POSSE

Professional Development for Instructors Interested in Student Participation in Humanitarian Free and Open Source Software

POSSE Overview

POSSE is the Professors' Open Source Software Experience. POSSEs provide professional development for instructors interested in student participation in Humanitarian Free and Open Source Software (HFOSS)

What is POSSE?

POSSE began as an outreach effort by Red Hat, Inc. to the higher education community. The goal was to help instructors learn about free and open source software (FOSS) so that they could incorporate FOSS into their courses. A description of the first POSSE workshops is contained here

The first workshops were held in summer, so the POSSE acronym was adopted to stand for: Professor's Open Source Summer Experience.

Later workshops have been held in other seasons, so the POSSE acronym has been re-interpreted to stand for: Professor's Open Source Software Experience.

One professor's observations on their POSSE experience from June 2016.

What is HFOSS?

HFOSS stands for Humanitarian Free and Open Source Software. It is an acronym used to refer to the large and growing collection of open source projects that have some social benefit as their primary reason for existence. This includes projects that seek to address aspects of healthcare, disaster management, accessibility assistance, economic development, education, and other areas of social need.

HFOSS target areas can also be understood in terms of the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals. The UN recognizes the essential role of open source software in achieving these goals, and uses the generic term "digital public goods" to cover HFOSS and also open data resources.

A growing group of faculty are exploring the learning and motivational potential of student participation in HFOSS projects.

POSSE and HFOSS Together

POSS has evolved substantially over the years and continues to be revised to reflect the changing role of open source and priorities in computing education. The current version of POSSE benefits from support provided by the National Science Foundation, and support for particular activities provided by Red Hat and Google. POSSE has been revised and extended to create a more complete path for instructors. It includes technical topics related to open source and also pedagogical and curricular considerations. The approach to delivery uses online learning to support introductory preparation by participants combined with a face-to-face workshop. Below is a brief outline of the faculty development model which underlies the approach as well as the outline for the two stages.

Faculty Development Model

Experience with POSSEs and with other NSF-funded workshops has highlighted the need for an integrated approach to faculty development that includes both the academic and open source perspectives. We propose a two-track, three-stage model for faculty to learn how to support student participation in HFOSS. The two tracks cover the dual HFOSS and academic content needed to support faculty. Figure 1 provides an overview of the model.

Figure 1. Faculty Development Model for HFOSS Education

Stage 1

The Stage 1 Activities occur during the weeks prior to the face-to-face meeting. Faculty members (participants) work independently and also interact periodically with the POSSE team and other participants in an online environment. These activities are intended to prepare a faculty member to get the most out of the face-to-face workshop. The HFOSS track includes a series of activities on FOSS tools with an emphasis on communication tools as these support entance to the HFOSS communities. The goal is to get faculty familiar with the tools so that they can use them efficiently during the actual workshop. For the academic track, faculty members will be asked to identify places in their curriculum where student participation in HFOSS might be incorporated. These activities are intended to take approximately 10 hours in total and are divided into three two-week stages. Online meetings will be held with groups of participants to answer questions and help guide learning. Faculty members will also be introduced to an HFOSS community during stage 1.

Guidelines for the activities:

Activities completed according to schedule within the six weeks prior to the workshop.
Each activity takes 30-90 minutes requiring 10 hours of work in the four weeks prior to the semester.
Most activities will involve brief reports of results on a wiki.
Online meetings will be used to periodically talk about the results of activities.
The activities are broken down into two-week segments. All activities must be completed within a day or two of the end of the deadline.
More "pre-work" ideas from POSSE may be found here: https://teachingopensource.org/Stage_1_Activities
Look at https://teachingopensource.org/Category:Learning_Activity when creating the activities as learning objectives and good ideas reside here.

Stage 2

A 2+-day face-to-face workshop comprises Stage 2. The workshop is lead by a team of representatives from FOSS organizations and academic POSSE alumni. Participants arrive for an evening meal and intro session on day 1, work all of day 2, work all of day 3 and end the afternoon of day 3. During this time, participants will learn how the material that they had been absorbing prior to the face-to-face event is used in actual FOSS projects. Participants will also learn ways to incorporate that material into their classes and to identify and/or create actual assignments.

POSSEs

Information about recent POSSEs is available here: