TL;DR: Open Source Initiative and OERu are developing a course pack, based on Karl Fogel's “Producing Open Source Software” [1], for teaching development principles and practices in open source software and community development. We are looking for faculty interested in using this work in their course. If interested please contact me at masson@opensource.org.
Details: My name is Patrick Masson and in addition to working at the Open Source Initiative, I teach a course at The State University of New York at Albany, Open Source Principles and Practices [2]. One issue hindering the expansion of teaching open source software develop within institutions of higher education, is the lack of ready-made teaching and learning materials, specifically “course packs.” Course packs, as many of you probably know, are compilations of course content (lecture slides, readings, even a syllabus) and activities (quizzes, projects, assignments, etc.) put into one easy-to-access place for students, and can act as a supplement to a textbook or as a replacement. These are commonly produced by textbook publishers.
Without such a resource, it is often left up to individual faculty to develop their own resources—which I am sure for many of us is just fine. But for departments and colleges, without such a resource (or the motivated faculty to develop their own), the burden is too great—especially if they do not already have an interested and motivated faculty member to “go it alone.”
The Open Source Initiative [3] and the OERu [4] have begun a project to develop a course pack, on par with those offered by publishers for other academic disciplines/subjects, based on the text, “Producing Open Source Software, by Karl Fogel.
While we would be very interested in hearing from any faculty teaching open source, as both content experts and experienced educators on the subject, our primary need is to identify faculty members who would actually like to use the course pack when complete.
Additionally, in order for the OERu to meet it's own internal requirements for developing OER materials, we are specifically looking for faculty members who are teaching at one of their affiliated, Partner Institutions [5].
If you are currently teaching at an OERu Partner Institution and interested in this project, please contact me at masson@opensource.org for more information, how you can help, or any other questions.