FLOSS4Edu/Charter

The project charter is a document development by the community. It articulates the aims, objectives, values, methods, outputs etc of the project. The Kimolo report is intended as a starting point to develop the project charter.

Aims

The aim of this project is to promote and support the use of Free Libre and Open Source Software in Education, as a proactive community response to the needs of African Educators and Learners.

Objectives

1. Should be able to set direction towards the development of open educational content through amophous collaboration of educational institutions in Africa. We can use the existing wikieducator to kickstart this process.
2. It should be able to build and sustain a community of practioners, users/learners, developers, policy experts/formulators and business people.
3. It should be able to address the issue of lack of skills and awareness by promoting successful ICT capacity building initiatives within the region. FLOSS4Edu should work with existing FLOSS practioners involved in FLOSS capacity building within the region.Creative ideas to carry out Roadshows and Install fests should accompany the promotion side of things. Certification should be addressed.
4. FLOSS4Edu should seek to package existing (EXISTING) FLOSS solutions that have shown growth potential in the region in a very easy to use manner.So easy that teachers in the rural areas can use without a problem or with very minimal support. The packaging should bear in mind issues of bandwidth, skills availability and costs.
5. Clear FLOSS4Edu distribution channels where FLOSS4Edu solutions can be distributed to as many people using existing FLOSS networks like SchoolNet, AVOIR Network,Community Centres, Youth Conferences, Learning institutions and others. Involving existing networks of business people will ensure that appropriate business models are developed as a means of guaranteeing the sustainability of the project.

Success factors

• The collaboration of various players should be loose and yet cohesive enough to push for committment and results.
• ICT skills of teachers to use the selected technologies, for example how to create and edit a wiki page. Should the development of these OERs be prioritised for our first projects?