Software Engineering Students & Open Source development

A hello to all at this list!

We are currently piloting an =93open=94 approach for the course =93Introd=
uction to Software Engineering=94 (ISE) at Aristotle University in Greece=
, aimed at bringing together Aristotle students, students from fellow uni=
versities, open source practitioners and anyone else interested in SE.=20

To facilitate the students entrance to open source projects we are now tr=
ying to organize some live events for Jan / Feb 2008 (chats, video sessio=
ns or pod casts at ustream) that would introduce the students to some asp=
ects relevant to working in open source environments.

Therefore I wondered if anyone here might be interested in chairing one o=
f those live events and to talk (A) about a open source project he/she is=
 engaged at and provide some information on experiences and challenges, w=
ays to contribute to it, etc and (B) about a more generic topic relevant =
for =93newbies=94 (e.g. =93understanding the code=94, etc).=20

For this ISE course we set up an experimental open learning space (http:/=
/www.netgeners.net/index.php?option=3Dcom_content&task=3Dview&id=3D39&Ite=
mid=3D92) to facilitate the students work and to provide a central meetin=
g point for the different stakeholders.=20

What we would like to achieve with this is to bring together open source =
development & software engineering education =96 means to create a win / =
win scenario by allowing students to gain practical skills (plus some sof=
t skills) meanwhile contributing to an open source project.=20

The ISE course has app. 160 students per semester and the students are su=
pposed to carry out a project work within a open source project, contribu=
ting to this open source project in one out of three ways: 1. to identify=
 (and fix) bugs, 2. to contribute to the code, or 3. to draft / improve t=
he requirement specification documentation.=20

In the case you would know people from other open source projects that mi=
ght also be interested in chairing a live event I would be glad if you co=
uld circulate this mail.=20

Hope someone here might find this of interest!

Tips or hints to similar initiatives are more than welcome!

Best Regards=20

Andreas Meiszner
--=20

With kind regards,
Mit freundlichen Gr=FC=DFen
Com os melhores cumprimentos

Andreas  Meiszner
_________________________________________
Institute of Educational Technology

The Open University
Milton Keynes
MK7 6AA
United Kingdom



---------------------------------
The Open University is incorporated by Royal Charter (RC 000391), an exem=
pt charity in England & Wales and a charity registered in Scotland (SC 03=
8302).