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Open Source Education

The Open Source Initiative (OSI) actively promotes open source software by educating developers, decision makers, and users about the advantages of open source software and collaboration techniques. OSI's board members are active in the core open source development communities as well as in government, academic and industry circles. As part of the OSI's mandate on education, board members present about open source technologies, collaboration and community at conferences and seminars across the world. Board members have also conducted workshops for engineering and mathematics teachers on open source techniques and technologies.

OSI's Education Committee focuses on the use and teaching of open source software in the educational context, from high school through graduate and post-graduate levels. The Education Committee is responsible for developing, arranging, and conducting educational conferences, programs, courses of instruction, and online educational seminars covering open source software, licensing, and communities.

The committee chairperson is Alolita Sharma and the members are Dr. Tony Wasserman, Dr. Fabio Kon, Mr. Harshad Gune, Mr. Andrew C. Oliver, and Ms. Nnenna Nwakanma. Additionally, the members of osi-edu-discuss at opensource.org are also members of this committee.

Sections

  1. Presentations developed by OSI on Open Source
  2. Seminars, Talks and Workshops at International Conferences by OSI
  3. Open Source Conferences and Education Seminars Organized by OSI Board Members
  4. Other Open Source Education Courses by OSI
  5. OSI's Education Project and Ways to Participate
  6. Other Ongoing Education Projects

Presentations developed by OSI on Open Source

  1. Learn About Open Source - An Introduction to Open Source at 20000 feet, December 2008, Alolita Sharma

Seminars, Talks and Workshops at International Conferences by OSI


Please note this is a partial list of talks, workshops and seminars conducted by OSI.

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

Open Source Conferences and Education Seminars Organized by OSI Board Members


  • IDLELO, Africa

    A free and open source conference organized by FOSSFA since 2004 under the leadership of Nnenna Nwakanma, a FOSS advocate and OSI board observer. IDLELO 1 was held in 2004, IDLELO 2 in 2006, IDLELO 3 in 2008 and IDLELO 4 in 2010.

  • GNUnify, Pune

    An annual open source conference primarily for educators, students, teachers and users of open source software. This conference is organized by Harshad Gune, OSI board member and assistant professor at Symbiosis Institute for Computer Studies and Research (SICSR) since 2004. The conference conducts open source technology talks and hands-on workshops for hundreds of attendees in Pune, India.

  • LinuxAsia Conference and Expo, New Delhi

    An annual international open source business conference for Indian industry, government and academia to network and learn about trends and technology in open source. This 3 day conference was co-founded and organized by Alolita Sharma from 2003-2007, OSI board member and open source advocate.

  • An Evening with the Gurus, Mumbai

    This 1 day seminar on open source, open data, open standards was organized in 2006 at IIT Bombay by Alolita Sharma, OSI board member and open source advocate.


Other Education Courses by OSI Board Members


  • Linux awareness course, Pune

    This 1-week program is taught by OSI board member, Mr. Harshad Gune in association with the Pune Linux Users Group (PLUG) to promote FOSS awareness and train users to use Linux desktops. This affordable program was started in January 2004 and is targeted for small business owners, non-profits and individuals.

  • Programming on Linux with C, shell scripting and awk, Pune

    This course is taught by OSI board member, Mr. Harshad Gune at Symbiosis Institute for Computer Studies and Research (SICSR), Pune.


OSI's Education Project and Ways to Participate


OSI's Education project was started in 2009 and is part of OSI's Education committee's initiatives. It has the following objectives:

1. Help provide a neutral platform to facilitate interaction between educators and open source projects.
2. Help promote open source technologies and methods in education.
3. Help develop open source reference curricula for high schools, colleges, universities and adult education.
4. Help promote sharing of open source curricula and related resources among interested parties.

We welcome all educators, open source collaborators and friends, to participate in helping the OSI spread open source in education. To facilitate this exchange, the OSI education project also maintains a mailing list (osi-edu-discuss) where a global community of educators, faculty members, FOSS advocates and developers discuss issues and solutions in open source education. A wiki is also being set up to build a long-term repository of open source education resources and other information.

If you're an open source contributor already in software or in education or are interested in teaching and spreading open source in education, the OSI wants you to join its efforts. Sign up on the OSI Education project mailing list, introduce yourself and participate. If you need any other information you can contact the OSI board at osi at opensource.org.

Other Ongoing Education Projects Supported by the OSI


  • OSI co-organizing POSSE in Silicon Valley from July 6-10, 2010: The Open Source Initiative (OSI) is proud to support POSSE along with Red Hat and has helped organize this camp in Silicon Valley, California from July 6-10, 2010. Faculty members and instructors from universities, community colleges and high-schools involved in teaching open source software development are invited to attend this camp in Mountain View, California. Registration is free for all instructors teaching software development in academic institutions.
  • OSI signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Korea Software Copyright Committee (SOCOP). According to the MOU, OSI will share its knowledge and expertise with SOCOP and support them in their education efforts related to open source. Read more here.
  • OSI board member, Mr. Harshad Gune is in the process of setting up a "Centre of Excellence for Open Source" at Symbiosis Institute for Computer Studies and Research (SICSR). Under this initiative, Mr. Gune is tasked to develop a road map for evaluating and using open source technologies to build in-house administrative tools.