DEVELOPMENT OF FREE SOFTWARE APPLIED TO EDUCATION AND RESEARCH
Juan Ruiz-Ramírez, Gabriela Eréndira Hernández-Rodríguez, Christian Pérez-Salazar, Miriam de los Ángeles Díaz-Córdoba, Rafael Vela Martínez · 2015
The current economic crisis in Mexico has resulted in budget reductions allocated to public universities, which also limits the purchase of commercial software licenses.The use of different types of software is necessary for the application of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), and their absence at higher education institutions (UEI) impedes the preparation of undergraduate students, which has adverse effects on the professional performance and the overall quality of employment.Bearing in mind the above-stated, the aim of this paper is to develop free software that can be applied to education and research.The generation of software "EficienciaRelativa", "MuestreosEstadísticos", and "GEGasolinas2.0", made use of Java programming language.While the first one calculates the efficiency of experimental designs, the second one determines the sample size, while the third one calculates the generation of gasoline consumption scenarios and production of bioethanol fuel from sugar cane.They have been used to support education and research and contribute to reducing the digital divide and enhancing graduation rates and the overall quality of education at Mexican UEIs. Apstrakt:Aktuelna ekonomska kriza u Meksiku dovela je do smanjenja budzetskih sredstava namenjenih državnim univerzitetima, što takođe ograničava kupovinu softvera sa komercijalnim licencama.Upotreba različitih tipova softvera neophodna je u primeni informacionih i komunikacionih tehnologija (IKT) i njihovo odustvo na visokoobrazovnim institucijama ima negativni uticaj na profesionalni učinak i sveukupan kvalitet rada zaposlenih.Shodno tome, cilj ovog rada jeste da se razvije besplatan softver koji se može primeniti u obrazovanju i istraživačkom radu.Autori opisuju softvere "Eficiencia Relativa", "Muestreos Estadísticos", i "GEGasolinas2.0",koji se služe Java programskim jezikom.Naime, prvi izračunava efikasnost eksprimentalnog dizajna, drugi određuje veličinu uzorka, dok se treći bavi izračunavanjem potrošnje benzina i proizvodnjom bioetanola od šećerne trske.Njihova primena je prvenstveno usmerena ka obrazovanju i istraživačkom radu, ali i smanjenju digitalnog jaza i povećanju stope diplomiranih studenata i kvaliteta obrazovanja na visokoobrazovnim institucijama u Meksiku.