Becta MIS Response

From Schoolforge-UK

Below is our response for Ian to present at his meeting with Becta on 19th September. Please feel free to edit this, additional supporting references will be particularly useful.
JohnIngleby 14:32, 7 Sep 2005 (BST)

Summary

Schoolforge-UK welcomes Becta's June 2005 report on "School Management Information Systems and Value for Money" ⁽¹⁾. We broadly endorse the report's findings and the proposed plan of action, but wish to bring to Becta's attention several points relating to the use of Free, Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS), which is increasingly being used by UK schools and other educational establishments to develop their IT infrastructure.

Open source MIS solutions are already deployed in some UK schools
Open source MIS solutions are increasingly deployed in EU schools and authorities
Open source design methodologies have a key role to play
The proposed UK Schools Interoperability Framework (SIF) should be freely available and freely implementable
Schoolforge-UK strongly recommends that SIF tools be developed using REST Web Service architecture
The proposed interoperability solution should be developed as an open source project
Approving FLOSS MIS solutions
Support framework
Inclusion of Tertiary and FE colleges and existing work in these areas
Conclusions
References

1. Open source MIS solutions are deployed in UK schools

Several of our members have developed and successfully implemented FLOSS solutions to meet MIS requirements in both state and privately funded UK schools. These include:

Please append schools where these packages are known to be in use - Thanks

FreeMIS ⁽²⁾ used at North Berwick High School, with other schools in the Lothians planning to use it soon.
ClaSS ⁽³⁾ used at King's Group's secondary and primary schools across Spain, in trials with a UK state secondary
Centre ⁽⁴⁾ used at (??)
Hobarte, developed by Central Manchester CLC and used at (??)
Wegister ⁽⁵⁾ used at (??)
OpenBooking ⁽⁶⁾ used at (??)
MRBS ⁽⁷⁾ used at (??)
SchoolTool ⁽⁸⁾ used at Chace Community School
Moodle ⁽⁹⁾ used at St Ives School, Royal Masonic School, Egglescliffe School and Sixth Form and many others

While the first four of these packages integrate several MIS functions, none offer the level of comprehensive MIS integration claimed for the main proprietary systems commonly found in UK schools today. The following four packages are aimed at very specific functions: attendance registration, resource booking and timetabling (SchoolTool is intended to be a comprehensive MIS framework and solution when it is fully developed). Whilst the last package, Moodle, is a virtual learning environment rather than MIS, it provides some MIS functionality such as calendaring, scheduling and tracking of assessment data. In addition, according to JISC, a VLE and MIS combine to create a Managed Learning Environment or MLE.

2. Open source MIS solutions are increasingly deployed in EU schools and authorities

A large and growing number of schools in other EU countries (curently over a thousand in Spain, over a hundred in Norway, a similar number in Italy, and others in Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland and Poland) have adopted GNU/Linux and FLOSS as the basis for their IT infrastructure (as are many EU governments and local authorities). EU schools and local authorities that have adopted FLOSS for their IT infrastructure are naturally turning to FLOSS solutions to meet their school MIS requirements, including many of the solutions referred to above. A major factor is that many proprietary MIS systems do not operate on FLOSS infrastructure.

SchoolTool ⁽⁸⁾ is a comprehensive school MIS solution being developed as a FLOSS project with sponsorship from the Shuttleworth Foundation. The first version of SchoolTool is planned for release during 2006, and is likely to prove attractive to many schools in both UK and the rest of Europe.

It will be important to take account of these developments to ensure maximum compliance with European standards for interoperability of schools' MIS data.

3. Open source design methodologies have a key role to play

Evidence suggests that thus far management information systems have had little impact on classroom practice ⁽¹⁵⁾, perhaps as a direct result of their construction outside the organizations in which they are used ⁽¹⁶⁾. Involvement in open source development could address under utilization of MIS provision, since in open source development, where teachers can be involved in the development process, “the software evolves to embody the values of the user community” ⁽¹⁷⁾, and teachers’ specific needs can be addressed. Tatnall and Davey ⁽¹⁸⁾ argue that school management “Software should empower… an individual school by enabling it to make appropriate changes in the way the software operates”.
Evidence of this in practice can readily be seen in the development and utilization of the Moodle open source learning platform ⁽⁹⁾, in which educators are directly involved as developers.

4. The proposed UK Schools Interoperability Framework (SIF) should be freely available and freely implementable

Several of our members recently discussed possible approaches for developing FLOSS MIS packages for UK schools ⁽¹⁰⁾ These discussions involved members who are actively developing and implementing open source solutions for MIS requirements in schools.

We concluded that in the UK, it will be essential to develop a standard framework for interoperating with the most widely-used proprietary packages. This will allow maximum interoperability between modular MIS components from various suppliers, VLE's, and links between institutions, as well as supporting the statutory returns process. We believe that a UK version of the Schools Interoperability Framework (SIF) ⁽¹¹⁾, based on the already defined Common Basic Data Set (CBDS) and Common Transfer File (CTF) specifications, offers the greatest scope for new locally-developed open source add-on packages, as well as larger FLOSS MIS packages that will provide more comprehensive feature sets.

It will be essential that the UK version of SIF be freely available, and unencumbered with royalty fees, fees for membership and certification or licence restrictions. In short, it must be an Open Standard. Otherwise, the economics of developing FLOSS solutions, which rely on voluntary unpaid effort, will prevent such open source MIS solutions being initiated.

5. Schoolforge-UK strongly recommends that SIF tools be developed using REST Web Service architecture

SIF has been designed with a message passing architecture and uses the web as a simple communications media. This approach ignores many of the stengths of the web. The EU review of SIF ⁽¹²⁾ published in March 2004 recommended further investigation with a view to using the W3C's Object Access Protocol (SOAP) ⁽¹³⁾ to implement SIF architecture. This is in keeping with the approach taken by SIF,

Our members concluded that a Web Service, or Service Oriented architecture using a REST (REpresentational State Transfer) ⁽¹⁴⁾ style interfaces provides a far simpler and more readily understandable approach for implementing the SIF Open Standard. REST is a more recent development than SOAP, and is based upon established and widely understood principles that under-pin the Web. The lower technical entry requirements will allow the Standard to be used by a wider range of school MIS package providers as well as school technical staff.

6. The proposed UK SIF Open Standard should be developed as an open source project

The development of the UK SIF specification needs to be managed as an Open Standard and include proprietary and FLOSS representitives. In addition it is expected that software components encapsulating the standard (such as the Zone Integration Server, Identity Manager for LDAP authentication, etc.) will be implemented for use in clients and servers. These have the potential to become reference implementations and will provide usable components that guarentee correct adherance. These should be Open Source to ensure maximum utility and maintainability.

Managing these projects on Open Source principles ensures that both proprietary and FLOSS contributors will participate on an equal footing in producing a well defined and widely usable SIF Open Standard for UK schools. We strongly recommend that any end product software be released under an Open Source licence.

7. Approving FLOSS MIS solutions

It is essential that Becta's approval procedures for schools' MIS software be open to FLOSS providers, to ensure a "level playing field".

If, as the report suggests, schools are to be guided to purchase MIS solutions through LEA arrangements then LEAs must themselves be required to facilitate a degree of choice in their offerings which should include FLOSS MIS alternatives.

8. Support framework

The principles and practices of Open Source provide many opportunities to improve the support available to schools and LEAs who are using the SIF Open Standard to integrate diverse MIS applications. Open Source project mailing lists and IRC channels supply ready answers to support questions, while schools and LEAs can easily form knowledge clusters to freely share information and improvements.

9. Inclusion of Tertiary and FE colleges and existing work in these areas

Becta's report ⁽¹⁾ does not consider the needs of Tertiary and FE colleges, but there is much commonality in their requirements, and similar issues with the current provision. Colleges may have more complex needs, mostly in the returns process, but otherwise the required functionaility and data have much in common. A UK Open Standard will help with progression (school to college and college to university) as well as interoperability with the Learning and Skills Council, Student Loans and other agencies.

JISC ⁽¹⁹⁾ and Cetis ⁽²⁰⁾are active in developing standards and application of technology in education and this work is highly relevant to MIS in the compulsory sector and its integration into the wider educational technology landscape.

In particular the Jisc e-Framework partnership is developing a broad service oriented approach to system and process integration for FE/HE ⁽²¹⁾ using an open community approach to developing standards.

10. Conclusions

Our members will be very pleased to answer any questions arising from the above points, which should be addressed in the first instance to the Schoolforge-UK/Open Source Consortium contact person, Ian Lynch <ian.lynch at zmsl.com>. We look forward to participating with Becta in developing the UK SIF Open Standard.

Signed:

Schoolforge-UK members: Please add your name below if you wish to participate in this project

John Ingleby - Hon. Secretary, Schoolforge-UK
Steve Lee
Robert Jones
Miles Berry
Andy Trevor
Mamading Ceesay
Stuart Johnson
Tony Whitmore

11. References

School Management Information Systems and Value for Money (PDF) - http://www.egovmonitor.com/reports/rep12009.pdf
FreeMIS - http://www.sf.net/projects/freemis
ClaSS - http://www.laex.org/class
Centre - http://www.miller-group.net
Wegister - http://www.dialsolutions.com/register
OpenBooking - http://sourceforge.org/projects/openbooking
MRBS - http://mrbs.sourceforge.net/
SchoolTool - http://www.schooltool.org
Moodle - http://moodle.org
Schoolforge-UK Discussions - http://groups.google.com/group/sf-uk-discuss (search for MIS)
Schools Interoperability Framework - http://www.sifinfo.org
CEN Workshop Agreemeent CWA 14928 - http://mdlet.jtc1sc36.org/doc/SC36_WG4_N0096.pdf
Simple Object Access Protocol v1.2 - http://www.w3.org/TR/soap12/
Architectural Styles and the Design of Network-based Software Architectures -
Roy Thomas Fielding - 2000 - http://www.ics.uci.edu/~fielding/pubs/dissertation/top.htm (esp. Chapter 5)
Visscher A & Wild P (1997) The potential of information technology in support of teachers and educational managers managing their work environment, Education and Information Technologies 2, p263-274
Fulmer, C & Frank, F (1997) Developing information systems for schools of the future, in Fung, A C, Visscher, A J, Barta, B-Z, Teather, D C (eds) Information technology in educational management for the schools of the future, London, Chapman & Hall
Dougiamas, M & Taylor P (2003) Moodle: Using Learning Communities to Create an Open Source Course Management System, World conference on educational multimedia, hypermedia and telecommunications 2003(1), p171-178.
Tatnall, A & Davey, B (2001) Open ITEM systems are good ITEM systems, in Nolan, C J P, Fung, A C W, Brown, M A (eds), Pathways to institutional improvement with information technology in educational management, Boston, Kluwer Academic Publishers
JISC - http://www.jisc.ac.uk/
cetis - http://www.cetis.ac.uk
e-Framework - http://www.e-framework.org/

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