Engaging Students in Open Source: Establishing FOSS Development at a University

Matthias Müller, Christian Schindler, Wolfgang Slany

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference paperpeer-review

Abstract

Open source is widely used for educational purposes in higher education around the world. While many educators use open source resources for teaching, there seems to be few contributions to such projects of students as part of their university courses. In this work we present our experience on establishing open source development from student contributors as part of their university curriculum. Since 2010 more than 300 students from Graz University of Technology have been involved in the presented Catrobat project and have gained knowledge about agile software development as well as several related domains, e.g., project management, marketing, or graphical design. In this paper we provide detailed insights into the project’s organization and evaluate in a study how students feel in this setting. As we conclude, bringing open source to university courses is an effective practical approach based on social learning and provides benefits for students and researchers.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of the 52nd Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences
Pages7721-7730
Number of pages10
ISBN (Electronic)978-0-9981331-2-6
Publication statusPublished - 8 Jan 2019
EventHawaii International Conference on System Sciences - Wailea, United States
Duration: 8 Jan 201911 Jan 2019
Conference number: 52

Conference

ConferenceHawaii International Conference on System Sciences
Abbreviated titleHICSS
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityWailea
Period8/01/1911/01/19

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