[TOS] FW: Infrastructure Team: Can haz?

[Sabin, Mihaela]

Like most teachers, I believe too in the merit of inquiry and "deep tinkering" 
for the purpose of leveraging the most important component of learning, that is,
in the words in John Seeley Brown, its "social life". However, POSSE workshops
have very specific constraints: so many participants, with so different backgrounds,
for a very short and intense period of time learning collectively and individually 
so many competencies. 

I'd rather count on some invariants that fall into place to scaffold my learning. 
Some elements need closure to help learners make progress. I totally agree 
with Mel and Sebastian's proposition for trying to minimize little snags with
the infrastructure tools and services. 

Mihaela
________________________________________
From: tos-bounces at teachingopensource.org [tos-bounces at teachingopensource.org] On Behalf Of Karlie Robinson [karlie_robinson at webpath.net]
Sent: Wednesday, January 12, 2011 8:27 AM
To: tos at teachingopensource.org
Subject: Re: [TOS] Infrastructure Team: Can haz?

On 01/12/2011 06:47 AM, Mel Chua wrote:
> On 01/12/2011 06:21 AM, Sebastian Dziallas wrote:
>
>> Subject line says it all. :) Seriously, Mel and I have been talking
>> about this more and more in Doha, since we're pretty sure that
>> there'll be a higher amount of requests coming in starting in March
>>
> So, at every POSSE, there are these little snags that hit again and
> again - "I wish we could instantly create/grant you a git repository!"
> "Oh man, the wiki's down again!" "Now if we only had a POSSE Remix with
> all these tools installed..." "Er, setting up your own blog planet would
> take... a little while..." (instead of being able to click a button and
> give them a Planet - same goes for Etherpad, which is consistently a hit)
>
To me, it sounds like you're getting off track by wanting to wave a
magic wand.  My point being - Wouldn't that give the professors a false
sense of what FOSS community development is really like?

I understand that because you are in this same situation over and over
again, it's frustrating for you, but isn't the point of POSSE to get the
group up to speed on how to use the community and be effective community
members?

Having a working GIT somewhere that every POSSE could use, sure I can
understand that.  The wiki being available, I can understand that.  But
an instant personal planet?  No way.  FOSS as a whole doesn't grant all
wishes and it's a disservice for TOS to think that POSSE leaders should
provide customized solutions.

Besides, knowing where to get the tools and how to install them seems to
be a good thing for professors to know since they'll probably have to
point students at those same resources.  That is unless POSSE is trying
to create a cookie cutter program where the same spin is good for every
future class at every university.

You have to be very careful that the POSSE participants come away
familiar with what the community has for resources and not just what you
know you could patch and fix to make 10 classes less repetitive for you.

I'm not a teacher, but as a parent, I bite the bullet all the time.  I
know my children need to struggle sometimes or they won't have the
skills they need to be successful later on.  My suggestion take a good
look at what is really a blocker vs just bothering you.

Back to the parent analogy and the ramp up of POSSE participants looking
for support services... What would you rather have?  A week of watching
your child struggle to make his bed, or a life time of making his bed
for him?

By creating a shopping list of instant solutions, you're telling POSSE
participants that TOSS and the people who lead their POSSE will be
available, indefinitely, to solve their problems.  Instead you should be
looking at how to successfully tell someone "Do it yourself" by creating
a situation where they are able to tap the community on their own,
outside of TOS, to have their needs met.

How long do you fully support a class by rushing to their aid?  When do
you switch to answering questions with questions to encourage people to
explore problem and solution relationships?  (ie Have you asked...?  Did
you look...?  When were you going to...?  What outcome were you hoping
for?  )

~Karlie


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