Modules

The Free Technology Academy aims to establish a full educational programme on Free Software and Open Standards. This programme can be followed as a whole or only partially, and these studies can be expanded at one or more of the partner universities.

These are the educational modules included in the initial programme of the FTA, together with the competences they provide:

  • The concepts of Free Software and Open Standards
    • Know the fundamental and introductory aspects of Free Software
    • Know the main Open Standard formats for different types of contents

  • The GNU/Linux Operating System
    • Use the GNU/Linux operating system at user level
    • Manage GNU/Linux systems
  • Network Technologies
    • Configure and manage networking services in Free Software environments
    • Configure and manage services and advanced networking protocols such as wireless networks, broadcast systems, voice over IP, real-time applications, ad-hoc networks and sensor networks
  • Web applications development
    • Install and configure a web server
    • Know the languages and standards of the web
    • Design and implement web applications
  • Economic aspects of Free Software
    • Know and apply the business models of Free Software and their associated economic aspects
  • Legal aspects of the Information Society
    • Know and apply the legal and exploitation aspects related to the use of Free Software
  • Software development
    • Design and develop applications with Free Software tools and resources
    • Work with the different virtual cooperative environments for Free Software development
    • Know how to reuse and search source code to build new applications
  • Case Studies
    • Compare real cases of implementation of Free Software systems and plan new implementation cases
    • Analyse the more relevant Free Software projects

It takes about 3 months to complete a module in the FTA, after which the student is entitled to be granted a number of ECTS credits at any of the partner universities. Most modules are 5 ECTS credits long, which corresponds to a workload of 125-150 hours for the student.

Recommended background

Each educational module in the FTA is an independent course that can be followed independently, provided that the learner has the required previous knowledge. Introductory courses require almost no previous knowledge, besides the basics necessary to access the FTA campus itself, while more advanced modules are meant for IT professionals seeking to acquire specific skills.