The document discusses several pilot studies conducted with university students participating in free/libre open source software (FLOSS) projects. In the first pilot study, 13 students tested 16 FLOSS projects and found 78 bugs, reporting 68 with 43 replies. 10 bugs were fixed by the community and 5 by students. A second pilot involved 24 students testing and coding on 18 projects. 20 bugs were fixed by communities and 3 by students. Two students created and hosted a game project. A third larger pilot involved 36 students testing, requirements analysis, and coding across 51 projects. Students reported over 100 bugs and received many replies. Some students became active long-term contributors. The pilots found FLOSS participation provided

1. Pilot studies relevant to learning in FLOSS Sulayman K. Sowe < [email_address] > Dept. of Informatics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki FLOSSCom project team & NetGeners.Net participants FKFT Free Knowledge, Free Technology Education for a free information society First International Conference, Barcelona July 15th to 17th 2008

2. In this presentation.... FLOSS Educational Context FLOSS Educational Model R(E)volution in Teaching & Learning Pilot Studies: Experience from Aristotle Univ. Brief history Framework for Teaching and Learning Some Results & Discussions Lessons Learnt Perspectives from the FLOSScom Project Many meanings: Free Software ( FS ) – FSF; Open Source Software ( OSS ) – OSI, Free and Open Source, Open Source ( OS ), Software ( F/OSS ), Libre Software ( LS ), Free/Libre/Open Source Software ( FLOSS ) .

3. FLOSS Educational Context Source code is open and free: Access to large code base and professional programmers. Variety of domains/software/Projects. Large, Vibrant, and diverse Communities: There is more than one bazaar of learning. Geographically distributed individuals with diverse skills & experience Communication, coordination, and public knowledge: More than one means of communication (Lists, Forums, IM, IRC)-24/7. Archives of past and present knowledge (revisit, re-learn, feedback), Knowledge is constructed from multiplicity of viewpoints and experiences. Some Problems: Too many projects and communities. Steep learning curves for some technologies . “ Noise”, Flame-wars, feuds, delays in replies to questions/queries, Lack f2f contact Pedagogical challenge: How to equip students with “information filters”….skills needed to navigate information spaces, find the right/interesting material, etc

4. FLOSS Educational Model FLOSS development is more than a paradigm shift in the way software is being developed, maintained, and supported. FLOSS communities are open and participatory learning ecosystems (OPLE). FLOSS projects are bazaars of learning: a meaningful learning context in which students can be exposed to real-world software development. Viable educational model, characterized as the “Outside Approach” of learning in a FLOSS-like environment by FLOSScom. net

6. Results and Discussions: Pilot 1 13 students testers in 16 FLOSS projects foudn 78 bugs, reported 68, and got 43 replies. Main activity was to find and report bugs. However, 10 bugs reported by students were fixed by programming community. 5 bugs fixed by students themselves. 3 students participated in localization. Translating documents from English to Greek. First experience with .po files for the first time.

7. Results and Discussion: Pilot 2 24 students in 18 different projects Testing: 22 students 20 bugs fixed by community, 3 by students. Coding: 2 students Initiated and hosted a 2D game .“MarioSource” at Sourceforge.net http://sourceforge.net/projects/mariosource/ Status Pre-Alpha, sourceforge Activity Percentile = 44.42

8. Results and Discussion: Pilot 3 36 students in 51 different projects Testing: 12 students reported 134 bugs, got 190 replies 4 students got above mean replies with student No. 7 recording 72 replies for his 24 bugs in his 3 projects ( inspircd, Freebsd, and Wordpress) Requirements Analysis: 21 students Template provided 3 incomplete 18 completed (12 accepted and published by project, 4 (in Greek) accepted but not published, 2 accepted by project admin but not published) Coding: 3 students 1 active contributor to pulseaudio (Ubuntu 8.04) and other sound output modules. Posts tips on configuration. 2 Initiated and hosted the webtooy project; a desktop client application for many Web 2.0 services with open APIs. Originally hosted at http://www.codeplex.com/webtooy then moved to http://sourceforge.net/projects/webtooy/

9. Lessons Learnt - 1: Students perspectives Students said: - Very interesting experience - Realistic conditions - Found something new, projects, software, etc. - Experiencing dual-boot (Linux-Windows) - Know the people behind their software and 'talk' to them - Freedom, work when and wherever they want - Select their own choice of learning, project - See their contribution appreciated and online in projects - Encouragement from people they don't know For some student: - Finding an interesting project was hard - Software was not running as expected - Community was not responsive. - Anxiety syndrome: “will I get good grades?” - Extra effort needed before starting. For us running the pilots: Discovered and Learnt new software, projects, skills Dealing with large number of emails or queries Spending considerable time online as “Internet-Based Facilitators” or IBFs

10. Perspectives from the FLOSScom Project The NetGeners.Net study is another kind of pilot study championed by the FLOSScom project

11. Information & Resources: FLOSScom Project: http://flosscom.net/index.php NetGeners: http://www.netgeners.net/ Pilot Studies, ELMS: http://sweng.csd.auth.gr/eclass/claroline/document/document.php Andreas Meiszner, Rüdiger Glott, Sulayman K. Sowe (2008). Free/Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) Communities as an Example of successful Open Participatory Learning Ecosystems. UPGRADE, The European Journal for the Informatics Professional. Andreas Meiszner, Rüdiger Glott, Sulayman K. Sowe (2008). Preparing the Ne(x)t Generation: Lessons learnt from Free/Libre Open Source Software. In 4th International Barcelona Conference on Higher Education: Vol. 2. Knowledge technologies for social transformation. Sulayman K. Sowe. I. Stamelos (2008). Involving Software Engineering Students in Open Source Software Projects: Experiences from a Pilot Study, Journal of Information Systems Education (JISE), Vol. 18 (4), pp: 425-435. More references available from the authors. Thank you for your kind attention ! Questions? Comments? Suggestions?