October 22, 2011

The Best Free Software for ICT Class

The Best Free Software for ICT Class
--Angelo R. Basilio

It has been proven that incorporating ICT in teaching is one of the effective methods in transferring knowledge and skills to our students. This is the very reason why teachers are encouraged to keep updated with the latest know-hows on Information and Communication Technologies and to integrate these to teaching and learning. On the other hand, one of the problems that are being encountered by the teachers in integrating ICT to education is the financial limitations to acquire computers and commercial software products, particularly in the public schools.

Nevertheless, software should not be a big problem anymore if your school does have computer units already. Below is a short list of free software products which can be used and installed on many computers. These software programs may be as good as or better than their commercial equivalents.
  • Ubuntu 12.04. It is a free, open source, fast, secure and easy-to-use operating system and one of the best alternatives for the commercially available Microsoft Windows. Why do you spend thousands of pesos if you can have an operating system for free? Furthermore, Ubuntu is available in 24 languages. To get your copy for free, just go to http://www.ubuntu.com/.
  • LibreOffice Productivity Suite. This free software suite coming from The Document Foundation is consists of productivity programs such as word processing, spreadsheets, presentations and databases. Almost anything that you can do with MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Access can also be done with this application suite, so, if your school does not have enough budgets to buy a licensed MS Office, LibreOffice application suite is the best alternative. It also works with many operating systems like MS Window, Linux and Mac. To get your free copy just go to http://www.libreoffice.org/.
  • Scribus. This is a free, open source and multiplatform desktop publishing application that brings professional page layout to Linux, Mac OS X and Windows desktops. It features modern and user friendly interface that supports desktop publishing features such as color separations, CMYK and Spot Color support, ICC color management and useful PDF creation. To get a free copy, point your browser to http://www.scribus.net/canvas/Scribus.
  • Greenfoot. It is a free and multiplatform interactive JAVA development environment used primarily for educational purposes at the high school and college level. It can be used to write two dimensional graphical computer programs such as simulations and interactive games. This program is available in Operating Systems like Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Linux and many others. To get your free copy, go to http://www.greenfoot.org/download/.
  • GIMP. This is a free, open source and multiplatform photo-editing software, used for tasks such as editing, retouching, image rendering, image format converter and more. This is a free and good alternative for Adobe Photoshop. To download a copy, just point your browser to http://www.gimp.org.

56 comments:

Aileen said...

I agree. It's time we make education tools up to speed with the current trends. After all, education is one of our great investments for the future. I am only familiar with GIMP here. Ubuntu I've heard of but not really that well-acquainted with it so thanks for the links and short descriptions. :-)

Mommy Maye said...

It is high time that technology be used in our school. I hope public school can also afford that.

Mommy Maye (http://momayes.blogspot.com)

Unknown said...

i've heard of Ubuntu but since I am not the IT in our company, i get to follow whatever they installed on our PC...at home, i use the free versions ;)

Aaaaaa said...

what's good in our country is that youth has embrace new technologies. sometimes, naiiwanan pa ang mga teachers. i hope na maincorporate na sa mga schools natin ang mga system na yan.

Michi said...

kids are very lucky that they have different tools to improve their knowledge and i just hope even public schools can use this new technology.

Unknown said...

I haven't encountered any of these except for ubuntu. It's pretty good for a freeware.

avagabondmom said...

I love GIMP! It's pretty easy to use, I guess with a little patience :)

And I agree with most of the comments that hopefully our schools will be able to utilize these free software to help educate our children.

theresa said...

Cool terms! Haven't encountered any of those! Since I'm not in the ICT world (I'm in the educ field), I was not aware with those terms..

Unknown said...

GIMP lang ang alam ko sa mga software na ito, at di ko pa alam gamitin

Farida said...

Great post!

The kids these days are more techie than any adult. Because of their interest to use the computer, they learn fast and develop the skills needed to use one.

I pray that our government will find ICT vital and provide this information to all the public scohols.

Nice O. Urdaneta said...

having ICT in our curriculum should be done ages ago... kaso lang laging walang budget... great that you've posted these free softwares...

Lei said...

dapat kasama talaga..dapat kids should focus on the educational side di lang puro DOTA ang ginagawa nila

kusina101 said...

back in the days i also used these open source OS like ubuntu,fedora,knoppix,etc.

now im only using the live CD to salvage my broken hdds.

~CorbyLove

Jhari said...

Thank God for technology. Life is really much easier.

Khyutee said...

wow! thanks for all this info and links. this is really helpful for me :)

http://khyutee.wordpress.com

The Joyful Crafter said...

Thanks for the info and links... I am not really techie when it comes to this stuff. So reading them from your site has helped me a lot in discovering other forms of software products that are free.

I really wish, mostly for public schools cos I'm sure that most private schools have computer classes already, that this will be utilized in schools.. Technology is a wonderful thing and learning will be a lot easier if only our public school children will have access to things like this.



- The Joyful Crafter
www.peachyalvarez.com
www.thejoyfulcrafterph.com

Unknown said...

Thanks for sharing this information.

w0rkingAth0mE said...

Teachers should learn how to use computer na so they can go with the flow, its good that free software is available, thanks for sharing!

Eccentricallysuper said...

Yeah, buti nalang may alternatives na. Not everybody can afford the softwares in the market. With these alternatives, even the less fortunate will have the chance to learn na.

Allan D said...

This is good information. I just hope that these operating syste can perform the same as other OS.
This could also save the government since it can be downloaded for free rather than spending thousands of peso per school just to have the OS in their computer.

Pearl said...

thanks for sharing this information

Cintamuni said...

Thanks for sahring this very informative post.

Jellybelly said...

I'm not familiar with any of these softwares. Very informative post. Thanks!

Verna Luga said...

heard some from my husband ...but for me.. I don't know if i'll care enough to use any.. hehehe.. old dog here learning new trick.. argh tiresome..lol

Unknown said...

i am familiar of these free software...my brother and dad usually talk techie things...

Unknown said...

Great options of downloadable software programs. I agree that it's about time educations system integrate ICT.
I just recently paid for the 'tablet' at my son's school because it is now an "option" to have one instead of printed books. Hopefully this will inspire my son to study more :D

Gil Camporazo said...

Very good source of free softwares. I just wonder why you've not included the OpenOffice application which is also an open source.

Jovell said...

Bookmarked! I believe my eldest daughter will be needing this. Thanks for sharing:)

Aiza said...

Good list of open-source softwares. I've only heard of Ubuntu.

Yannie said...

That`s a good list. This will help especially public schools with no budget for softwares.

Anonymous said...

On a new machine without OS, I will install these but I already bought Windows 7 starter for my OS so windows it is.

Sarah Bucu said...

I am not much of a technical person but this is one great way to be implemented in schools. Hopefully it will as incoming high school students get to finish after 5 years .

Mari said...

I'm not really familiar in geek words but I have already used ubuntu and it pretty fast.

http://pixiechronicle.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

Woot! Love the LibreOffice idea. I will check this out! I used Ubuntu in college during programming class and it's the sweetest and fastest free OS. in love with it. I just needed some software for work so I had to go back to mainstream Windows OS.

Anonymous said...

Great free software. I'm using ubuntu linux on my netbook and I'm using the libreoffice and gimp. You just need to get familiar with the software.

Jessica said...

Those are very informative software :-) hope that every students can try it to help with their projects at school.

http://www.kidsnpet.com/2012/05/one-of-our-koi-fish/

Liz said...

Nice list of free software. Worth checking out!

Lizzie of Make More Money Online

Prettymom said...

Thanks for sharing,

melandriaonline said...

i'm not really aware of ict but this looks very interesting. Will further read about it so i can understand. thanks.

Donna || HEYLADYSPRING.COM said...

There are tons of free software out there and many more to come I think. When I couldn't afford Photoshop yet, I used GIMP in making websites and editing photos.

Nice post!

Maria Magcauaus said...

a teacher's greatest challenge is how to transfer knowledge to their students when sources is very few to lacking, at least ict is recognizing that need, i hope all others would follow foot. :)

Christian Melanie Lee said...

I didn't know that there's a lot of software for ICT learning. Thanks for sharing.

Dominique Goh said...

I haven't heard about those softwares but will check them out if I'm going to go for more ICT learning.

crazyme said...

I'm so nontechie that everything sounds jibberish to me. :) This is useful stuff though for those who are looking for free software.

madjewelled said...

i used gimp =) i hope software companies will always have 'student' version and price for school :)

Unknown said...

I agree, Kubuntu(linus) is most popular open source software out there :)

verabear said...

Do teachers have classes in ICT as part of their curriculum/training? They should! So that they can apply it when they get to the schools. Although, not all schools are equipped with technology, which is another thing that DepEd has to take care of soon.

Paula said...

Gimp is the only thing I know here. Which means I have to brush up on my techie knowledge.

Kudos to these open source, free software. They're helping so many people by making their software accessible to everyone.

Mitch said...

Same here, I only know GIMP but I don't even use it hehe!

redamethyst said...

never heard of the softwares expect for GIMP. but thanks for the info. might check out the links you've given.

Lalah said...

I hope our government will consider having this in our public school. This would be a great project.

aby ♥ said...

omg! i think i need to read more and be updated, thank you for this info! :)

EDI VAN said...

These days not only in the computer system but we are using many advanced software in the mobile and many small electronic devices. So the importance of software is there everywhere. Many people have no idea about the vomputer system but still they well known about certain popular software and it is due to the rapid use of that software. EDI

Jackeline Salva Cagas-Paraiso said...

as a teacher, we need to be resourceful. I can relate to this because I've been teaching ICT subject for three years already.

Unknown said...

I am not a techy person but when the need arise article like this are very useful for me.

Unknown said...

These are useful software, I have installed ubuntu in one of my laptops and it is great.



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