Application Of Free Software In Colombian Education

Application of free software in Colombian education

Why not use free software such as the main software when making use of technology in education?, What benefits would the application of free software bring education? In Latin America and our country Colombia, it has been having progressive growth regarding technology, but how could we improve or promote more effective technological growth and expansion in schools? To be effective I mean that students and people can have a domain over various software types, and realize that for a problem there is more than one way to solve it.

The definition of free software according to the Free Software Foundation “Free Software is the software that respects the freedom of users and the community. Broadly speaking, it means that users have the freedom to execute, copy, distribute, study, modify and improve software ”(GNU Project, 2019). These principles are maintained under a legal framework thanks to the 6 types of licenses handled by the free software that are: LPG (Gnu General Public License), AGLP (GNU AFFERO General Public License), BSD (Berkeley Software Distribution), Apache Apache), GFDL (GNU Free Documentation License), Creative Commons licenses. It should be clarified that the fact called free software does not force him to do for free as a great phrase said by Richard Stallman "free does not mean free".

In Colombia there was a proposal for a “bill that would force state entities to use exclusively free software in their information systems has aroused a fierce controversy in the national technological sector.

”(.D.A, 2002), in 2002, was refuted by “Article 333 of the Constitution enshrines free economic competition” (.D.A, 2002). Already for the year 2009 there would be Law 1341 of July 2009 in which principles and concepts for the Ministry of Information Technology (ICT) are defined, where free competition, technological neutrality is ratified. (National Constitution of Colombia, 2009).

When talking about free software, the Linux term comes to mind, although it is not very far from reality since Linux represents everything that free software is in essence. Linux is the most versatile free software there is, since, although education has not been very involved, it has distributions specifically for schools and universities, in the business sector plays a crucial role in this covering more than 50% of servers used in the world. ‘Operating systems remain a critical component of modern infrastructure such as the underlying platform to house applications in different implementations and delivery models,’ said Stephen Belanger, a senior research analyst at Comporting Platforms, IDC. ‘The operating systems market continued with its growth tendency from the point of view of the sending of units during 2017, which was largely due to the continuous construction of the cloud and the solid demand for unpaid Linux’ ’. (IDC Analyze The Future, 2018).

At the international level, there are also recommendations on the same sense of use of free/ open source software in public administration institutions. The European Commissioner and Vice President of the Digital Agenda, Neelie Kroes, advocates the use of open source software that establishes’ when there are open alternatives available, citizens and companies should not be forced or encouraged to use the technology of a company in a company in Particular to access government information No citizen or company must be forced or encouraged to choose a closed technology on an open one, because a government made that decision in the first place ‘. And she adds ‘the choice of open standards is a very intelligent commercial decision’. (Kroes, 2014; Seruca & Mota, 2015)

Linux has direct distributions focused on education, the distributions are the following:

• Eduknoppix (http: // www.Eduknoppix.org) It is an Italian distribution of GNU/Linux based on Knoppix, developed for educational purposes, allowing students and teachers to use educational applications in a simple way. It is distributed in a live-cd. Version 3.0 of Eduknoppix, launched on July 4, 2006, was projected for teaching, among other programs including: maximum, computational algebra system, octave a high -level language oriented to numerical calculation, Kig and DR and DR. Geo, programs that allow the dynamic study of geometry, Kalzium, used in the field of chemistry. (Monsalve, 2011)
• EDULINUX (http: // www.EDULINUX.CL/) It is a distribution of GNU/Linux Educational that has been developed by the Institute of Educational Informatics of the University of La Frontera, Chile. This distribution is the product of a joint initiative between the Institute of Educational Informatics of the University of La Frontera and the Ministry of Education of Chile through the Links Program in order to reuse old computers installed in the school network Links from Chile. (Monsalve, 2011)
• Ducanix (http: // memnon.II.UAM.es/~ eduanix/index.HTML) is a Live distribution of GNU/Linux created especially for children between 3 and 10 years. This distribution has been developed by the Linux Reference Center team (CRL, UAM-IBM). EDUCANIX gathers a set of educational games for children that include different areas, such as mathematics, language, geography, etc. completing with games for learning computer use or games for the child’s entertainment. The fact that the distribution is Live implies that it is only executed in memory and therefore, its hard disk installation is not necessary for its operation. This allows you to execute the distribution on any machine, as long as a CDs reader possesses. (Monsalve, 2011)

All these distributions have been developed based on LINUX operating systems, and applied to generate a better hardware performance and reduce licensing costs in private software subscriptions. In some educational institutions of Colombia such as SENA (National Lear.

In the schools of the most developed cities we can find computer environments with private software, but why do we find more private software than free software?, This is due to the "popularity" that private software has since it has a series of characteristics such as the ease of acquisition since this is usually pre -installed in the equipment at the time of purchase, on the contrary the free software does not It is well known and its obtaining is difficult. Private software is characterized by having a friendly and intuitive interface with the user, on the contrary, free software is characterized by not having friendly and intuitive interface. Although private software presents solutions in all areas in which it could be used, it is characterized by being the best when it comes to being the best in personal use, for example in desktop equipment in homes, or in portable equipment in where people will only use the equipment to write reports used the Office Suit, and check their emails through an application. On the other hand, free software is characterized by being the best in business world for its great reliability and compatibility with team hardware.

Free software could be the solution of many problems when the application of technology, since it takes advantage of each hardware feature to give higher performance, it can be used in not very modern equipment in order to take them to remote areas to thus carry technology as a tool for obtaining knowledge.

Free software has been applied to the world successfully on many occasions demonstrating that it can be the tool for the continuous improvement of technology in schools. The following are some success cases:

Brazil: The Ministry of Education of Brazil and the State Administration is based on the “Free Software in MEC” project. Where federal government educational entities implemented a free software use plan that was developed in several stages with recognized success in intellectual property and a reduction in licensing costs where the Government savings savings 123.7 million euros. They were developed in training and transition phases since November 20, 2004. (Monsalve, 2011)

India: A group of young people made an educational center of computer science in the marginalized neighborhoods of the area. The center was founded in 2007 as a measure of bringing young people and children closer to technology with which they probably would not have had a contact. They have 5 teams, which are laptops and work 100% with free software. Office is taught by free office that their counterpart is being Microsoft Office, and for the design of images and multimedia they use GIMP, which is an alternative to Photoshop. One of the disadvantaged young people attending classes in the center has achieved a high level of competition in the use of GIMP. His works have been presented and sold at a local free software conference. The photo that appears to the right shows it by giving Richard Stallman a copy of an essay entitled "The future is ours", which was prepared in the center. (GNU Project, 2019)

Argentina: a primary teacher with few technical skills makes her school’s school migrate all work stations, including administrative offices and library.

Our school defends the ideals of solidarity, honesty, excellence in education, compliance with the law, the constant search for truth, justice and love in all daily activities. The use and teaching of private software contradicted these values. The directors and teachers of the school were also overwhelmed by the management of the licenses of the private programs and the numerous restrictions that the terms of these licenses imposed on the school. During the decision process, educational quality and long -term objectives were also taken into account. In our opinion, training students in the use of a specific software brand is far from being the mission of a school.

The full process lasted four years. When we started, in 2006, all machines had private software installed. We finish in 2010 with completely free operating programs and systems installed in all school machines, including offices and library. The plan consisted mainly of several measures aimed at awareness about the philosophical, ethical and socio -political implications of technology. This fundamental aspect was maintained and emphasized throughout the process, and was implemented by gradual substitution of existing private programs with free software programs. The experience of migration was very positive and we decided to adopt a free software environment in all machines. In October 2009, the School sponsored the "Freedom Day Software" in the city of San Martín de los Andes. Although it required a lot of dedication and perseverance, the process was very pleasant. Now we spread what we have learned in order to help other educational communities. (GNU Project, 2019)

Finally it is pertinent to remember a few words by Richard Stallman “the easy choice was to join the world of proprietary software, sign the agreements not to reveal, and promise that I would not go to the help of my friend hacker. I could have made money in this way, and maybe I would have fun writing code. But I knew that at the end of my career, when I looked back the years pass it by building walls to divide people, I would feel that I used my life to worsen the world … "

Bibliography

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