Free and open source software development of IT systems

IT system development, integration, deployment, and administration benefit significantly from free and open source software (FOSS) tools and services. Affordability has been a compelling reason for adopting FOSS in computing curricula and equipping computing labs with support infrastructure. Using FOSS systems and services, however, is just the first step in taking advantage of how FOSS development principles and practices can impact student learning in IT degree programs. Above all, FOSS development of IT systems requires changes to how students, instructors, and other contributors work collaboratively and openly and get involved and invested in project activities. In this paper I examine the challenges to engage students in FOSS development projects proposed by real clients. A six-week course project revealed problems with adopting FOSS development and collaboration across different activities and roles that student team members have assumed. Despite these problems, students have showed a genuine and strong interest in gaining more practice with FOSS development. FOSS development teaching was further refined in two other courses to learn about adequate teaching strategies and the competencies that students achieve when they participate in FOSS development of IT systems

The Ethical Challenges of Community-Based CS Training at Portland State

This literature review investigates Service Learning, the Capstone program at Portland State University, and the CS version of that Capstone program in particular in order to evaluate the ethical issues surrounding them. To achieve this, this paper is split into a few sections. There is an explanation of Service Learning, and a brief overview of its history. Following that is a summary of the history of the Capstone Program at Portland State including a description of the CS Capstone program at Portland State. After that the paper investigates some of the legal challenges surrounding the use of free labor. Next, the paper will take a look at the open source movement, the status of Open Source software as a public good, and the degree to which it mitigates the ethical challenges involving free labor. The paper comes to the conclusion that there’s a need for advocates and practitioners of Service Learning and similar types of experimental learning to reflect on the ethics of these types of pedagogies, specifically on the obligations of the university and the other organizations involved towards the students. The paper also makes some suggestions as to how the CS Capstone at Portland State can be improved

Leveraging Final Degree Projects for Open Source Software Contributions

(1) Background: final year students of computer science engineering degrees must carry out a final degree project (FDP) in order to graduate. Students’ contributions to improve open source software (OSS) through FDPs can offer multiple benefits and challenges, both for the students, the instructors and for the project itself. This work reports on a practical experience developed by four students contributing to mature OSS projects during their FDPs, detailing how they addressed the multiple challenges involved, both from the students and teachers perspective. (2) Methods: we followed the work of four students contributing to two established OSS projects for two academic years and analyzed their work on GitHub and their responses to a survey. (3) Results: we obtained a set of specific recommendations for future practitioners and detailed a list of benefits achieved by steering FDP towards OSS contributions, for students, teachers and the OSS projects. (4) Conclusions: we find out that FDPs oriented towards enhancing OSS projects can introduce students into real-world, practical examples of software engineering principles, give them a boost in their confidence about their technical and communication skills and help them build a portfolio of contributions to daily used worldwide open source applications

The Trinity Reporter, Spring 2012

https://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/reporter/2099/thumbnail.jp

The Case for Kairos: The Importance of Moment and Manner in Software Engineering Communication

Students preparing for software engineering careers need to be proficient in the mechanics of communication and experienced in the basic communication genres common to the profession. We argue, however, that this is not enough: students must also be prepared for the inventive, in-the-moment nature of real project communication. Choosing the right moment and manner for inventive discourse is the essence of kairos, a long-standing concept in the field of rhetoric. We find similarities between the concept of kairos and the role of communication in agile software development methods. We argue for the need to address kairos in software engineering education. We present an approach, based on the concept of cognitive apprenticeship, that we have used in a team software project course with successful results. Finally, we pose two important challenges: how to evaluate kairotic awareness across a student\u27s academic career and beyond, and how to make software engineering instructors feel comfortable covering communication topics

Disaster Relief 2.0: The Future of Information Sharing in Humanitarian Emergencies

Outlines the challenges of and recommendations for creating an effective interface between humanitarian groups and volunteer and technical communities aggregating, visualizing, and analyzing data on and from affected communities to support relief efforts

Leveraging Diversity in Software Engineering Education through Community Engaged Learning and a Supportive Network

While a lack of diversity is a longstanding problem in computer science and engineering, universities and organizations continue to look for solutions to this issue. Among the first of its kind, we launched INSPIRE: STEM for Social Impact, a program at the University of Victoria, Canada, aimed to motivate and empower students from underrepresented groups in computer science and engineering to develop digital solutions for society impactful projects by engaging in experiential learning projects with identified community-partners. The twenty-four students in the program came from diverse backgrounds in terms of academic areas of study, genders, ethnicities, and levels of technical and educational experience. Working with six community partners, these students spent four months learning and developing solutions for a societal and/or environmental problem with potential for local and global impacts. Our experiences indicate that working in a diverse team with real clients on solving pressing issues produces a sense of competence, relatedness, and autonomy which are the basis of self-determination theory. Due to the unique structure of this program, the three principles of self-determination theory emerged through different experiences, ultimately motivating the students to build a network of like-minded people. The importance of such a network is profound in empowering students to succeed and, in retrospect, remain in software engineering fields. We address the diversity problem by providing diverse, underrepresented students with a safe and like-minded environment where they can learn and realize their full potential. Hence, in this paper, we describe the program design, experiences, and lessons learned from this approach. We also provide recommendations for universities and organizations that may want to adapt our approach

Demonstrating the capacity of online citizen science mapping software to communicate natural hazards and engage community participation

OpenStreetMap (OSM) is an online citizen science mapping software program that can be used to empower communities and encourage participation in natural hazards planning. This is a multi-disciplinary thesis demonstrating OSM’s effectiveness as a tool in this capacity through a literature review, in depth case study, and functional application. The literature review and case study focus on applications of OSM in other contexts, like the Nepal earthquakes in 2015. The functional application addresses the impacts of climate change in the Elk River watershed. Flooding here has become more frequent and intense as a result of climate change. The Flood Solution Strategy is prepares people for extreme flooding events in Fernie, B.C. This research utilized a unique methodology in using OSM as both a tool for engaging the community and communicating the risk of flooding. The result is a flood hazard map created through a science-policy-stakeholder partnership complimenting a larger initiative.MITAC