‘While the open source movement has taken off in course management systems, with Moodle and Sakai as alternatives to the dominant Blackboard, the administrative side of the house has been almost entirely corporate……Last week, in a move that could lead to a shake-up of the industry, Colorado State University and San Joaquin Delta College both went live with the first large-scale installations of full financial systems produced by the Kuali Foundation, a consortium of colleges that have pooled resources to create open source systems that could compete with corporate offerings.’
Jaschik, S. (2009) The Next Open Source Movement Inside Higher Education, July 6
I see this as a very important development in post-secondary education. As well as financial systems the Kuali project also intends to move into student record systems and even HR systems. The article provides a good discussion of the pros and cons of going in this direction.
Other institutions associated with the Kuali consortium include the University of Arizona, Michigan State University, Cornell University, Indiana University and the University of British Columbia.
Dr. Tony Bates is the author of eleven books in the field of online learning and distance education. He has provided consulting services specializing in training in the planning and management of online learning and distance education, working with over 40 organizations in 25 countries. Tony is a Research Associate with Contact North | Contact Nord, Ontario’s Distance Education & Training Network.
