Engagement Models in Education-Oriented H/FOSS Projects

Abstract

Engaging students in free and open source (FOSS) projects can provide significant curricular benefits but is known to be challenging for both students and faculty. This paper reports on our efforts to mitigate these challenges through the creation and use of Education-Oriented H/FOSS (Humanitarian FOSS or FOSS) projects - authentic open source projects consciously designed and managed to facilitate student and faculty engagement. We describe four active Education-Oriented H/FOSS projects and introduce a framework for illustrating different models of H/FOSS engagement. The framework is used to structure a discussion of the considerations and trade-offs of different engagement models, and highlights particular models that have been used to engage students and faculty in our four Education-Oriented H/FOSS projects. The framework positions projects along dimensions of professor involvement, responsibility for project hosting/management, mode of student knowledge and skill acquisition, and the curricular engagement goals. In doing so it broadly captures trade-offs that exist between the level of institutional resources used and the level of student independence required. It is anticipated this framework and the discussion that it organizes will be useful to faculty a) in evaluating the appropriateness of particular H/FOSS projects for use in their courses and curriculum and b) as guidance to those considering the creation of new Education-Oriented H/FOSS projects.