Ten Linux apps that get top marks from schools

Teachers and school administrators who have to be creative about acquiring affordable educational software will find plenty to choose from in the world of open source, says Jack Wallen.

Good educational software is hard to come by. And with budgets tight, it is understandable that many schools are turning to Linux and open-source software to save money. Most people have no idea how many outstanding educational applications there are for the Linux operating system. Here are 10 of the best.

1. ATutor
If you are a teacher, you should definitely look at ATutor. It is online software that allows you to manage courses and that gives students a way of keeping track of coursework.

With ATutor, you can post assignments, tests, grades and more. Students can create accounts and keep track of their particular classes and assignments. Students and teachers can also keep in touch with one another via email and messaging.

ATutor lets you create workgroups to group students for projects and classes. Once you deploy the software, you will find your teaching life much more organised, and your students will thank you for it.

2. iTalc
iTalc is a powerful didactical tool that allows you to watch and control computers for educational purposes. You can show demos and even lock computers to get the attention of your students.

iTalc will also allow you to reboot or shut down machines remotely. And unlike other more costly tools, iTalc is free and released under the GPL. iTalc also supports Linux and Windows XP and will soon support Windows Vista.

3. Online Grades
Online Grades allows teachers to post students' grades and attendance online. It takes exports from many popular gradebook apps, such as Easy Grade Pro and Gradekeeper, and displays them online.

Online Grades gives each student or parent, teacher and administrator a unique login, to keep security high. Parents with more than one child in a school will need only one login for all their children.

Online Grades was originally based on Basmati and is released under the GPL. The cost for this system? Zero.

You will find different areas for administrators, faculty, students and parents.

4. Open Admin for Schools
Open Admin for Schools is an outstanding open-source application that allows schools to do full student administration, including enrolment and withdrawal, student reports, attendance, schedules, report cards, fees, medical reports, and discipline.

Open Admin is broken into four sites: administration, teachers, parents and special education. Each site is tailored to meet the needs of that specific group. One powerful aspect of Open Admin is that it allows administrative staff easy access to the demographics of their school. With competition a big issue in schools, knowing your demographics can keep you ahead of the game.

5. FET
FET simplifies complicated school and university schedules. It uses a heuristic algorithm to take the...