Workshop Notes

Course development: Free and Open Software Development

The FOSS participants will:

Develop a masters program description with program outcomes and list of coursesIdentify who will do what by whenDraft course descriptionsFor each course, articulate:

Learning outcomesKey topics or content areasLearning tasks, activities, reading materials, etc.Learning assessmentsFeedback mechanisms

Academic aspectsCompetency requirements

Each node

Research aspects

Business aspects

Business aspectsTechnical aspectsDigital mediaIntroduction to FOSS20 credits, InternshipsFor each node, size, supervisors3 students/supervsior

Name of degree: Masters in Computer Science

with specialization in FOSS

Distributed masters??

1. UMU - M.Sc in Computer Science1. Add to existing program; by offering electives in

FOSS (no students)

2. NUR - M.Sc in ICT, 2 specializations, of which 1 in software engineering (40 students)

3. UoN - M.Sc in Applied CS (150 students)4. UWC - MSc as part of CS (by thesis) (25

students)5. JOSS - no masters6. UDSM - MSc (10 students)

Decisions made

Each university to offer their own degree; follow their admission requirements;

NO additional admission requirements

QUESTION:

1 Common masters with common set of requirements or core set of courses (5 yes, UWC NO) OR

6 masters with access to a common set of courses or electives

At the end of the masters degree program, the student will be able to

do the ff in relation to FOSS:Listen, design, discuss, implement, test, refine and write-up free and open source software projectsApply FOSS in/to the local contextDevelop a business planCollaborate in an international environmentPresent and review FOSS activities and projects Develop commercial-quality software solutions Lead FOSS projects and servicesConduct themselves professionally and ethically

During the program students will:

Go through the engineering cycle at least ten times (AS A STUDENT)Conceptualize a research question and develop a solutionParticipate actively in collaborative software development??????more

Year 1Introduction to Development of Free and Open SoftwareChoice 1: From the list belowChoice 2: From the list belowChoice 3: From the list belowPracticum@the node: Application of Software Development Skills

Year 2Introduction to Business and Legal Issues of Free and Open SoftwareChoice 4: From the list belowChoice 5: From the list belowProject Implementation and Thesis Writing SeminarFinal Project and Thesis

Introduction to Development of Free and Open Software (1 unit):

Suggested course pre-requisite: proficiency in computer programming.

Learning outcome. The student will be able to use efficiently the environment and

tools needed for both the practicum and the final project.Topics:

Computer software development concepts and tools necessary for the development of software in this environment. System administration (add to program goal maybe)Software design; Systems design??

Activities: installing Linux, designing and developing a small application (text filter, DB interface, address book, etc.)

Practicum (at a node)

Notes: AVOIR listserve is the one room schoolhouse

Application of Software Development Skills (minimum 2 units): This course will require a unit of time developing a pre-approved project. The requirements for this first year practicum will often be working as a member of a team or with a mentor who is more experienced in software development.

The task could be one single stand alone project, but also could be many individual tasks or modules that are part of a larger project. The supervisor will collect weekly logs of what was assigned for that week, what was accomplished that week and an evaluation of any new skills or tools were learned.

Introduction to Business and Legal Issues of Free and Open

Software (1 unit):

Includes the concepts and skills necessary to manage the business and legal aspects of a company that develops and distributes software. This course will likely have speakers from outside who have been active in free and open software design, development and business.

Final Project and Thesis (minimum 2 units)

This course will require the completion of a pre-approved project. This course is different from the first year practicum in that the student, though still may be working on a team, will have a specific portion of the project that is his responsibility.

Illustrative Electives (by track maybe): (1 unit each)

1. Information and Data Security in FOSS, wireless applications (Jos) (UDSM)

2. Programming Mobile Devices (NUR) (UoN)3. Developing and evaluating E-Learning Software (MAK) (UWC/ICS)4. Software Engineering (include requirements engr) for Free and Open

Software (UDSM), include Object Oriented Software Engineering (UoN) (UWC?)

5. Quality Analysis for Software (UDSM) (UWC) (UMU)6. Business and entrepreneurship, include economics of (F)OSS, Talking to

customers about FOSS (UoN) (MAK)7. RDBMS - Relational database, data warehousing, database

administration, data modeling, performance testing (UMU) (Jos) (MAK)8. Distributed web programming, semantic web, API, mash-up?? (UWC)

(NUR) (UWC/ICS)

Questions

Equipment available at a node-- Are these available at other nodes? Can persons travel to node that has equipment?

What is nature of project?Should use FOSS tools for projects

What is responsibility of instructors who take the lead for a course?

Ensure activities are relevantConduct courses in the way we envisaged

Course structureCourse name (to be offered by???)Short course description (about 5 sentences)Learning outcomes (no more than 5)Topics - course contentUnit or Credit value - in total number of hours(breakdown in percent)

Contact with lecturerlab timeExams and tests timeSelf study timeAssignmentsCollaboration time other

Any pre-requisitesTeaching and learning methodologyStudent assessment and grading