EU: Open Universities open source master published first two books
The first two course books have just been published online for what is intended to become a university master programme on free and open source software and open standards.
The online master programme, Free Technology Academy (FTA) is organised by the University of Agder in Norway and two of Europe's open universities, the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya in Spain and the Open Universiteit in the Netherlands. Coordination is handled by the Free Knowledge Institute, based in the Netherlands.
The FTA earlier this week announced it has published preliminary versions of two books, 'An Introduction to Free Software' and 'GNU/Linux Advanced Administration'. The two books will be used for the first two modules of the university master, that will begin its classes on 25 january. "We expect to publish the final versions, with only minor changes, in a couple of days", Hinde ten Berge, one of the organisers of the FTA, announces on 12 January.
"Introduction to Free Software" is meant to introduce the main concepts behind Free Software. It deals with the history of the movement, its philosophical background, the most important projects and experiences and the motivations of community and developers. The book is translated from Spanish. This book will be used for the first FTA Module, "The concepts of Free Software and Open Standards".
The second book, "GNU/Linux Advanced Administration", covers the knowledge and skills needed by GNU/Linux systems administrators. Next to the history of Unix, it deals with migration to Linux and the coexistence of this computer operating system with other systems. Other topics include administrator tools, shell scripting, kernel configuration and compilation, network administration, network services and data administration. It is meant for the second FTA Module, "The GNU/Linux Operating System".
Both books are published under a free, copyleft license. "Readers are encouraged to use, translate, adapt and redistribute these materials", writes Ten Berge. The FTA is making its learning materials available to anyone without restrictions, she explains. "We publish them so anyone can use them for any purpose: self learning, translation, research, use in other educational institutions or even publishing with commercial purposes."
A basic selection of modules at the FTA will take twelve weeks, with participants guided by a tutor, individual and group exercises and online discussions. The universities also offer online assessments, assistance and feedback to participants. From time to time, quest lectures will be organised using video presentations.
Certified
According to Wouter Tebbens of the Free Knowledge Institute, the two books are useful to those interested in free software that want to study by themselves. "They will miss the group discussions, assignments, feedback and last but not least the University's certificate. We believe these to be of great value to our students."
Tebbens said in November that the pre-registration for its master programme was attracting a higher number of participants than first expected. At the close of the registration on this week Monday, a total of 29 students registered for the first FTA module. For the second course, 32 students have signed up.
"We have participants from Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Germany, Luxembourg, Mexico, Portugal, The Netherlands and the USA", says Tebbens. "This makes a fantastic start of our academy."
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