Talk:POSSE Followup

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This consists mostly of old notes from May/June discussions about POSSE followup.

Contents

[edit] Old notes

Follow-up plans:

  1. Integrate participants into the relevant open source communities as well as the community of open source profs.
  2. Weekly or biweekly IRC or phone meetings through the fall to support first steps?
  3. Get participants to TOSS09. Perhaps one of the panel sessions should be a discussion among the POSSE attendees about POSSE and their subsequent experience starting an OS course? (they'll be halfway through the fall semester).
  4. Make sure everyone answers this question over the course of the year: How do you build community surrounding open-source projects, especially in the dynamic/episodic environment of an academic department? (from Matt Jadud)
  5. POSSE profs panel at TOS


[edit] Assumptions

...which may very well be wrong. Patches welcome.

  • RH/Mozilla/etc. aren't going to make direct $$$ from POSSE, and that's ok.
  • POSSE builds the RH/Moz/various-OSS-projects brands, esp. among future potential contributors and future employees in partner/customer institutions. Sales to uni IT systems aren't a direct target.
  • POSSE build catalysts (look, a buzzword!) who are specifically not under the control of any company or org. By catalysts, we mean not (just) profs -- profs are catalyst-makers. Students are catalysts.
  • POSSE/TOS/RH/Moz/etc markets the work these catalysts are doing to "the world" -- especially academia ("this is a great way to teach, research") and industry ("hire these people, don't they rock?")

[edit] Potential Goals

Potential goals for followup between July 2009 and July 2010

1. Each POSSE prof identifies, recruits, and mentors 1-3 POSSE profs for the next summer's camp;

2. at least 3 POSSEs on at least 2 continents, (summer '10) each headed by a POSSE alumni, at least 50% of the instructors also POSSE alumni (less RH investment)

3. POSSE 2.0 profs subsidized by their unis (institutional buy-in);

4. POSSE 2.0 profs elected by their students;

5. Each POSSE 2.0 prof has a gang of students working w/then on curriculum for the summer;

6. 100% course kickass success ratio (as measured by the "zomg offer this course again" student feedback metric and how many students sign up to help run the course the next year as voluntary TAs or otherwise);

7. 100% of courses covereed in at least local student media outlets (publicly available articles);

8. 100% of courses documented well enough to be independently reproduced. This could mean: 

 9.  Prof takes sabbatical to help another
     prof at another school teach the class;

 10. Prof publishes (with RH help?) a journal
     or transactions article on the course,
     linking to materials;

 11. Prof runs workshop or presents in conference
     the methods + results of the course;

 12. Class produces first version of a standalone,
     self-teaching textbook as a result;

13. 100% of classes remain contractable in July '10, not necessarily thru original POSSE prof;

14. 100% of classes publicly reflect on their failures, and this is a student-driven feedback process;

15. At least 50% of classes have at least 50% of their students' projects/work presented by the students to audiences external to their classmates;

16. And I'm sure there's more winnowing and prioritizing to be done;

17. At least 25% of students across all POSSE classes will continue to contribute to OSS during summer '10;

18. At least 1 person in each POSSE profs' school is a RH contact (Fedora ambassador?)

[edit] Potential action items

mapped to each goal above.

I. 

 * At the end of session, get profs to recommend their friends;

 * Make followup (during '09-'10 school year) for POSSE 1.0 profs
   side by side w/ POSSE 2.0 potential participants;

 * Have profs blog during the week so we have "journal-of-what-
   it's-like" materials to show next year's prospects;

        * Incentivize mentoring w/recognition (and maybe cover material
   funding, stipends, swag?  What motivates profs and makes things
   easy for them?) (What are our prof demographics? Do they have
   tenure? What depts?)

 * RH funded/hosted end-of-term parties (possibly via party kits)
   for each class to which profs are especially invited and encouraged
   to apply.

II. 

 * Identify POSSE instructors + profs who could run POSSE 2.0
   and tap them as leaders by the end of Friday -- take at least
   1/2 the last day to plan POSSE 2.0;

 * Find locations for POSSE 2.0 by mid-Aug (possibly near RH
   offices?  Can RH offer free space + food if people can
   organize POSSE 2.0 more like a BarCamp?)

 * Give all POSSE profs curricular materials so they can run a
   mini-POSSE-barcamp at their home institutions.  Offer to
   help/advise this process (or hook them up with people who can.)
   This should get them practice teaching "POSSE stuff".  (These
   presentations should be recorded.  Can we make sure all profs
   leave w/ easy-to-use tools, even if we need to buy them all
   "upload to YouTube" cameras?)

III. 

 * Calculate cost-per-prof for POSSE 1.0, 2.0

 * Write up value proposition for uni admins / dept heads

 * Offer scholarship

 * Get local companies to sponsor (TOS participant companies?)

IV. 

 * All students create a insert project here account so we can
   contact them;

 * Weekly all-POSSE student meets (or TOS student IRC meetings) for
   aggregated continuing feedback;

 * Course bugtrackers as feedback mechanism?

V. 

 * Find ways to get students sponsored (better: get profs to find
   ways...);

 * Promise mentoring from... instructional designers?

VI. 

 * "We'll get you your dream speaker" promise;

 * Weekly "push" check-in on course students+profs in and by TOS
   member to check if things are ok (excuse: "it's weekly update
   time, what should we tell everyone?)

 * Ensure profs build student renovations into course plan;

VII. 

 * Send press release templates;

 * Push press release templates thru RH PR contacts;

 * Get profs to tell their edu journalism friends (or to get
   the uni PR dept to do so)

 * Aggregate and announce any press coverage that results

VIII. 

 * NO PROF LEAVES POSSE w/o MAILING LIST, WIKI, AND BOT-LOGGED
   IRC CHANNEL!  (and a source repo, and a bugtracker, and a
   workflow/buildbot, if applicable -- what proportion of classes
   will be sw project classes?)

 * "If you make good materials, we'll collect, edit, and publish
   them."  -- Academic street cred ++

IX. 

 * Ask if they know any sabbatical candidates that may want to spend
   a year on an OSS project;

X. 

 * Talk w/ academic publishers and profs who know more about the
   publishing process;

XI. 

 * Send opportunities to do so regularly to the mailing list;

 * Offer travel funding?

XII. 

 * "If you make it, we'll subsidize a Lulu print run so all the
   authors have a hard copy."

XIII. 

 * Make sure each class has a TOS contact weekly during course term,
   monthly during course non-terms;

 * Have the "contact" be on a class mailing list, not an individual;

 * If prof is hosed, encourage graceful transfer of duties;

XIV. 

 * Provide feedback fora (online bugtrackers, on-campus gatherings
   with pizza, whatever else feels most comfortable) and neutral
   mediator access;

 * Lead by example: collect feedback (and feedback on feedback methods)
   throughout POSSE, on POSSE

 * Applaud bug reports and try to commit at least one patch to
   each class;

XV. 

 * Provide presentation templates;

 * Provide presentation training (materials?);

 * Provide presentation audiences from corporate world;

XVI. 

 * Ask people to lengthen and comment on this list;

XVII. 

 * INTERNSHIP OPPORTUNITIES!!!!

[edit] Unanswered questions

  • Where is the POSSE convo? (Fedora? TOS?)
  • Stakeholders?
  • What does {RH, Moz, other stakeholder groups} want out of this?
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