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Texas Support for Open Source Technology Education

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the but-will-it-catch-on dept.

OpenSourceForAll writes "North Lake College in Irving, TX is offering the first Open Source Technology certificate in the U.S. beginning Spring of 2006. The certificate program was made possible through a grant by the Texas Skills Standards Board. As a TSSB-recognized program, open source will finally get the corporate and industrial exposure it deserves. We believe the program is the only one of its kind in the nation at the community college level. Our goal is to promote Open Source as a business philosophy and as a way of life rather than limiting the program to a few token OSS offerings. Among the courses to be offered: The Philosophy of Open Source, a series of LAMP courses, and a capstone course which will focus on OSS development practices. Courses will be offered both on-line and on-campus."

9 of 70 comments (clear)

  1. I agree, but even better... by KingSkippus · · Score: 4, Interesting
    I would love to take that course.

    I agree, I would too. But even better, I'd like to send some people to that course, especially intermediate manager/technical types at my company. They're the ones, unfortunately, who just don't get it and need to be educated about the principles of Open Source and what makes it worthwhile.

    1. Re:I agree, but even better... by TheAdventurer · · Score: 2, Interesting

      The idea that someone who doesn't choose something needs to be "educated" about it until they do choose it is suspicious... kind of Orwellian.

  2. The 50-Front War by c,mma · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Making the study of Open Source software and philosophy available to students as formal curriculum can only help to further establish an already unstoppable momentum. Microsoft must now open yet another front in their battle against open source. From MS's academic "studies" that attack open source as a viable platform for governments and private citizens, to their secret slashdot promoters, to their highly-paid lobbyists in every country, MS must now take the war into the offices of, I hope, what will become thousands of college administrations, and somehow persuade them NOT to offer a view contrary to the official Redmond way. Good luck, MS!

  3. LAMP by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I'm not sure it's a great idea to focus much on LAMP. Most people I know just think of it as a cheap way to setup a website, giving crap about stuff such as the license or philosopy.

  4. LAMP? PHP? Python? Perl? by CyricZ · · Score: 4, Interesting

    What sort of "LAMP" are they talking about here? Does the "P" represent Python, PHP, or Perl? Some combination of the three?

    What about FAMP (FreeBSD, Apache, MySQL, Python) or NAPRR (NetBSD, Apache, PostgreSQL, Ruby on Rails), and so on?

    I don't think it's a good program if it doesn't expose the students to the entire open source community. It's good for such business people to be aware of the alternatives to commercial, closed source software. But it's also important for them to realize that the open source community isn't limited to Linux, MySQL and PHP. There are often far better (ie. more secure, less resource-intensive, etc.) pieces of open source software out there. And if their developers suggest the use of such alternatives, it would be beneficial if they had some knowledge of them.

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  5. Getting Involved... by polyp2000 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I would like to find out more about getting involved in these kind of initiatives , perhaps as a change career direction. I've heard of similar government and local council initiatives in the UK where I live. I've got an excellent background with linux and opensource technologies but want possibly to move away from Web Development and do something where im working with what I love and perhaps branch out and gain some more skills along the way.

    Nick ...

    --
    Electronic Music Made Using Linux http://soundcloud.com/polyp
  6. I went to North Lake by Stonent1 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    We had a computer center that was "donated" to us by Microsoft. There were banners hanging all around it saying stuff like "Welcome to the Microsoft Computer Lab" It was about 1999 or so, and all the PCs were Dell GXa and GXi PCs with removable hard drive trays. I was going to be taking MCSE courses for Windows NT 4.0 at the time. I finished Networking Essentials and Windows NT 4.0, but shortly after took a job where one of the requirements was that the person NOT be an MCSE because they were tired of MCSEs. They said they picked me because I didn't have an MCSE and I knew what I was talking about.

  7. Re:Thank you Tom Delay. by bb5ch39t · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Variation of an old joke from the 1950s (as I was told).

    Reporter: Senator, why is there a decrease in personal wealth?

    Senator: I blame the Ways and Means comittee!

    Reporter: The Ways And Means Comittee?!?

    Senator: Yes, you have have Means, they'll find Ways to get it!

  8. Re:Huh? by greginnj · · Score: 2, Interesting


    Dunno man, maybe I'm too optimistic, but even though the aim is to promote those things, I'd *hope* that a University of all places would have a more balanced teaching approach.

    Geez, man, you're absolutely right. When, oh when, will some brave community college in the USA like "North Lake College in Irving, TX" exhibit a balanced teaching approach by offering a whole-semester course on MS Windows or MS Office?

    We can only dream ...

    http://www.northlakecollege.edu/academics/bit/MSce rt.htm

    http://www.northlakecollege.edu/academics/BIT/MOSc ert.htm

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