Keeping your options open: A review of open source and free technologies for instructional use in higher education

Purpose - Technologies for teaching abound, but many of them are proprietary systems and software that require institutional and individual subscriptions for use. Instructors and librarians in higher education have open source and free options for many types of teaching technologies. While some of these technologies are free to users, open source goes beyond that and makes the source code that runs it available as well. These provide more options to enhance teaching. Design/methodology/approach - This paper will provide an overview of the open source landscape and evaluate free and open source technologies of potential use in the college or university classroom. Findings - The paper found a number of free and open source tools appropriate for teaching and learning in higher education. These tools may possibly generate savings over proprietary tools, but could have other costs such as additional learning investment or require hosting. Additionally, free and open source technologies provide students with knowledge about tools that they can continue to access after graduation. Libraries have a role in connecting their constituencies to these tools. Originality/value - The paper provides descriptive information about a variety of tools for teaching and learning in higher education, as well as examples from the literature of how the tools might be integrated into the classroom and into library instruction.