“There is a growing demand for open source, and this program aims to enhance the skills of students in open source systems,” said Dominic Sabado, manager of the European IT Service Center Foundation (EITSC), a partner in the Philippine Open Source Initiative (Positive) program.
The materials include syllabuses, course presentations, laboratory workbooks, and exercises and tests developed over six months by the Asia-Pacific Colleges, Angeles University Foundation, Cebu Institute of Technology, Don Bosco Technical College, Mindanao State University Institute of Technology and the Department of Science and Technology Region 7 Open Source Computer and Security Laboratory.
These materials, Sabado said, addresses a deficiency in many CS and IT-related curriculums, which focus on proprietary—mostly Microsoft—technology.
Schools may register for the program and download the course materials from the Positive Web site (www.positive.ph), Sabado said.
Because of budget constraints, the project initially developed four courses to cover the fundamentals of IT, operating systems, database management and Web programming.
The six partner schools will roll out the new curriculum starting next month, and other schools are expected to follow suit later this year, Sabado told Standard Today.
Positive was launched last February at the national convention of the Philippine Society of Information Technology Educators (PSITE) in Iloilo City.
To encourage some 250 PSITE-member schools to adopt the open source course materials, Positive will begin a series of training sessions for faculty members in five major cities to how to integrate these into their existing curriculum, Sabado said.
EITSC, which seeks to promote the Philippines as a supplier of IT and IT-related services to Europe, believes a workforce with skills in open source technologies will help outsourcing companies here capture more business.
“We’re providing options,” Sabado said. “Open source is a technology platform that will have an effect on business, and if you don’t have the graduates with these skills, you’ll miss out on these opportunities.”
Autor: Chin Wong
Quelle: Manila Standard Today, 27.03.2006
