[TOS] Leveraging COVID-19 in the Classroom

LM lmemsm at gmail.com
Tue Jul 14 13:26:05 UTC 2020


On Tue, Jul 14, 2020 at 8:00 AM <tos-request at teachingopensource.org> wrote:
> From: Joanna Klukowska <joannakl at cs.nyu.edu>
> There were also some critical comments about why there are so many
> efforts for data visualization and what the value is that they bring to
> the table, or about safety of an open sourced "make your own test at
> home" instructions.

Speaking of visualization, I just ran across a FLOSS graphing library
for larger data sets:
https://igraph.org/c/
Most of the machine learning projects are in Python even though many
of the libraries being used are written in C/C++.  Was trying to find
machine learning examples in C/C++ instead of Python.  Ran across the
graphing library during my search.  Like most C/C++ machine learning
libraries, there's a Python interface as well.

> In the fall, I am back to teaching my Data Structure class. I usually
> use an open data set for the coding projects. This year it will most
> likely be COVID-19 related, but I do not have any specific one yet.

Don't know what data set they're using, but the Gold Coast Users Group
is doing something along those lines:
https://www.meetup.com/Gold-Coast-Users-Group/events/271079925/
https://www.homnick.com/hsi/flcovidstats
Might want to check where they're getting their data from.

FSF and LibrePlanet came up with the following web pages during the
pandemic to help get the word out about FLOSS alternatives for remote
communications and make people more aware of security issues when
using video conferencing.  Would think some of those projects need
volunteers to help make them better.
https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/better-than-zoom-try-these-free-software-tools-for-staying-in-touch
https://libreplanet.org/wiki/Remote_Communication

There's also this list of OER resources from SPARC and other volunteers:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1iQtZoDphA5XYKHR32zUYJ9imjCh4c1DOfg14MRB7G_I/edit#gid=567891547

Ran across this list of FLOSS projects for Covid mentioned on the Code
Corps group:
https://explore.ovio.org/covid-19/

I also recently found out about an Open Data format initiative for Districts:
https://www.ed-fi.org/
They work with commercial vendors and some of the languages and tools
they use are proprietary.  However, if the data formats are open, it's
a start to getting better interoperability between projects and making
it easier to use FLOSS with educational data.  They could use
volunteers.

Since I don't work directly with students (I work in IT for our
District), I've been trying to find ways to use my own skills.  For a
while, I tried digging up various links to FLOSS software and OER that
might be useful.  Don't have a good way to connect and get it to the
teachers in my District though.  Best I can do is share them with
other Districts using various forums.  Still have my lists available
via the web here:  https://lmemsm.dreamwidth.org/
Tried looking into online programming groups that were working on
projects (like the Code Corps group I mentioned), but didn't have much
luck.  None of the developers work with the same programming languages
I do.  If anyone knows of any FLOSS programming groups or is teaching
the following in classes, would love to connect and share resources,
tips and tricks:  C/C++, Android NDK, Web Assembly/WASI  So, I'm still
looking for some educational FLOSS projects to get more involved with
that will let work with the technologies and programming languages I'm
most interested in.  In the meantime, I'm currently working on my port
of Tuxmath to the latest libraries (like SDL2).

Look forward to reading about what others are doing and checking out
some of the links that have been shared.


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