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Using Open Source Projects in Higher Education: A Two-Way Certification Framework

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Information Technology and Open Source: Applications for Education, Innovation, and Sustainability (SEFM 2012)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNPSE,volume 7991))

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Abstract

The paper proposes a framework for the certification of free/libre open source software (FLOSS) projects. The process is two-fold and is based on our experience over the last four years of using FLOSS for teaching software engineering in Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. The premise of the paper is that students’ engagement with real open source projects, and more specifically with the respective open source communities, can be an effective instructional method for skill development. We argue that through such a process, the students are able to get familiar with tools and technologies used in FLOSS and receive certification as FLOSS participants. On the other hand, the students can also review and evaluate the FLOSS project they use during the learning activity from different perspectives. In more advanced learning activities, this evaluation can be based on certification standards, providing in that way a valuable source of feedback to the open source community.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    http://opense.net

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Acknowledgments

This work is funded partly by the European Commission in the context of (a) the OpenSE project under the grant agreement no. 503641-LLP-1-2009-1-PT-ERASMUS-ECUE (b) the Graduate Program of Studies of the Informatics Department at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, and (c) UNU-IIST and Macao Science and Technology Development Fund, File No. 019/2011/A1, in the context of the PPAeL project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. United Nations University, International Institute for Software Technology, Macau SAR, People’s Republic of China

    Pantelis M. Papadopoulos & Antonio Cerone

  2. Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece

    Ioannis G. Stamelos

Authors
  1. Pantelis M. Papadopoulos
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  2. Ioannis G. Stamelos
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  3. Antonio Cerone
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Pantelis M. Papadopoulos .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. United Nations University, Macau, Macao

    Antonio Cerone

  2. Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Genoa, Italy

    Donatella Persico

  3. United Nations University, Macau, Macao

    Sara Fernandes

  4. Coventry University, Coventry, United Kingdom

    Alexeis Garcia-Perez

  5. Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece

    Panagiotis Katsaros

  6. Coventry University, Coventry, United Kingdom

    Siraj Ahmed Shaikh

  7. Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece

    Ioannis Stamelos

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Papadopoulos, P.M., Stamelos, I.G., Cerone, A. (2014). Using Open Source Projects in Higher Education: A Two-Way Certification Framework. In: Cerone, A., et al. Information Technology and Open Source: Applications for Education, Innovation, and Sustainability. SEFM 2012. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 7991. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-54338-8_22

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-54338-8_22

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-54337-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-54338-8

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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