Darci Burdge

Learning within a professional environment: shared ownership of an HFOSS project

Curriculum guidelines for both Computer Science and Software Engineering emphasize the need for student experience working on a sizeable, real-world project. This poster presents student experience in a Humanitarian Free and Open Source Software (HFOSS) project that is jointly maintained by the GNOME Accessibility Team and three academic institutions. In this environment, students enjoy apprenticeship learning and learn directly from professionals within an active project. Results from a survey on student self-reported software engineering learning, attitude towards computing, and career plans are presented.

Teaching with HFOSS to provide students with real world experience: an introduction (abstract only)

Have you ever wanted your students to contribute to or learn from a real-world software project that benefits society? Want some help getting started? Many students find involvement in Humanitarian Free and Open Source Software (HFOSS) projects engaging and motivating. As a first step, this workshop will introduce faculty to FOSS tools and culture. Through a virtual field trip into the world of HFOSS you will learn how to find a project, discern characteristics of a good project for student participation and understand how to use IRC, a communication tool used by FOSS developers. The use of version control to support project development will also be discussed. Along the way, you will learn how to support student learning in such projects. All topics will be covered at an introductory level. Participants will take away exercises that can be used in the classroom. Additionally, participants will have access to support in the creation of assignments or curriculum and their implementation from teachers experienced in supporting students in HFOSS participation. Additional information at: http://www.foss2serve.org/index.php/SIGCSE_2014_Workshop Laptop required.

Open Source Student Clubs: (Abstract Only)

Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) is interesting to many students and provides an excellent opportunity to observe and practice many aspects of software product development and management. There is an active community of faculty fostering student participation in open source within computing curricula (see http://teachingopensource.org). However, the opportunity to add coverage of FOSS varies considerably from institution to institution, and there are always limits to what can be done with existing computing curricula. One approach to solving this limitation is for students to learn about and participate in FOSS projects as an extra-curricular activity. This BoF will provide a forum for faculty members to discuss open source student clubs. The Mozilla Foundation has been developing a program to support open source clubs. The initial clubs were primarily located in Asia, but Mozilla started an effort to expand the clubs to the U.S. during the current academic year. The BoF will include discussion of this effort and materials developed by Mozilla. (See https://opensource.mozilla.community/)

Courseware: HFOSS Project Evaluation

1. Many instructors are excited by the potential learning that occurs via student participation in Humanitarian Free and Open Source Software (HFOSS) projects. However, one of the main challenges for instructors desiring to support such participation is identifying an appropriate project. There are a vast number of HFOSS projects with varying sizes, complexities, domains and community cultures. This presentation describes a guided approach to evaluating an HFOSS project for someone trying to pick a project to which they will contribute. The activity is designed with particular attention to instructors who need to identify an HFOSS project that they will use in a class. The characteristics evaluated include the pattern of contributions, pattern of commits, programming languages used, and more. This activity uses OpenMRS as a sample project to evaluate.

Encouraging faculty & student involvement in humanitarian free and open source software (HFOSS)(abstract only)

Humanitarian Free and Open Source Software (HFOSS) projects provide a real-world application with an approachable and welcoming community for both faculty and students. Many faculty members are excited by the prospect of their students contributing to HFOSS. They perceive it as an opportunity to engage students, regardless of race or gender, in projects that have societal impact. However trying something new in the classroom though can be daunting, and many barriers to entry exist. Locating an appropriate project, trying to figure out how to incorporate a dynamic, real-world project into the curriculum and learning how to interact with the projects community each present their own set of challenges. This BOF provides a gathering place for faculty who are interested in student participation in FOSS or HFOSS. The discussion will include an overview of an NSF-funded project, OpenFE. The goal of OpenFE is to develop faculty expertise in working with HFOSS projects and to develop curriculum materials that support faculty members in bringing this approach into their classrooms. The members of the OpenFE team will discuss plans for this grant and welcome both novices and experienced contributors to join us and provide feedback.