[TOS] How to become a POSSE instructor

[Mel Chua]

>>> 1) To become a POSSE instructor, you must first attend a POSSE yourself.
>>>
>>> 2) Then you co-teach a POSSE with a current instructor.
>>>
>>>
>> I can understand requirement 2.  I think co-teaching with somebody who
>> has already taught a POSSE is important to gain an understanding of the
>> target feel for the class.  The first requirement, however, seems to be
>> unnecessarily restrictive---there are some faculty who already
>> understand open source, know how to use a wiki, etc.

First of all, thanks for bringing up the question, Matt - and also to 
Titus for chiming in. As I said in my email to you earlier, these are 
all first-round thoughts and could definitely use pushback and shaping, 
which is in large part why I threw it out to this list. ;)

The intent behind requirement #1 was twofold:

(1) To make sure instructors see the process of improvising the POSSE 
curriculum before doing it themselves - this remains my primary concern, 
but maybe there are ways to address it.

The thing is, the POSSE curriculum is in some ways like a Barcamp 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BarCamp) - it's highly variable and 
responsive to what's happening in the community at the moment, who's 
online, who's there, what people are interested in... and it's hard to 
describe to someone who hasn't been to one before. If you didn't know 
what a Barcamp was and showed up on the first day expected to "run" it, 
well... I'd be nervous. But. Again, maybe addressable.

(2) To make sure instructors would have both tool-using skills and FOSS 
community exposure/involvement - this doesn't necessarily correlate with 
the first requirement, as Matt and Titus both pointed out. Someone like 
Titus, with many years in FOSS and teaching, would have a greater depth 
of knowledge and community connections than someone who's just finished 
attending POSSE as their first exposure to FOSS contribution - it 
doesn't make sense for him to *not* be able to co-instruct. And 
actually, we've already broken this "rule" before setting it, since 
Harish didn't attend a POSSE before teaching it, though he did watch us 
plan and execute the first one, and planned the Singapore one with us 
from the very start.

Maybe that's the solution: To co-teach, if you haven't been to a POSSE 
before, you must be a co-organizer of the POSSE you are co-teaching at, 
from proposal all the way to execution. That way, you will build a 
mental picture over time of what the week might look like.

How's this:

0) POSSEs are always taught by at least 2 instructors.
1) To become a POSSE instructor, you co-teach a POSSE with a current 
instructor. (In this case, you count as the second instructor.)
2) In order to co-teach, you must either be a POSSE alumni, OR make the 
case to your co-instructor that you have equivalent (or better) 
background/skills in FOSS tools/communities, AND be the primary 
organizer of the POSSE you co-teach at.

Also: how would folks feel about requiring that at least one of the 
instructors at a POSSE teach - or have taught - at the college level? I 
think there's a lot of value in the professors-teaching-professors 
model, but could be adding more structure than we actually need.

--Mel