Modelibra education

Education in information systems requires at least an exploration of alternatives in teaching software development. The following phrase is from the Free Software Foundation [1]: "To use free software is to make a political and ethical choice asserting the right to learn, and share what we learn with others." At first, it is not obvious how this freedom could be applied to education. In software, services around free software [2] provide an added value that customers are ready to pay for. In education, free course material has a potential of free software. Free course material supports the right to learn and share what we learn with others. However, educational services, such as teaching courses, may hopefully provide added values. In order to provide some examples, I will focus in this paper on using free software in education of students in information systems. I will start with the issue of providing some basic development skills to new Web generations of students. In order to break from the old ways of educating, the free course material is spread over the Web with a base at the Assembla [3] development environment.