Background/Definitions

Background:  Need, Terminology, Proposal, Invitation 
Condensed Guidelines [11-30-01]

We need to work on defining terms "open course,"  "open course," etc. more clearly!  See definitions below and terminology section of Background paper

Also see excerpt and URL for GNU General Public License below.

Our Definitions
“Open course” efforts are those that enable a group of people with common interests in specific courses to work together to develop, share, modify, add, and build on instructional resources for those specific courses.  In many cases, to work on “instructional modules.” These resources must include ways that new users can contribute to an ongoing process of improvement, enhancement, and development.

“Open source professional development” efforts are those that enable a group of people (including faculty and other academic support professionals) with common interests in improving teaching and learning to work together to develop, share, modify, add, and build on professional development resources.  Professional development resources might include books, workshops, interactive software, online tutorials, online courses, videocassettes, listservs, etc. – as well as plans and strategies for institutionalizing change and for providing institutional support for improving teaching and learning with technology. These resources must include ways that new users can contribute to an ongoing process of improvement, enhancement, and development.

"Open Source Software" is software that makes the programming code available and accessible to users who want to use or adapt it.
"Open source software development” projects include many professionals or skilled amateurs actively cooperating to develop and improve a complex software program by allocating the work among participants through a combination of self-selection, assignment, and negotiation.  Each participant is able to acquire and use the most fundamental underlying “source code” without paying any fee.  

Background Resources

• Background:  Need, Terminology, Proposal, Invitation 
  Applying Open Source Principles, Practices, and Tools to Teaching, Learning, Professional Development and Planning:  An Invitation to Develop an Open Source Professional Development Environment (OSPDE) "A Work in Progress
  Condensed Guidelines [11-30-01]

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• Related Webcast Archives:
  MIT's Open Knowledge and OpenCourseWare Initiatives A Webcast Interview with Steve Gilbert of the TLT Group and Phil Long of MIT (10-2-01)
  Webcast Archive with Steve Gilbert of the TLT Group and Robert Stephenson, founder of the Harvey Project (8-22-01)

The GNU General Public License
Explanation, rationale, etc. for “free software”

The GNU General Public License is designed to provide easy access to what is necessary to modify and build on the software, not necessarily without price.  “’Free software’ is a matter of liberty, not price. To understand the concept, you should think of `free' as in `free speech,' not as in `free beer.'

Free software is a matter of the users' freedom to run, copy, distribute, study, change and improve the software. More precisely, it refers to four kinds of freedom, for the users of the software:

• The freedom to run the program, for any purpose (freedom 0).
• The freedom to study how the program works, and adapt it to your needs (freedom 1). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.
• The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor (freedom 2).
• The freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits. (freedom 3). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.” – This quotation is from the GNU General Purpose Website:

http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html