Using Free Linux Software for Teaching Online at Australia's Leading University

The Sydney Linux Users Group (SLUG) were short a speaker for their monthly meeting, so I volunteered with "Linux Software for Teaching Online at Australia's Leading University". SLUG meetings are always interesting, with a wide range of speakers (not just me) and have the bonus of being held at Google Sydney: 6pm for 6:30pm, Friday, 30 November 2012.

Using Free Linux Software for Teaching Online at Australia's Leading University

Speaker: Tom Worthington, Adjunct Lecturer, Research School of Computer Science, Australian National University 

Tom talks about how he used Linux and other free open source software for creating and running an award winning online course at the Australian National University. See also: "A Green Computing Professional Education Course Online with Moodle"

Linux Allows for Using Low Cost Hardware

Use a 11.6 Inch sub-notebook computer which cost less than $500.

Switched off new "Unity" Ubuntu interface for "classic".

Upgraded with a  60 GB Solid State Disk (SSD).

Use a USB wireless modem.

In the home and university offices have desktop screen, keyboard and mouse.

Free Open Source Office Software on the Laptop

1. LibreOffice suite for word processing and spreadsheet
2. Mozilla Thunderbird for email
3. Calibre for creating ebooks
4. Slidy for web based presentations

Free Software on University Servers

Moodle Learning Management System.

Free in the Cloud

• HTML Tidy to fix HTML errors
• Achecker for web accessibility
• Wikipedia for reference purposes

Some Tips

1. Use HTML in place of PDF and WP
2. Create text in LibreOffice with default format,
3. Export course content as HTML to Moodle,
4. Export as HTML to Calibre to create eBooks,
5. Use Moodle to communicate with students, not email.

Example: Course Notes Via The Web

1. eBook exported from Moodle
2. Published to web, ePub eBook and POD paperback
3. Notes in Moodle most popular with students and simpler to maintain

E-learning in Sumatra

Simple HTML course materials allows translation into Indonesian: " Sustainable Development Through Green ICT: The Role of Education and the Business Sector".