From Teaching Open Source

There are more professors than ever hoping to teach the open source development process to their students -- but working in the open source world can be a daunting proposition. Professors themselves have only a limited amount of time to learn about open source, and are often unsure about how, exactly, to get started.

POSSE (Professors' Open Source Summer Experience) is designed for these professors. Sponsored by Red Hat, the POSSE program is a week-long boot camp that will immerse professors in open source projects. Participants spend a week of intensive participation in selected open source projects, led by professors with experience in teaching open source development, in partnership with community members who have deep experience and insight. By the end of the session, participants should have a much better understanding of the workings of open source projects, and a strong network of contacts to lean on as they begin to bring students into the open source world.

Contents 1 Events 1.1 Upcoming POSSEs 1.2 Tentative POSSEs 1.3 Past POSSEs 2 Get involved 2.1 Apply to an upcoming POSSE 2.1.1 Who is eligible? 2.1.2 How do I apply? 2.1.3 When is the deadline? 2.1.4 When will I find out? 2.1.5 How much does it cost? 2.1.6 What am I committing to? 2.2 Attend a future POSSE 2.3 Organize your own POSSE 2.4 Work with a POSSE class during the school year 2.5 Help build the POSSE program itself 3 Contact

[edit] Events

[edit] Upcoming POSSEs

POSSEs that are actively marketing and soliciting participants - these are POSSEs for which all the planning details are complete, and are guaranteed to happen.

• None at the moment - join the tos mailing list to hear when a new POSSE has been approved.

[edit] Tentative POSSEs

For POSSEs that are in discussion and various stages of planning, but have not opened registration or begun to publicize yet, see Tentative POSSEs.

[edit] Past POSSEs

POSSEs that have been completed.

• POSSE RIT - June 2010, Rochester NY USA (Multidisciplinary focus / Sugar Labs + Fedora)
• POSSE Worcester State - June 2010, Worcester MA USA (Computer Science focus / Sugar Labs + Fedora)
• POSSE APAC - November 2009, Singapore (FOSS fundamentals and Computer Science focus / Fedora)
• POSSE 2009 - July 2009, Raleigh, NC USA (Computer Science focus / Fedora + Mozilla)

There is also a list of POSSE Alumni with all the professors who have attended a past POSSE event.

To read firsthand accounts of what a POSSE is like, check out the POSSE Blogs.

[edit] Get involved

If you like the idea of more professors teaching open source, we need your help! Check the list below if there's something you're interested in helping with; if you have ideas for something not on this list or are interested in helping out but don't know where to start, drop into the #teachingopensource-posse IRC channel on Freenode or email posse@teachingopensource.org and we'll find a way for you to get involved. We're looking for ideas, feedback, and input, and every question you ask helps us make the next POSSE even better, so please ask!

[edit] Apply to an upcoming POSSE

Applications are now being accepted for Summer 2010 POSSEs.

[edit] Who is eligible?

If you are directly responsible for instructing undergraduates in the classroom (in any discipline) you are eligible to attend a POSSE. This typically means professors or instructors, but grad students who are teaching their own classes can also apply.

[edit] How do I apply?

It's as simple as sending an email.

To apply to a POSSE, send answers to the following 10 questions to posse AT teachingopensource.org with subject line "POSSE Application". It's simple on purpose - this shouldn't take more than 30m or so to complete. This is mostly to help us get an idea of class composition so we can balance things out between schools and disciplines and give instructors a heads-up to prepare.

1. Name
2. Email
3. Institution
4. What do you teach? (Optional: link to your faculty homepage.)
5. Why do you want to come? (3-8 sentences)
6. What do you want to get out of POSSE? (3-8 sentences)
7. What do you think you will contribute to the classroom? (3-8 sentences)
8. What prior experience (if any) do you have with open source? (3-8 sentences, or an URL)
9. Which POSSE session(s) you can attend, in order of preference, with any schedule restrictions
10. Any other notes?

[edit] When is the deadline?

Applications for POSSE are accepted on a rolling basis, with the cutoff date for a specific POSSE session being 1 month in advance of its start date. However, registrations tend to fill up quickly, so we recommend applying by May 1st, 2010 for the Summer 2010 round.

[edit] When will I find out?

Since applications are accepted on a rolling basis, you will usually find out about your application status within 1 week of sending it in.

[edit] How much does it cost?

There is no application fee, nor is there a fee to attend POSSE. Instruction and all materials are provided. Attendees are responsible for their own lodging and travel arrangements, incidentals and expenses, and (in most cases - some locations may provide computers) bringing their own laptops to work on.

[edit] What am I committing to?

Applying to a POSSE is not a commitment to attend that POSSE; we will ask you to confirm and commit to your attendance once you are accepted, as a courtesy to other professors looking to attend the same session.

Participants must be able to stay for the entire week - mornings and afternoons from Monday through Thursday, dinner on Thursday night, and Friday before lunch. There will be homework to do on Monday through Thursday evenings, and having internet access during those evenings will be extremely helpful. If you can only stop by for a little while, consider coordinating with the organizer for the POSSE near you regarding how you can come visit as a guest.

After the POSSE session ends on Friday, there is no further commitment required, though we certainly hope you'll continue engaging with the open source and Teaching Open Source communities, and will provide many resources and opportunities for you to do so.

[edit] Attend a future POSSE

Are you a professor who can't make this year's POSSE, but would love to attend one in the future? Do you know a professor who should attend? Join the mailing list and introduce yourself and what you work on, and mention that you'd like to attend a future POSSE; discussions about upcoming POSSEs will be held on that list, and calls for planning and participation will be held there as well. If you only want to be notified when future POSSEs are scheduled and announced, email posse@teachingopensource.org with the subject line "Attend a future POSSE" and we will let you know when upcoming POSSE events are coming up.

[edit] Organize your own POSSE

If you are interested in organizing or helping with a POSSE at your location, or are curious about what might be involved in such an undertaking, join the mailing list and send an email to the list with the subject "I'd like to plan a POSSE." In that email, introduce yourself and let us know when and where you're thinking of running your POSSE and what questions you have, and we'll be glad to talk with you about the process. There are also POSSE office hours on IRC you can drop by.

In general, POSSEs are planned at least 4 months - typically 6 months to a year - in advance of the date they run. We are also writing a guide on HOWTO plan a POSSE - it is under construction, but may be a helpful resource for people looking to learn about what's involved.

[edit] Work with a POSSE class during the school year

We've got entire college classrooms full of active students looking for projects, and particularly need...

• Open source software projects that would like an entire university class of contributors for a whole semester, and can provide a dedicated liason and project mentors
• Open source contributors to serve as mentors, reviewers, and guides to student teams throughout the semester - help people join the project you work on!
• Users of open source software who need development support to help a tool better fit your needs - for instance, are you a teacher who needs a FIrefox plugin for your ESL students? A nonprofit organization that wants to distribute custom Fedora LiveCDs to your field offices? A student who'd like to be able to use TurtleArt to do geometry homework? Our classes need adventurous users who can give good, rapid feedback on their work throughout the semester.

If you're interested, join the mailing list and introduce yourself and what you're looking to help with, and we'll get back to you right away.

[edit] Help build the POSSE program itself

The design and implementation of POSSE as a whole is an open project - we try to be as radically transparent as possible about what we're doing and why, and welcome anyone to join in. See POSSE program design for conversations about this, and how to get started.

[edit] Contact

For more information about POSSE, email us at posse@teachingopensource.org.

In the meantime, these resources may be helpful.

• Wiki: POSSE is using the TeachingOpenSource wiki space. Please feel free to edit any of these pages. If you're creating new pages, please prefix the page title with "POSSE".
• IRC: The #teachingopensource-posse channel on FreeNode will be used for POSSE-specific IRC communication. Participants are encouraged to join the larger TeachingOpenSource community in the #teachingopensource channel as well.
• Mailing list: The Teaching Open Source mailing list is a good place for POSSE-related discussion.