'Open' Education & Training Update - March 2015

Looking over the recent news items posted about free and 'open source' Education solutions, the following items caught my attention which might also be of interest to you. For example:

• U.S. Education Department planning 'open' online skills academy
• 'Code for India' launches free, 'open' educational portal called 'Skill Up India'
• Purdue University expands use of open source software and cuts costs
• Open Source Enters More Classroom of Educational Institutes
• 'Open Access' Textbooks: An Easy Choice
• Putting a Major Dent in College Costs Using 'Open Access' Textbooks
• Connect globally, educate openly: Open Education Week 2015

For more information on 'Open Education' Technology and Solutions, check out the COSI 'Open' Education web site and share what you find with others as you see fit.

* BTW - What do you know about Linus Torvald, Linux and the Global 'Open' Movement? Take a few minutes and view the following YouTube Video

Open Source & Healthcare Recent News Items - March 2015

Looking over the recent news items posted about 'open source' healthcare solutions, the following items caught my attention which might also be of interest to you.
 
There were a number of items related to the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) plans to acquire a new 'proprietary' electronic health record (EHR) system at an estimated cost in excess of $11 billion. They make for some interesting reading and raise a lot of questions for Congress to pursue.

• Pentagon's $11 Billion Healthcare Record System Will Be Obsolete Before It's Even Built
• How the DOD's choice of an EHR system will impact Other Healthcare Providers
• DoD's electronic health record won't be open source, given last minute contract changes
• US Defense Think Tank Calls for DoD to Adopt Open Source VistA EHR versus Closed Proprietary EHR
• Closed Medical Records, EHR Decertification and the DoD

On other fronts, several new 'open source' health IT solutions and recent news stories that are also worth exploring include:

• Apple unveils OpenSource Software to improve Health research
• OPENPediatrics open sources Medical Diagrams and Animations
• The developer of OpenSNP is the Mark Zuckerberg of 'OpenSource' Genetics
• British National Health Service (NHS) Open Source Movement Gathers Pace

Finally, you might want to revisit the article “Another Look at Healthcare & Health IT thru 2040”

COSI 'Open' Technology and Solutions Blogs

This new Collaboration, Open Solutions & Innovation (COSI) site contains blogs on 'open source', 'open access', 'open data', 'open standards', 'open hardware', 'open culture', and more.  The blogs generally relate how these 'open' technologies and solutions can be used in Healthcare, Education, Government, Manufacturing, and many other potential areas of interest. 

This new COSI blogging site replace the following ones that were recently discontinued:

• Open Education
• Open History
• Open Health IT
• Open Religious Tech
• Open 'Green' Tech