Advanced international educational platform goes live Free courses and a professional environment for teachers
A milestone for education on Free Software and Open Standards has been reached. On September 5th 2007 the beta version of the SELF Platform [1] goes live. The official launch [2] is taking place during a conference on Free Software in Education in the Netherlands, accompanied by satellite launch events in Sweden, Bulgaria, Argentina, Mexico and India with workshops and conferences.
The SELF Platform has been developed by a global team of non-profit organisations, universities and volunteers engaged in the SELF Project, an initiative for the collaborative sharing and creation of free educational and training materials on Free Software and Open Standards. Users, primarily learners and teachers, are enabled to assemble selections of learning contents and create custom-made learning material for lessons in their language. The Platform is launched in beta stage to involve the growing community in optimising the tool.
Hundreds of documents on Free Software, such as OpenOffice.org, The Gimp, or GNU/Linux, and documents on Open Standards have been screened by a team of experts in regards to quality, free license and validity. The result is a basic collection of high-quality learning materials that have been, or will be atomised and entered into the SELF Platform. Inspired by Wikipedia, the multilingual SELF Platform is not only a self-sustaining source of knowledge and a tool to evaluate, adapt, create and translate free learning materials on Free Software, but also creates a much needed room for interaction between the Free Software and the education communities in a broader sense.
The SELF Project is carried by a consortium of non-profit organisations and universities in Europe, Asia and Latin America. The initial setup of the Platform has been financially supported by the European Union.
[1] http://selfplatform.eu [2] http://selfproject.eu/launch
About the Free Software Foundation Europe:
The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) is a non-profit non-governmental organisation active in many European countries and involved in many global activities. Access to software determines participation in a digital society. To secure equal participation in the information age, as well as freedom of competition, the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) pursues and is dedicated to the furthering of Free Software, defined by the freedoms to use, study, modify and copy. Founded in 2001, creating awareness for these issues, securing Free Software politically and legally, and giving people Freedom by supporting development of Free Software are central issues of the FSFE. http://fsfeurope.org