[TOS] RIT students brainstorm with Mel about our course.

[Frederick Grose]

2009/8/21 Wesley Dillingham <wwdillingham at sugarlabs.org>

> Here is a copy of what Mel, Eric, Tyler, and myself discussed /
> brainstormed during our meeting at Red Hat.
>
> This is verbatim so there is some redundancy as some of us wrote the same
> things.
>
> These are transcribed copies from
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/23277267@N03/sets/72157621958912273/
>
> 1) Your Expectations for what you'll have learned
>     - open source process
>     - python
>     - How to interact in person and remotely using irc, git, wiki
>     - I expected minimal instruction of pygame + scratch
>     - Some Python
>     - How to work in open source
> 2) How you'll know
>     - Actual graded feedback of things turned in
>     - I can demonstrate ideas / concept to another person
>     - Enough knowledge of python to work on final game.
>     - Ability to talk w/ comnmunity using git/wiki/irc etc.
> 3) The most helpful things you learned that weren't planned.
>     - Useful contact.
>     - how to let go of the notion that there is a clearly defined goal or
> endpoint of           the project.
>     - Joining / following mail list
>     - Stuff with GIMP
> 4) Gripes
>     - lack of anything for 3 ??
>     - no clear goal
>     - too wiki-focused
>     - There was no time given to critiquing other group's ideas.
>     - No formal, anonymous, feedback method to present to the professor
>       during and after the class
>     - By the nature of a class in which the student receives a letter grade
> from
>       the lecturer, attempting to deviate from what the professor wants
> produces can
>       be daunting. Perhaps, Independent, third party or consesus grading.
>     - No Idea what final grade was until I got report card.
>     - limited class time not used effectively.
>
>
>
> Mel's thoughts on blackboard:
>
> As an OSS community member...
>
> 1) I'll have learned the amount of effort and guidance to expect from a
> student I'm mentoring.
>
> 2) I can block out a work / mtg (meeting?) milestone schedule for the next
> term.
>
> 3) You need Direct exposure to experts in order to watch + grow
>
>     code reviews - what feedback to ask for
>     creating a patch
>
> 4) Mentor's don't have clear expectations of their students
>
> No checkpoints to adjust original goals.
> Overly ambitious goals set due to lack of context
> Unclear what mentors get out of it.
> Doesn't match up with my project goal.
> "Who are these students?"
>
>
> This resulted in the following* deliverables:*
>
> 1)PYTHON: More conventional project, “make x.py output $foo”
> 2)PYGAME:   “ “
> 3)“How to work in OSS” quiz
> 4)A set-up get repo with 1st commit
> 5)Wiki userpage IRC lab
> 6)Blogs on planet (make sure students can speak freely)
> 7)Install and go throught a tutorial program of your choice
> 8)Foreward a msg you posted on list to professor
>
> Assignments:
> 1)IRC/Wiki first day – good icebreaker as well as teaching irc/wiki.
> Every student makes their own Wiki userpage, but cannot edit it.  They
> then join an IRC channel and convince others to edit for them.
> 2)Teaching git to the students – first professor shows how to create a
> repository, set up SSH key on site, etc.  Project where someone starts
> a story or webpage, then each student clones and adds to the
> story/page.
> 3)Tic Tac Toe in pygame – create a simple tic tac toe app in the
> python/pygame.
> 4)Blog – each student creates and writes on a blog, can be used to
> communicate about the class, submit certain assignments, and give
> feedback.
> 5)Find an open source program that interests you, follow a tutorial,
> make something and submit it
> 6)Find an open source program and fix a bug in their ticket system
> 7)Join a mailing list and forward a message on it to the professor to
> show that you have joined.  Or join a mailing list and send personal
> introduction (more then just a "hi").
>
>
>
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> http://teachingopensource.org/mailman/listinfo/tos


Thanks Wesley for this posting.

My first post got truncated,
http://teachingopensource.org/pipermail/tos/2009-August/000433.html, so I
will update that thread with some additional information.

Below is David's endorsement.

       --Fred

 ---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: David Farning <dfarning at sugarlabs.org>
Date: Fri, Aug 21, 2009 at 2:21 PM
Subject: Re: [RIT/Sugar Labs visit update] was: Re: Thanks for the trip
To: Wesley Dillingham <wwdillingham at sugarlabs.org>
Cc: Mel Chua <mel at melchua.com>, Stephen Jacobs <sxjics at rit.edu>, Frederick
Grose <fgrose at sugarlabs.org>, Tyler Bragdon <tylerb at sugarlabs.org>, Karlie
Robinson <karlie_robinson at webpath.net>, Eric Mallon <
ericmallon at sugarlabs.org>


Hey everyone,

Thanks for jumping in on this.

Discussing this on TOS is a great idea.  I have harped on the idea of
needing to 'walking the walk' after 'talking the talk.'  Nothing quite
like moving our screwups (and successes) to a publicly archived list
as a means of 'walking the walk.'

david
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