Here’s a short, well-written paper which speaks to the benefits of open source in the educational environment.

http://www.opensourcesummit.org/open-source-200408.pdf

In particular, this paper:
– does well to describe what open source is, and what it is not,
– describes the common comparison of open source to proprietary software,
– tracks the current thought of open source software in higher education,
– highlights a few important open source projects,
– argues how the adoption of open source software can make life/education better, and
– provides ways in which one can support open source initiatives in one’s own environment.

Much of the content will be familiar to those who follow open source developments, but this is certainly a document that I would pass on to those who are new to the area.