Humanitarian Free and Open Source Software (HFOSS) is a category of free and open source software that improves the human condition. HFOSS projects focus on a range of societal needs including microfinance, healthcare, education, and disaster relief. Many HFOSS projects are developed by international teams whose goal is to make the world a better place. These projects are often primarily used in developing nations, but many have been adopted across the world because of the robustness of the software and the ability to contribute to its direction and applications. HFOSS projects have been successfully infused into the computing curriculum at a number of institutions in a range of ways and courses [1]. The benefits of introducing students to HFOSS projects potentially includes improved students learning, increased motivation to study computing, attracting women to computing and increased appreciation of the societal impact of computing. HFOSS projects are an excellent real-world learning environment for a number of reasons: - The altruistic nature of HFOSS makes the community welcoming of new contributors and tolerant of student participation - The ability to help others is a potential draw for women and under-represented minorities - The transparency of HFOSS projects provides artifacts that can use for instructional purposes in the classroom - Students can build a visible portfolio of their contributions to show potential employers. However, determining which project to choose, how to incorporate HFOSS into a class and deciding how to assess students' participation, can be challenging. OpenFE is an NSF-funded project whose goal is to help faculty members introduce their students to HFOSS and become contributing members in HFOSS communities. Faculty typically start with choosing a project, then learning about the chosen project, getting up to speed on the tools and communication used by the project and getting a handle on the work flow. Then faculty members have to figure out how to integrate the project into their existing curriculum and determine how to assess the student performance. The goal of the OpenFE project is to help faculty through the hurdles presented by joining an HFOSS project.
This paper describes student learning within the environment of an HFOSS project that is jointly shared between the GNOME Accessibility Team and three academic institutions. This effort differs from many project-based learning efforts in that the project is shared between the academic participants and the HFOSS community. By involving students in an HFOSS project, learning is started via apprenticeship which allows students to learn from professionals while preparing them for their professional life. Learning within the community of an ongoing FOSS project guides students in the first steps towards understanding the importance of life-long learning as well as providing an initial understanding of the ways in which such learning occurs. The results of a student survey and observations of student reflection papers are discussed.
Studies have shown that the "near peer" experience where students of various levels are jointly involved in co-learning activities can motivate students and support wide learning. Humanitarian Free and Open Source Software (HFOSS) projects have shown promise for educating students using real-world projects within a global, professional community. Leveraging the near peer experience within an HFOSS project allows beginning students to get earlier exposure to large, complex systems while providing the more advanced students the opportunity to practice communication, coordination, and leadership skills. This poster describes initial steps towards the development of an HFOSS project by a mixed team of students of various levels and from three different institutions.
The Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing is the world's largest meeting for women in technology. The Open Source Day, a hackathon using humanitarian free and open source software (HFOSS) projects, has been held in conjunction with the conference for the past seven years. Open Source Day provides an unusal opportunity to survey a large number of women as they contribute to HFOSS projects. More typically, the small number of women computing students makes it difficult to measure the impact of HFOSS participation on women's attitude toward computing. Although geared toward students, the Open Source Day attracts women of all skill levels and backgrounds. This paper reports on a pre/post survey designed to understand women's opinions of HFOSS participation and how those opinions may change when working on a humanitarian project. The results demonstrate HFOSS has widespread appeal among women and that women have interest in humanitarian applications of computing. Our survey participants represented 28 different countries, across age groups, work experience and programming background.
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