[FSFE PR][EN] Advanced international educational platform goes live Free courses and a professional environment for teachers

Joachim Jakobs press at fsfeurope.org
Tue Sep 4 00:46:28 CEST 2007


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

  


More information about the Press-release mailing list