[ecrea] FTA Announcement #8: scholarships, FTA community, new books and tools

> From the Free Knowledge Institute about the Free Technology Academy
>
>Permanent link: http://ftacademy.eu/announce/8
>
>FTA Announcement #8: scholarships, FTA community, new books and tools
>---------------------------------------------------------------------------=
>-------------------------------------------
>
>1. New FTA materials
>2. FTA Scholarships for September
>3. Annotation-tools and feedback
>4. FTA Community Portal
>5. Obtaining an official Master's degree
>6. Print on Demand service for FTA course books
>7. FTA Certificates
>
>=3D=3D 1. New FTA materials =3D=3D
>
>The FTA is proud to announce the availability of two new coursebooks,
>both under a free Copyleft license: "Open Networks" and "Legal aspects
>of the Information Society".
>
>"Open Networks" is part of the module "Network Technologies" and was
>written by Enric Peig Oliv=E9. This coursebook explores the different
>aspects of open technologies that are at the foundations of modern
>computer networks. The Internet is built on top of open protocols and
>open standards.
>
>In this context, "open" means the opposite of "private". Private
>networks are those which belong to companies or institutions who impose
>restrictions on users who join them. Open networks do not belong to
>anybody because the devices they use are made available by the members
>of the community.
>
>You can get a copy of the coursebook here:
>http://ftacademy.org/materials/fsm/3#1
>
>
>"Legal Aspects of the Information Society" is the title of the second
>coursebook we have recently published. Its authors are Malcolm Bain,
>Manuel Gallego, Manuel Mart=EDnez Ribas and Judit Rius. The book
>contains fundamental information for those who want to understand Free
>Software and how to contribute and benefit from it in a safe and legal
>way. Concepts like existing legal systems of software protection -
>copyright, patents, trademark and key concepts like Copyleft and free
>licenses - will provide a general background upon which practical
>skills for different contexts can be built.
>
>You can get a copy of the coursebook here:
>http://ftacademy.org/materials/fsm/6#1
>
>=3D=3D 2. FTA Scholarships for September =3D=3D
>
>The first phase of the FTA is financially supported by the Life Long
>Learning programme (LLP) of the European Commission. While the FTA has
>already exceeded the target for the European Commission in terms of
>courses and learners, we have extra space available for learners who
>wish to enhance their knowledge but are not in a position to raise the
>required tuition fee. For this reason we have set up a scholarship
>programme for the third and last course round during this phase, that
>will run from September 6 2010 to December 6 2010.
>
>Of course the FTA continues in 2011. For the tentative programme,
>please see http://ftacademy.org/programme/2011. No scholarships for
>2011 are being scheduled at this time.
>
>To find out if you are eligible to apply for a scholarship for a module
>starting in September 2010, please take a look at
>http://ftacademy.org/scholarships.
>
>=3D=3D 3. Annotation-tools and feedback =3D=3D
>
>Many of you who have downloaded FTA materials have offered us valuable
>comments and feedback, although until now we didn't have the
>appropriate tools to collect and revise all that input. In the coming
>weeks we'll be testing a PDF annotation tool that allows any user to
>submit comments on a PDF document using a web interface. It will soon
>be integrated with the FTA Campus, but for now you can try it here:
>
>http://beta.ftacademy.org/annotation-tool
>
>The PDF annotation software was developed by Jakko van der Pol and
>INFI. Jakko has kindly agreed to release it under the Affero GPL v3
>license, and is collaborating with the FTA development team in the
>integration of this tool with Moodle and the FTA Campus.
>
>=3D=3D 4. FTA Community Portal =3D=3D
>
>The FTA Community Portal is a space meant for sharing knowledge and
>participating in concrete activities related to FTA courses or Free
>Technologies in general. Any help will be welcome to continue building
>the FTA based on free (as in freedom) knowledge and Open Standards. The
>FTA partnership wants to open up its infrastructure and resources so
>all interested participants can benefit from them. In that sense the
>FTA Community Portal can be seen as a way to both facilitate learning
>as well as to make participation in FTA projects and activities
>accessible to more people.
>
>The FTA Community Portal is based on Mahara, "a fully featured
>electronic portfolio, weblog, resume builder and social networking
>system, connecting users and creating online communities". For more
>information about Mahara, see http://mahara.org/. The FTA Campus team
>has integrated Mahara with the Moodle and University Campus framework.
>
>At the FTA Community Portal you can generate your own profile, explain
>in what projects you are involved, discuss different aspects of the FTA
>or other related topics. You name it, as long as it is about Free
>Technology and Free Culture, use the space as you like! Set up your
>profile at
>http://campus.ftacademy.org/community/ - register first freely at
>http://campus.ftacademy.org/ and get to the FTA Community Portal from
>there!
>
>=3D=3D 5. Obtaining an official Master's degree =3D=3D
>
>The studies started at the FTA can be continued at the FTA Consortium
>Partner universities to obtain an official Master's degree. These
>partner universities offer full master programmes related to free
>software:
>
>* Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (Spain) offers a Master's degree in
>free software that is given in Catalan, Spanish and English. More
>information can be found at this website [1]. A UOC advisor can be
>contacted directly to request more information or start the enrolment
>process by following this link [2].
>
>* At the Open University Netherlands, FTA certificates are accepted in
>their Master of Computer Science, which is provided by the School of
>Computer Science [3]. Details about recognition of FTA certificates can
>be found here (in Dutch) [4].
>
>* The University of Agder recognises (at least) the following courses
>as electives in their graduate programme of Information Systems:
>**The concepts of Free Software and Open Standards
>**Economic aspects of Free Software
>**Legal aspects of the Information Society
>(For students in the UiA bachelor programme in IT and Information
>Systems, at most six FTA modules will be recognized within the IS/ICT
>part of the elective area)
>
>* The FTA partners are designing an International Master Programme that
>will extend the current FTA programme and builds on previous
>experiences from the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Open Universiteit
>Netherlands, Universitat Rey Juan Carlos and University of Agder. A
>taskforce has been set up with representatives from these universities
>and the Free Knowledge Institute. The implementation of this programme
>does take some time and therefore we recommend FTA learners interested
>in obtaining a Masters degree to check with the above mentioned
>partners to consider completing their studies there.
>
>Any comments about the curriculum, recognition of FTA courses and
>possibilities for obtaining a Masters degree can be discussed in the
>FTA Community Portal [5].
>
>[1]
>http://www.uoc.edu/studies/mof/free_software/oficiales/master_oficial_so
>ftware_libre/master_oficial_software_libre_plan.htm
>[2] http://www.uoc.edu/masters/eng/master/web/_enviarDatos/index.html
>[3] http://www.ou.nl/eCache/DEF/12/274.html
>[4] http://www.ou.nl/eCache/DEF/2/16/502.html
>[5] http://campus.ftacademy.org/community/group/view.php?id=3D1
>
>=3D=3D 6. Print on Demand service for FTA course books =3D=3D
>
>A Print on Demand service is launched by the partners of the FTA. For
>many people a printed book is still desired to facilitate the learning
>process. The service is based on cost prices for the printing, handling
>and distribution and is first made available for people who register
>for courses in the FTA.
>
>The first priority is to ship the books to learners who register for
>courses in the coming trimester (starting at September 6th). All
>registrations completed by August 15th can ask for this service when
>registering. If you registered before this service was available, and
>would like to make use of it, please contact us so we can process your
>request manually. The FTA partnership hopes this service strengthens
>the FTA educational experience! For those of you self-learners, who
>don't subscribe to the FTA courses but are still interested in printed
>copies of coursebooks: you can either print the books yourself or wait
>until we have our processes in place to handle individual book orders.
>You could of course also try to use commercial PoD services.
>
>For more information, see:
>http://ftacademy.org/materials/print-on-demand
>
>=3D=3D 7. FTA Certificates =3D=3D
>
>Learners at the FTA can obtain a certificate for each of the modules
>they pass successfully. The FTA certificate is issued - on behalf of
>the FTA partners - by Prof. Dr. Lex Bijlsma, Dean of the Computer
>Science Department of the Open University Netherlands, who chairs the
>Quality and Recognition team in the FTA.
>
>The certificates are recognised by the participating universities and
>enable learners to extend their study options in the area of Free
>Technologies as a complement to the existing curricula of the
>universities. The certificates are issued in digital form (PDF) and a
>validator tool will be made available in the near future. Here you can
>see one of the first FTA learners, Marius Popma, who published his
>profile and FTA certificate:
>http://campus.ftacademy.org/community/user/view.php?id=3D36 His PDF
>certificate:
>http://campus.ftacademy.org/community/artefact/file/download.php?file=3D36
>2&view=3D71
>
>=3D=3D About the Free Technology Academy =3D=3D
>
>A Consortium formed by the Open University of Catalonia (Spain), the
>Open University of the Netherlands and the University of Agder (Norway)
>and led by the Free Knowledge Institute (FKI), the FTA has received the
>support from the EC's Lifelong Learning Programme to set up an
>international educational programme on Free Software. The courses are
>taught completely online in a virtual campus based on the Campus
>Project interoperability framework.
>
>Following the Open Educational Resources movement, all learning
>materials are freely available through the Internet. The use of Free
>Software (also referred to as Open Source software or Libre Software)
>is rapidly expanding in governmental and private organisations.
>However, still only a limited number of ICT professionals, teachers and
>decision makers have sufficient knowledge and expertise in these new
>fields. The Free Technology Academy aims to address this gap by
>providing high level courses that fit into larger Master Programmes at
>the participating universities.
>
>* More information: http://www.ftacademy.org
>* Contact information: (contact /at/ ftacademy.org)
>* Digital version: http://ftacademy.eu/announce/8
>
>Free Technology Academy Newsletter
>http://www.ftacademy.eu/
>

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Nico Carpentier (Phd)
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Vrije Universiteit Brussel - Free University of Brussels
Centre for Studies on Media and Culture (CeMeSO)
Pleinlaan 2 - B-1050 Brussels - Belgium
T: ++ 32 (0)2-629.18.56
F: ++ 32 (0)2-629.36.84
Office: 5B.401a
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