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Subject: Re: [kde-promo] KDE Program for a FLOSS-oriented CS curriculum
From: Harold Schreckengost <mewshi () gmail ! com>
Date: 2015-04-30 14:30:03
Message-ID: CAM2FmyxXCBtFkG18vM_dXsyV+59WB3YYoK=pLP_pOBr5ftXGmQ () mail ! gmail ! com
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Oh, I am aware that most institutions leave a lot to be desired. I'm not
saying they're perfect by any means, only that if we want this to succeed,
we need to look from their perspective and their goals, rather than ours.
On Apr 30, 2015 9:16 AM, "Sandro Andrade" <sandroandrade@kde.org> wrote:
> On Wed, Apr 29, 2015 at 8:46 PM, <cetx@straightedgelinux.com> wrote:
> > Sandro,
> >
> > Great idea, I love it. I do wonder what form you imagining this taking?
> > are you thinking of a wiki book or something? or a site with lessons on
> > it?
>
> Well, I still don't have a definitive answer for that, but I think the
> form is
> one of the critical factors for this succeed. People shoud be able to
> easily search for a particular CS topic/subtopic and get one or more
> KDE hacking/analysis scenarios, preferably described using a common
> schema, kept along the whole "catalog". Suggesting some practices
> and/or making the rationale evident would also be a plus.
>
> Sandro
>
> >
> > Either way, as an educator myself, I have some pretty strong opinions on
> > this subject.
> >
> > The idea of teaching open technology as a part of computer networking,
> > or computer programming, or whatever, is an important one and one often
> > dismissed as not relevant because people say things like "well I don't
> > use KDE at my job, so it must be true that no one does". Fact is, the
> > key isn't that we teach KDE, or even Linux: it's that we are teaching
> > people how to learn. With closed technologies, there is by definition a
> > limit to what students are able to learn. So we are implicitly teaching
> > them to take certain things on faith; "don't ask WHY that works; you
> > can't see the code or the configuration, so just Believe that it works."
> >
> >
> > With open technology, wewe explicitly teach students to dig deeper, to
> > learn everything, to understand anything.
> >
> > I personally find that one effective way to do this is to just teach
> > what you are teaching, and use open technology to teach it. The
> > class/lesson doesn't need to be about KDE or Linux/BSD, but it should be
> > *on* KDE and Linux/BSD. The openness reveals itself when a student asks
> > a question that you *can* actually answer, because it's open source.
> >
> > I have taught film, visual effects, Arduino, Python, animation, and
> > video game programming with these principles, and it has yet to fail me.
> >
> > -seth
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >> -------- Original Message --------
> >> Subject: [kde-promo] KDE Program for a FLOSS-oriented CS curriculum
> >> From: Sandro Andrade <sandroandrade@kde.org>
> >> Date: Wed, April 29, 2015 2:10 pm
> >> To: KDE Promo <kde-promo@kde.org>
> >>
> >>
> >> Hi there,
> >>
> >> I've been thinking about the process by which newcomers start doing
> >> their contributions in KDE. In spite of some minor exceptions, I guess
> >> undergraduate students are still the majority of such potential
> >> contributors. However, different universities around the world vary
> >> from zero to very intense incentives not only to the adoption but also
> >> to focus their academic activities towards FLOSS applications.
> >>
> >> Certainly many possible causes for such zero adoption of FLOSS in
> >> universities are out of our immediate control, but I think we have
> >> chances for addressing another ones. What I've seen, at least in
> >> Brazil, is that most CS professors are either not interested in FLOSS
> >> or perhaps interested but completely unaware about how things work and
> >> how they would correlate FLOSS with the subjects taught in their
> >> courses.
> >>
> >> Cutting right to the chase, I was wondering if the availability of a
> >> high quality and comprehensive "KDE Program for a FLOSS-oriented CS
> >> curriculum" would help in any way the number of CS students doing
> >> their work using KDE software. In practical terms, we initially would
> >> have to agree on a common CS curricula (hopefully that is expected to
> >> be easily identified) and then document, for each curriculum
> >> component, the KDE technologies that would be either inspiring sources
> >> for analysis or potential cases to apply, as contributions, concepts
> >> related to that curriculum component.
> >>
> >> Some examples:
> >>
> >> - For a "Data Structure" and "Graph Theory" courses: we would
> >> document possible contributions in Rocs or the main implementation
> >> aspects of Qt container classes.
> >> - For a "Design Patterns" and "Software Architecture" courses: we
> >> would describe how patterns have been used across KDE software and the
> >> tactics adopted in outstanding architectures of applications like
> >> KDevelop, Qt Creator, Plasma, KF5, and many others.
> >> - For a "Software Quality" and "Project Management" courses: we would
> >> explain the quality assurance process adopted in Qt and KDE
> >> communities, along with the tools, standards, and procedures that
> >> support the process.
> >> - For a "Computer Graphics and Image Processing" course: we would
> >> point out contributions possibilities in kdenlive, krita, and so on.
> >> - For a "Compilers and Programming Paradigms" course: we could explore
> >> the grantlee parser automata and/or the QML interpreter.
> >>
> >> The ultimate goal would be having a detailed set of guidelines about
> >> how to adopt KDE as a central case study in CS courses. Obviously,
> >> that would require some time investment and the help of those of you
> >> who knows a lot about KDE solutions.
> >>
> >> By now, I would like to hear from you about two initial questions:
> >>
> >> 1) Do you experience this same scenario in your countries/universities
> >> and consider this problem 'pervasive' enough to demand a global
> >> endeavour from our community ?
> >>
> >> 2) Do you think such a 'KDE Program' is worth and would help in
> >> fostering the adoption of KDE in universities and in alleviating some
> >> initial contribution barriers ?
> >>
> >> Cheers,
> >> --
> >> Sandro
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> This message is from the kde-promo mailing list.
> >>
> >> Visit https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-promo to unsubscribe,
> set digest on or temporarily stop your subscription.
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > This message is from the kde-promo mailing list.
> >
> > Visit https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-promo to unsubscribe,
> set digest on or temporarily stop your subscription.
>
> _______________________________________________
> This message is from the kde-promo mailing list.
>
> Visit https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-promo to unsubscribe, set
> digest on or temporarily stop your subscription.
[Attachment #5 (text/html)]
<p dir="ltr">Oh, I am aware that most institutions leave a lot to be desired. \
I'm not saying they're perfect by any means, only that if we want this to \
succeed, we need to look from their perspective and their goals, rather than \
ours.</p> <div class="gmail_quote">On Apr 30, 2015 9:16 AM, "Sandro \
Andrade" <<a \
href="mailto:sandroandrade@kde.org">sandroandrade@kde.org</a>> wrote:<br \
type="attribution"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 \
.8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">On Wed, Apr 29, 2015 at 8:46 PM, \
<<a href="mailto:cetx@straightedgelinux.com">cetx@straightedgelinux.com</a>> \
wrote:<br> > Sandro,<br>
><br>
> Great idea, I love it. I do wonder what form you imagining this taking?<br>
> are you thinking of a wiki book or something? or a site with lessons on<br>
> it?<br>
<br>
Well, I still don't have a definitive answer for that, but I think the form \
is<br> one of the critical factors for this succeed. People shoud be able to<br>
easily search for a particular CS topic/subtopic and get one or more<br>
KDE hacking/analysis scenarios, preferably described using a common<br>
schema, kept along the whole "catalog". Suggesting some practices<br>
and/or making the rationale evident would also be a plus.<br>
<br>
Sandro<br>
<br>
><br>
> Either way, as an educator myself, I have some pretty strong opinions on<br>
> this subject.<br>
><br>
> The idea of teaching open technology as a part of computer networking,<br>
> or computer programming, or whatever, is an important one and one often<br>
> dismissed as not relevant because people say things like "well I \
don't<br> > use KDE at my job, so it must be true that no one does". Fact \
is, the<br> > key isn't that we teach KDE, or even Linux: it's that we are \
teaching<br> > people how to learn. With closed technologies, there is by \
definition a<br> > limit to what students are able to learn. So we are implicitly \
teaching<br> > them to take certain things on faith; "don't ask WHY that \
works; you<br> > can't see the code or the configuration, so just Believe that \
it works."<br> ><br>
><br>
> With open technology, wewe explicitly teach students to dig deeper, to<br>
> learn everything, to understand anything.<br>
><br>
> I personally find that one effective way to do this is to just teach<br>
> what you are teaching, and use open technology to teach it. The<br>
> class/lesson doesn't need to be about KDE or Linux/BSD, but it should be<br>
> *on* KDE and Linux/BSD. The openness reveals itself when a student asks<br>
> a question that you *can* actually answer, because it's open source.<br>
><br>
> I have taught film, visual effects, Arduino, Python, animation, and<br>
> video game programming with these principles, and it has yet to fail me.<br>
><br>
> -seth<br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
>> -------- Original Message --------<br>
>> Subject: [kde-promo] KDE Program for a FLOSS-oriented CS curriculum<br>
>> From: Sandro Andrade <<a \
href="mailto:sandroandrade@kde.org">sandroandrade@kde.org</a>><br> >> Date: \
Wed, April 29, 2015 2:10 pm<br> >> To: KDE Promo <<a \
href="mailto:kde-promo@kde.org">kde-promo@kde.org</a>><br> >><br>
>><br>
>> Hi there,<br>
>><br>
>> I've been thinking about the process by which newcomers start doing<br>
>> their contributions in KDE. In spite of some minor exceptions, I guess<br>
>> undergraduate students are still the majority of such potential<br>
>> contributors. However, different universities around the world vary<br>
>> from zero to very intense incentives not only to the adoption but also<br>
>> to focus their academic activities towards FLOSS applications.<br>
>><br>
>> Certainly many possible causes for such zero adoption of FLOSS in<br>
>> universities are out of our immediate control, but I think we have<br>
>> chances for addressing another ones. What I've seen, at least in<br>
>> Brazil, is that most CS professors are either not interested in FLOSS<br>
>> or perhaps interested but completely unaware about how things work and<br>
>> how they would correlate FLOSS with the subjects taught in their<br>
>> courses.<br>
>><br>
>> Cutting right to the chase, I was wondering if the availability of a<br>
>> high quality and comprehensive "KDE Program for a FLOSS-oriented CS<br>
>> curriculum" would help in any way the number of CS students doing<br>
>> their work using KDE software. In practical terms, we initially would<br>
>> have to agree on a common CS curricula (hopefully that is expected to<br>
>> be easily identified) and then document, for each curriculum<br>
>> component, the KDE technologies that would be either inspiring sources<br>
>> for analysis or potential cases to apply, as contributions, concepts<br>
>> related to that curriculum component.<br>
>><br>
>> Some examples:<br>
>><br>
>> - For a "Data Structure" and "Graph Theory" courses: we \
would<br> >> document possible contributions in Rocs or the main \
implementation<br> >> aspects of Qt container classes.<br>
>> - For a "Design Patterns" and "Software Architecture" \
courses: we<br> >> would describe how patterns have been used across KDE \
software and the<br> >> tactics adopted in outstanding architectures of \
applications like<br> >> KDevelop, Qt Creator, Plasma, KF5, and many \
others.<br> >> - For a "Software Quality" and "Project \
Management" courses: we would<br> >> explain the quality assurance process \
adopted in Qt and KDE<br> >> communities, along with the tools, standards, and \
procedures that<br> >> support the process.<br>
>> - For a "Computer Graphics and Image Processing" course: we \
would<br> >> point out contributions possibilities in kdenlive, krita, and so \
on.<br> >> - For a "Compilers and Programming Paradigms" course: we \
could explore<br> >> the grantlee parser automata and/or the QML \
interpreter.<br> >><br>
>> The ultimate goal would be having a detailed set of guidelines about<br>
>> how to adopt KDE as a central case study in CS courses. Obviously,<br>
>> that would require some time investment and the help of those of you<br>
>> who knows a lot about KDE solutions.<br>
>><br>
>> By now, I would like to hear from you about two initial questions:<br>
>><br>
>> 1) Do you experience this same scenario in your countries/universities<br>
>> and consider this problem 'pervasive' enough to demand a global<br>
>> endeavour from our community ?<br>
>><br>
>> 2) Do you think such a 'KDE Program' is worth and would help in<br>
>> fostering the adoption of KDE in universities and in alleviating some<br>
>> initial contribution barriers ?<br>
>><br>
>> Cheers,<br>
>> --<br>
>> Sandro<br>
>><br>
>> _______________________________________________<br>
>> This message is from the kde-promo mailing list.<br>
>><br>
>> Visit <a href="https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-promo" \
target="_blank">https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-promo</a> to unsubscribe, \
set digest on or temporarily stop your subscription.<br> ><br>
> _______________________________________________<br>
> This message is from the kde-promo mailing list.<br>
><br>
> Visit <a href="https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-promo" \
target="_blank">https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-promo</a> to unsubscribe, \
set digest on or temporarily stop your subscription.<br> <br>
_______________________________________________<br>
This message is from the kde-promo mailing list.<br>
<br>
Visit <a href="https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-promo" \
target="_blank">https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-promo</a> to unsubscribe, \
set digest on or temporarily stop your subscription.</blockquote></div>
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_______________________________________________
This message is from the kde-promo mailing list.
Visit https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-promo to unsubscribe, set digest on \
or temporarily stop your subscription.
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