Albany Senior High School Use of Open Source
Albany Senior High School (Mark Osborne)
Albany Senior High School (ASHS) is the only high school in New Zealand with pervasive open source for both teaching and learning, to the almost total exclusion of proprietary software. This environment is an educational enabler, allowing all students and teachers access both at school and at home to a wide variety of software that could never be afforded in proprietary form.
I went to the presentation by Mark Osborne, Deputy Principal of Albany Senior High School (ASHS) at the NZCS lunchtime seminar on 26 August 2010. His presentation was very good, and what they are doing at ASHS in using open source software is outstanding. Mark started his presentation by outlining the educational objectives of ASHS. He then went on to explain how open source software helps meet those objectives. He demonstrated remote access to the system and samples of student projects and teaching and learning resources. I asked Mark to make a learning and financial comparison with schools using proprietary software. Mark said that some of the proprietary software alternatives to open source would cost hundreds or thousands of dollars per licence so schools would restrict their availability to a handful of computers and a handful of specially privileged students if they even had enough funds to make a purchase at all. In contrast, ASHS makes all its open source software available to all students on all school computers, and of course students can also install the software at home. So, ASHS is providing an environment that might cost $300,000 to $600,000 with proprietary software. I also asked whether there were any other secondary schools doing or planning something similar. Mark said not, the barrier being people's resistance to new ideas and change. Mark also noted that the school had minimal server equipment, and instead had high speed broadband with services and content hosted on the Internet, and a single IT Support person. He said that this approach was significantly better, more secure and more cost effective than running servers in-house. I believe this approach is also uncommon in New Zealand schools, many of which which struggle to manage and maintain in-house servers. So, compliments are due to ASHS, not just for the result, but the foresight of the staff in doing something novel. I have some knowledge of the needs of a secondary school from my time as a parent of three and as a member of the committee of the Wellington College Parents' Association so this nomination is founded on my own knowledge and experience. Alick Wilson
