief discussion of examples of collaboration – both intra and inter-campus. Are there economies of scale that can be realized in such ventures? Cynthia emphasized that these inter institutional collaboration will become even more significant in light of the shrinking resources. This led into a discussion of “collaboratively” or “jointly hosted” IT systems. Examples of LMS, ERP systems, and other application were given. A special mention was made of the new “centrally hosted” payroll project (by ADP) in the University System of Georgia and that this was an example of collaboration “forced top down” by the Georgia Board of Regents. The session concluded with a discussion of the “future” of open source applications and system. Joel explained how these systems have gone through “cycles” over the years. For example, several years ago, we went through the age of “building” applications (led by the libraries and followed by the administrative and academic areas) followed by commercial products and now once again “built” applications. However, now these Built applications are by and large “community built” and not just “one institution built” (this has been led by the academic areas, followed by the administrative areas with unclear role of the libraries). *Notes submitted by Vijay Verma, Vice Chancellor and CIO, NC A&T State University.* Blogs \| Collaboration \| EDUCAUSE_SERC09 \| Open Access \| Openness \| SERC09 \| Sharing Lida's blog Login or register to post comments 107 reads
		© Copyright 1999-2010 EDUCAUSE Need Help? \| Feedback \| Privacy Policy
	Unless otherwise noted, EDUCAUSE holds the copyright on all materials published by the association, whether in print or electronic form. In certain cases the work remains the intellectual property of the individual author(s) (see Special Circumstances). Content from conference speeches, presentations, blogs, wikis and feeds reflect the opinions of the author, and not necessarily those of EDUCAUSE or its members.