Learning the Open Source Way Summer University 2007

Virtual & On-Campus Summer University July 3 rd to September 30 th 2007
Learning the Open Source way: the FLOSS approach

What is it about and where it takes place
Learning the open source way – the floss approach
The Summer University is a 12 week open access session
With the objective of developing a toolkit on ‘Learning the Open Source Way’
Conducted as a joint event with Ubuntu Education
Taking place at the following virtual spaces:
http://www.flosscom.net
http://launchpad.net/flosscom
http://wiki.ubuntu.com/flosscom
http://launchpad.net/~flosscomteam

Summer University Objectives:
The On-Campus and Virtual Summer University aims to:
Analyse the effectiveness of a FLOSS-like learning community in educational settings
Together with all involved stakeholders (flosse posse, students, teachers, etc.)
Through virtual interaction within a FLOSS-like environment, and supported by on-campus activities
To use the results of the different summer university's activities and outcomes to feed them into a toolkit on “Learning the open source way”
The toolkit should enable educator and student to apply open source principles in education

Are Floss Communities good Learning Environments?
They might be, because of:
Open and inclusive ethos: everyone can participate, no charges, no deadlines, life long
Up to date content; everyone can add, edit and update the content
A large support network; provided voluntarily by the community member in a collaborative manner nearly 24/7
Free Riders welcome paradoxe – the more the better
New ICT solutions are adapted early by the community

So, how is it in FLOSS? And what might be relevant?

FLOSS Principles for formal education?!?
The community factor
Apache community – Source Faz.net, Author unknown

A large variety of information spaces
FLOSS Community Places (source http://innovationcreators.com/wp/?p=70

Individual learning, community support,...
Learning is happening...

... product development, or off topic socialisation spaces
... in a larger context...

... provided by and for the community
... and a larger community 117 new members within 4h41m

Community support services
User help user; a double gain where both learn; lurkers welcome

Where community support meets content production
Providing support leads to the production of knowledge bases that serve as a base for the production of instructional materials and help in definition of product requirements and improvement

Don't produce if you can re-use!

The different roles of bugs: nasty evil and community builder

The value of feedback and discourse – anyone asked for further bugs?

Developer the small core of the community

Types of content – it's not only bugs
... but it seems to be simple and yet working out

...and it's not about state-of-the-art technology, but...?

... and it's produced by the help of EVERYONE

... and under current reconsideration of processes and structures

... but it records and displays the most basic questions, answers and the way towards them – so they can be re-used by others

Re-use – benefit from what others did and experienced
FLOSS Principles for formal education?!? ... code, materials, templates, tutorials, discussions, reflections, problem solving processes and solutions, ...

Reviewed by peers
FLOSS Principles for formal education?!? ... for core contributions, individual modifications or on other occasions

Learning in Floss Communities is:
FLOSS Principles in pedagogical terms Informal / self-organized / problem based / practice based / experiential / incidental / reflection-on-action / tacit knowledge transfer by observation, imitation, and practice / re-experience what others experienced before / enabling re-experience by decreasing complexity and transactive group memory / enabling re-experience by guidance, openness and legitimate peripheral participation / enabling re-experience by asynchronous communication and virtual experimentation / individual processes of learning and collective knowledge building / double-loop learning through social interaction and competent use of technologies

Differences when translating FLOSS to education
Materials are usually the product of few authors
Not many contributions from people other than authors
Basic software usage (and experience): word processor
Infrequent releases, feedback only seldom considered
Distribution dependent on publishers
Prior learning outcomes and processes are not systematically available (role of mailing lists/forums and commented code)
No or small community and related community services
No continuous development cycle
Partly taken from Jesus M. Gonzalez-Barahona, Teo Romera - Edukalibre Project

Differences & possibilities when translating FLOSS to education

Questions 1
So how could (formal) education benefit from FLOSS approaches?
Which are the initial questions that should be answered?
Are there any test-beds that could be used?
Are there any existent projects that should be looked at?
Which similar environments might be of relevance (e.g. Wikipedia / wikiversity)?

Questions 2
What are the features of FLOSS communities that could be beneficial in education?
How could the FLOSS support model benefit formal education
How could the concept of “re-use”, “collaborative content creation” and “peer review” be translated to formal education
What are the barriers or obstacles to a FLOSS-like approach in education?
What are the similarities and differences between FLOSS and education communities?
Are there characteristics found in both virtual and face to face communities?
Are there examples of formal educational environments similar to FLOSS communities?
When is this useful /applicable in higher education?

Feel like contributing?
Join in and contribute to the project and bring in first hand information.
Discuss, analyse and evaluate the differences between informal learning environments, like FLOSS communities and formal educational settings.
Assist us in examining the effectiveness of a FLOSS-like learning community in a formal educational setting.
Help us to identify ways of transferring some of the underlying FLOSS principles to formal education.
Point out existing examples in education and examine why these do not provide the types of constructivist learning environments observed in FLOSS communities.
Provide any examples of formal educational environments similar to FLOSS communities.

FLOSSCom Tools Survey
We are also currently running a survey
( http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dfxjbdxs_36f8b223 )
In the case you find some minutes we would be certainly glad to have you participating
It is conveniently accessible through www.flosscom.net
FLOSSCom Tools Survey

Promote the Summer University! Help us to get the word through! Get the flyer, circulate it, raise awareness, be active! Get the flyer here: FLOSSCom Summer University Flyer - PDF http://flosscom.net/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=101&Itemid=116 FLOSSCom Summer University Flyer - JPG http://flosscom.net/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=55&Itemid=116

And finally the second: Feel like adding something? Disagree? Fine! Be invited to contribute to this document! Contact: [email_address] or [email_address]

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Learning the Open Source Way Summer University 2007

by Andreas Meiszner on Jun 29, 2007

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