Talk Beginner

FOSStering Education

Approved

Session Description

This talk will focus on why Free and Open Source Software is essential in Educational Technology, especially in the Indian context.

We'll discuss the perils of proprietary software in education in terms of cost, ecosystem-locking and obviously the privacy of students' data.

I will share how FOSS acts as a solution to some of these problems and successful case studies from the ecosystem.

Here's the broader agenda of this talk -

- FOSS vs Proprietary software

- Current state of the Indian education ecosystem

- Perils of proprietary software in education

- Why FOSS makes sense in education

- Challenges in FOSS adoption

- Policy Implications of FOSS in EdTech

I will also share some case studies from the ecosystem -

- IT@school project by the Kerala govt (single largest deployment of FOSS in education in the world!)

- FOSSEE by IIT bombay

- https://spoken-tutorial.org/

Here's a better detailed blog post on the topic (WIP) - https://ansharora.in/foss-in-education/?token=c2484bd558

If time permits, I would like to highlight FOSS United's efforts this scope. FOSS United is a non profit organisation aimed at strengthening the FOSS ecosystem in India (disclaimer - I work at FOSS United)

References

https://ansharora.in/foss-in-education/?token=c2484bd558

Session Categories

FOSS

Speakers

Ansh Arora

Program and Partnerships Manager | FOSS United

I manage programs and partnerships at FOSS United

Reviews

This is something that should actually be a focus area for everyone. The talk seems to be covering a lot of stuff and it would be interesting to see how it fairs in the conference since most of the audience would be students.

Reviewer #1 Approved

I think explaining how ecosystem lock-in from proprietary companies works would be great! Since our main audience is student they would benfit to know that Adobe and Microsoft, etc. what them to be dependent on their paid products to do their jobs making them weaker engineers addicted and unable to no use their product. Where FOSS want to empower and liberate them

Reviewer #2 Approved

Reviewer #3 Approved

Case study from ecosystem could enhance this talk. Please add more details on it.

Reviewer #4 Approved