Join the POSSE Workshop on Student Involvement in Humanitarian Free and Open Source Software

Are you a university or college instructor interested in providing students with experience in real-world projects? Are you interested in supporting participation in humanitarian free and open source software (HFOSS)? If so, join the Professor's Open Source Software Experience (POSSE) workshop being held at Google’s San Francisco Office, April 20-22, 2017.

Over 100 faculty members have attended past workshops and there is a growing community of faculty members helping students learn within HFOSS projects. This three-stage faculty workshop will prepare you to support student participation in open source projects. In the workshop, you will:

• Become part of the community of educators which involves students in HFOSS
• Learn how to support student learning within real-world project environments
• Motivate students and raise their appreciation of computing for social good
• Meet and collaborate with instructors who have similar interests and goals

Workshop Format

Stage 1: Starts February 23, 2017 with online activities. These activities will take 2-3 hours per week and include interaction among workshop instructors and participants.

Stage 2: The face-to-face workshop will be held at the Google San Francisco office, April 20-22, 2017. Participants include the workshop organizers, POSSE alumni and members of the open source community.

Stage 3: Comprises online activities and interactions among small groups. Participants will have support while involving students in an HFOSS project in the classroom.

Please click here to learn more about the POSSE workshop in April.

How to Apply

To apply, please complete and submit the application by February 13th. Prior work with FOSS projects is not required. The POSSE workshop committee will send you a confirmation email to notify you of the status of your application by February 23rd, 2017.

Participant Support

POSSE is supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and Google. NSF funding will provide two nights lodging and meals during the workshop. Travel costs will be covered up to $500. At this time,we can only support US-based faculty members. However, if you can support your own travel, please do submit an application!

Why is Google participating?

Google is participating in order to help educators overcome challenges identified in the POSSE workshop held last June, and to better support FOSS education in academia. We are very happy to host the first POSSE workshop located on the west coast of the United States.

See you in San Francisco this April!

By Helen Hu, Open Source Programs Office