The Apereo Foundation is a non-profit organization that supports open source software communities serving education. It manages intellectual property, provides infrastructure support, and incubates new projects to help them become sustainable communities. Apereo's mission is to help educational institutions collaborate on developing and sustaining open technologies to support learning, teaching, and research.

1. Ian Dolphin - Executive Director - ian.dolphin@apereo.org
Jaeques Koeman - Chair, Apereo Incubation WG
Francisco Osorio - Flickr - https://www.flickr.com/photos/francisco_osorio/ - Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)
Open Source Software Serving Education
Introducing Apereo

2. – Apereo Mission
“…to help educational organizations collaborate to
foster, develop, and sustain open technologies and
innovation to support learning, teaching, and
research.”
– The Apereo Foundation is a non-profit [501(c)(3)] registered in New Jersey

3. Why Open-Source?
Suitability
Cost
Control
Ability to collaborate in order to innovate
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}‘Courant Report’
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1 Software and Collaboration in Higher Education - A Study of Open Source Software
www.campussource.de/opensource/docs/OOSS_Report.pdf
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4. Why a Foundation?
Aggregation of common services is cost-effective.
A common neutral point to vest and manage IPR …
… reduces potential friction & multi-point negotiation
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5. Apereo: Core Functions …
… for our software communities & communities of interest
1. Licensing and management of intellectual property
2. Technical & community infrastructure; events, lists etc.
3. Programs; Fellows, Teaching Innovation Awards
4. Banking, Accounting, Administration
5. Incubation
Deliberately minimal - we want to save edu money, not remove it!
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6. Licensing and Intellectual Property (i - in)
Inbound
[Individual Contributor Agreements]
[Corporate Contributor Agreements]
[Software Grant License Agreement]
Assures foundation that contributor has right to contribute
Assures community that Foundation can share in perpetuity

7. Licensing and Intellectual Property (ii - out)
Outbound
[Apache]
[Educational Community License]
Open/open licenses allow unhindered commercial adoption
Symmetrical - all contributors have same rights

8. Apereo Governance
Membership organization
Elected Board of Directors - + small number appointees
Around 80 higher ed and commercials worldwide
Close partnership with 72 higher ed institutions in France
Independent Schools Victoria - network of 150 schools
Constituent communities have significant autonomy
- devolve decision making to those closest to the problem
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9. Francisco Osorio - Flickr - https://www.flickr.com/photos/francisco_osorio/ - Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)
Software Communities
Bedework
CAS
Opencast
Open Academic Environment
Sakai
Student Success Plan
UniTime
uPortal/uMobile
Xerte
EDexchange
Karuta
Learning Analytics Processor
OpenDashboard
OpenLRS
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10. Francisco Osorio - Flickr - https://www.flickr.com/photos/francisco_osorio/ - Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)
Communities of Interest
Purpose
Teaching & Learning
ePortfolio
Learning Analytics
Software Development
Internationalization
Accessibility
Security
Licensing
Geographical
South Africa
Europe
Japan
Spain
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11. Incubation
A guide towards to sustainability …
… from a project to a community
Structured process
Supported by volunteer mentors
https://www.apereo.org/incubation
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12. Teaching how to fish
Not providing fish

13. What incubatees say
“Just having someone to report to makes us more organized
and more articulate about what we are doing. Because our
mentors are with us, we are better.”
J. Smith - Karuta Open source Portfolio
“The incubation process functions as a pointer to look at things that
otherwise might have been overlooked. The fact that one mentor
wasn't familiar with the project was useful.”
N. Matthijs - Open Academic Environment
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14. Ian Dolphin - Executive Director - ian.dolphin@apereo.org
Jaeques Koeman - Chair, Apereo Incubation WG
Francisco Osorio - Flickr - https://www.flickr.com/photos/francisco_osorio/ - Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)
Open Source Software Serving Education
Introducing Apereo