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What does learning in Free / Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) feel like?

(Click "Edit" at the top of this page to edit and add your opinion - You'll find help at the end of the edit page...)

Introduction

Main concern of this part are the learning experiences in FLOSS, as perceived by the participants in FLOSS projects. In order to arrange our thoughts, a list of guiding questions is provided below:

1. Do you believe there is learning in FLOSS?

2. Do you consider there is a kind of teaching in FLOSS projects?

3. Do you believe there is educational technology in FLOSS?

4. Do you believe there is educational material in FLOSS?

5. Do you believe you can experience a learning experience by participating at a FLOSS community?

6. Do you consider the learning outcomes from such a learning experience as valuable?

7. Which factors do you consider as encouraging learning in FLOSS?

8. Which factors do you consider as discouraging learning in FLOSS?

9. Is learning in FLOSS “better” than in a “traditional” class?

10. How is learning in FLOSS different from learning in a school/university?

11. Some factors, which facilitate learning in FLOSS are applicable in formal education?

12. Some factors, which hinder learning in FLOSS are present in formal education as well?

* We would like to listen to your voice. Please provide the number of the question together with your opinion / thought / view.

* Add new questions - please make sure that they do not belong to one of the already stated categories above!

* Feel free to add at ANY section below your contribution to the discussion on this domain.

* However, don't forget to add references (if you have any) at the last section "Notes and references"!

Thanks (Athanasis Karoulis - moderator of this part)

Main Part

To clarify and help, we repeat here the questions, together with some explanations. ADD YOUR COMMENTS AT EVERY QUESTION.

1. Do you believe there is learning in FLOSS? General question – introductory, just to provoke some thoughts… However, feel free to comment on it!

- Learning is more informal. At ones own pace one can learn.

- Learning definitely takes place inside FLOSS communities and this happens in a number of different ways. Although there is no formal learning process (such as courses, assignments, tutoring e.t.c) participants do learn by observing other developers, especially if they regard them as superior. A participant can learn how to write better code by observing and also experimenting with existent code. They can also learn how to solve specific issues if they are archived in mailing lists or they pose a new question. Even if not coding, there is a lot to be learned regarding how online communities work and evolve and how collective projects behave. A participant can be as active as they decide and that will affect the intensity and the effectiveness of their learning experience.

2. Do you consider there is a kind of teaching in FLOSS projects? If there is learning, there must be teaching as well, or? What is your position?

- The joint knowledge of community members is the "teacher" in this case.

- There is indeed a kind of teaching inside FLOSS projects. On the one hand when a new developer is accepted as part of the core developer team of a FLOSS project they code under the guidance of a mentor that is assigned to them and reviews their work. On the other hand all learning and teaching in FLOSS is based on examples. Thus, the more experienced developers teach the newer ones by their example (be that the way they write code or their behavior and etiquette). Teaching is FLOSS is not formally organized and clearly delegated but if a participant wants to learn he/she can find sources, systems or persons to serve that role and facilitate the learning process.

3. Do you believe there is educational technology in FLOSS? This is the new trend – education must be supported and scaffolded by technology. Is it the case here? In more detail: the technology used in FLOSS can be characterized as “educational”?

- As long as the technology enhances learning, I think it can be deemed "educational".

4. Do you believe there is educational material in FLOSS?

- Every educational activity needs study material: books, audio-visual material, external resources. In other words: the material available at a FLOSS project, can it be characterized as “educational”, in other words as appropriate for educational purposes? Of course. All these materials belong to the building blocks for learning, with students determioning what learning style is best in what case.

5. Do you believe you can experience a “learning experience” by participating at a FLOSS community? Or is it simple a participation to a project. You develop code, documentation, test the software – but can all this be characterized as a “learning activity”?

6. Do you consider the learning outcomes from such a learning experience as valuable? What you learn is in the framework of this particular project. However learning implies a more “deeper” understanding of the domain under consideration. In other words: do you feel you covered the field? Can you generalize? Are you ready to continue on your own in similar projects?

7. Which factors do you consider as encouraging learning in FLOSS? What helps you learn? In other words, when you have difficulties, where do you seek solution? Not only documentation! It is claimed that there are many helping resources – we want your experience here…

8. Which factors do you consider as discouraging learning in FLOSS? What was the most difficult part to understand and work upon? What stopped you? Where you wanted to learn, but didn’t know how and by what means?

9. Is learning in FLOSS “better” than in a “traditional” class? It is a vague question. The general impression is asked here. Imagine the way you learned in a class and compare it to the way you learned in FLOSS.

10. How is learning in FLOSS different from learning in a school/university? Subsequent question. After thinking of the general impression, try to distinguish differentiations between both models. What separates the two models absolutely?

11. Some factors, which facilitate learning in FLOSS are applicable in formal education? Now, we have to pinpoint distinct factors, among those stated before, which can be applied in formal settings (traditional education).

12. Some factors, which hinder learning in FLOSS are present in formal education as well? The same question, on the oposite side. Factors which represent obstacles in FLOSS learning, are also present in formal education? Pinpoint them!

Advantages

What works well

Criticism

What does not work that well, what needs to be improved, etc.

Examples

Including practical activities

How could it work in education?

Translation of FLOSS principles to education

Summary / Resume

What have we learned here?

Questions

Aspects to be answered

See also

Internal and external links to related resources

Notes and references

Resources used, literature, etc

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