Open-source technologies hold great promise for education--but for this promise to be fully realized, a dramatic shift in thinking must occur, according to representatives from the ed-tech industry, nonprofit organizations, and academic institutions from around the world.

The occasion for their discussion was a symposium titled "K-12 Open Technologies Initiative," held March 8-9 at the World Bank Headquarters in Washington, D.C. The event took place in conjunction with the annual K-12 School Networking Conference hosted by the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), a nonprofit organization that helps schools use technology to improve teaching and learning.

Co-sponsored by IBM Corp., which offers open-source code and content as part of its services, and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, which provides grants and other resources to support education, the symposium explored how school leaders and other officials could promote a greater understanding and awareness of open technologies.

The term "open technologies" refers to a wide body of software solutions, from operating systems and applications to instructional content and media--all of which are available with few or no licensing restrictions. The term also refers to software that adopts commonly accepted interoperability standards, as well as any hardware devices that make use of open-source operating systems.

Speakers discussed the legal, political, commercial, and technical issues associated with open technologies at length and with great enthusiasm. But participants were most excited when exploring the social implications--and how open-technology models for education can chip away at traditional educational hierarchies and institutions.

Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, the freely licensed online encyclopedia that permits users to write and edit entries, began the symposium with a discussion of his work in particular and open content in general.

Having the power to control and modify content, Wales said, gives educators more control over the educational process and encourages a greater degree of collaboration among them. Wales noted that proprietary textbooks deprive educators of this option, resulting in a situation where the publishing industry dictates to educators what content is offered--thereby prescribing how material should be presented and students engaged.

This is exactly the type of environment Wales said he hopes to discourage with Wikipedia.

According to Wales, Wikipedia has more than 1 million entries in the U.S. alone. All told, he said, there are now versions of Wikipedia in 214 different languages, 30 of which have at least 10,000 entries.

Though Wikipedia is perhaps the most well-known example of how open technologies can be used to create an organic, constantly evolving body of work, it also has been the subject of controversy, as critics have begun to question the accuracy of its entries.