The FOSSDLE Commons is a new initiative of the OER Foundation (OERF) to establish the digital equivalent of a ‘community garden’ to share its well established comprehensive open infrastructure in order to expedite the implementation of the UNESCO OER Recommendation.
The following FAQS provide a summary of our current thinking:
- If you are interested in helping to build the FOSSDLE Commons, please sign up today.
- If you would like to provide feedback or have any questions, please email Wayne Mackintosh (wayne@FOSSDLE.org).
What does FOSSDLE stand for?
The FOSSDLE acronym stands for ‘Free and Open Source Software Digital Learning Ecosystem’.
The Digital Learning Ecosystem refers to the people, processes and range of open technologies that support the planning, development and delivery of open education.
What is the FOSSDLE Commons?
The FOSSDLE Commons is a new initiative of the OER Foundation to establish a platform cooperative to share its award winning Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) technology infrastructure, thereby assisting governments and institutions to contribute directly to the implementation of the UNESCO OER Recommendation.
Inspired by British Columbia’s Open EdTech Collaborative, which shares expertise to support open infrastructure, the OERF aims to find sustainable ways to replicate and scale aspects of this model internationally. The FOSSDLE Commons aims to bridge the gaps between OER, Open Technology, and Capability.
Resource
Lane, D. C., & Goode, C. (2021). Open For All: The OERu’s Next Generation Digital Learning Ecosystem. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 22(4), 146-163.
Does FOSSDLE support OER for development?
Yes, as a non-profit organization, the OERF supports a growing number of institutions in the developing world who do not have the funding to pay membership fees through the OERu Outreach Partnership. Future FOSSDLE partners who contribute financially will also help to sponsor access to shared infrastructure for Outreach Partners from low and lower middle income countries.
Why is the FOSSDLE Commons a ‘community garden’?
The FOSSDLE commons will function as a mentoring network helping educators and technologists to build hands-on skills in OER and open technologies that can be extended into their local environments.
The FOSSDLE Commons is the digital equivalent of a ‘Community Garden’, where gardeners come together to acquire new knowledge and skills to meet their own immediate needs, while sharing maintenance tasks and enjoying the camaraderie of a community of practice.
For more information, please read Improving the efficacy of mentorship with an open education ecosystem published by the Commonwealth of Learning in support of the Partnership for Open Distance and Flexible Learning in the Pacific.
How will the FOSSDLE Commons work?
We are still finalising the operational detail which is why our FOSSDLE Commons website is currently a placeholder. However, the following principles and features will be incorporated:
- An open first policy – all planning, implementation, and communication activities will be conducted using FOSS tools.
- A democratic governance system (guided by the principles of sociocracy) comprising small interconnected groups (circles) working together to achieve a common goal.
- Free participation for individuals in return for volunteer services supporting the cooperative.
- Governments and institutions will contribute a nominal membership fee to support the shared infrastructure.
When will the FOSSDLE Commons site provide more information?
As an open and transparent organisation, the OERF subscribes to the FOSS principles of releasing early and often. As a small agile organisation with a proven track record in open technology for education, the Foundation can respond and adapt quickly to feedback from the community.
The #TwitterMigration to Mastodon by many academics and educators following Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter has highlighted the value of decentralisation of the web, enabled by federated social media technologies.
For the past decade the OERF has specialised in decentralised, component-based solutions for OER development and delivery and we will continue to share our experience for the benefit of the wider OER community. We aim to listen carefully and to respond with solutions that add value to the open education ecosystem.
What infrastructure applications will the FOSSDLE Commons provide?
We want to leverage the potential of platform co-operativism to enable individuals and institutions to utilize the OERF’s award winning digital learning ecosystem to publish federated online course sites assembled from OER. This component-based system comprises best-of-breed FOSS technologies (including Mastodon, WordPress Multisite, Discourse, Limesurvey, WeKan, and BigBlueButton, among others).
We are also actively exploring the integration of other Fediverse applications that have implemented the ActivityPub protocol like PeerTube, Nextcloud, Writefreely, Mobilizon etc., into our digital learning ecosystem.
For more information, please read Open For All: The OERu’s Next Generation Digital Learning Ecosystem authored by Dave Lane and Claire Goode on behalf of the OERF.