What is Educational Commons

This chapter explores the potential of an educational commons to help schools better prepare students for the virtual workplace. Together with the formation of stronger linkages between schools and the business world, making greater use of resources such as open source software in both school and business would greatly reduce costs and enable students to be better prepared to participate in the virtual workplace. With the virtual workplace’s emphasis on online communication technologies as a primary tool for completing day-to-day tasks, schools must acquire the hardware and software as well as explore ways of incorporating these tools into the student learning. To reduce the expense of doing so and to ensure that the environments in which students learn reflect that of the workplace, both organizations should consider using more accessible software and working more closely together. Conceptualizing the ideal learning environment as an educational commons, this chapter will explore open source resources and their potential contribution to education and some of the opportunities as well as the challenges that will be encountered as open source resources are introduced to education and business.