Comments on: Motivation the right way http://franz.keferboeck.info/blog/?p=19 all the way to reno... Thu, 04 Dec 2008 14:16:19 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Franz Keferböck http://franz.keferboeck.info/blog/?p=19&cpage=1#comment-64654 Franz Keferböck Tue, 02 Dec 2008 12:44:40 +0000 http://franz.keferboeck.info/blog/?p=19#comment-64654 @Tom: True, this is probably not well enough explained here; maintainence is one problem, quality another. And throw-away code does good when learning, true too. Yet i would certainly not recommend getting their hands dirty with konqui code or kdelibs. But plasmoids - small, well defined pieces of code, as mentioned, translations or documentation, both tasks that teach you teamwork, responsibility and working with new tools, that's what i was thinking of! And though acting within the community by directly contributing is - besides being the hardest part - the nicest for us, that's not where i want everybody to end up! The projects presented at the event where mostly "local", using different applications, modifying small parts to fit certain needs (for example combining video capture, streaming server, vlc, ... to have multi-channel-tv-streaming throughout the school building, with certain extras interesting for schools). The point is that FOSS is not a stranger to them, that they know the tools, learn how to act within projects. I'm not a black-white guy, there's always something good to the bad and the other way round, the trick is to be aware of it and deal with it in time! @Tom: True, this is probably not well enough explained here; maintainence is one problem, quality another. And throw-away code does good when learning, true too. Yet i would certainly not recommend getting their hands dirty with konqui code or kdelibs. But plasmoids – small, well defined pieces of code, as mentioned, translations or documentation, both tasks that teach you teamwork, responsibility and working with new tools, that’s what i was thinking of!
And though acting within the community by directly contributing is – besides being the hardest part – the nicest for us, that’s not where i want everybody to end up! The projects presented at the event where mostly “local”, using different applications, modifying small parts to fit certain needs (for example combining video capture, streaming server, vlc, … to have multi-channel-tv-streaming throughout the school building, with certain extras interesting for schools).
The point is that FOSS is not a stranger to them, that they know the tools, learn how to act within projects.
I’m not a black-white guy, there’s always something good to the bad and the other way round, the trick is to be aware of it and deal with it in time!

]]> By: Tom http://franz.keferboeck.info/blog/?p=19&cpage=1#comment-64653 Tom Tue, 02 Dec 2008 12:30:36 +0000 http://franz.keferboeck.info/blog/?p=19#comment-64653 A word of caution; coding experience is build by building something that you will be able to throw away. Throwing away code that is full of mistakes is essential to learning. So getting a fresh student working on konqueror typically doesn't result in code that KDE actually wants. Unless that student rewrites it twice after he learned from his/hers previous mistakes... A word of caution; coding experience is build by building something that you will be able to throw away. Throwing away code that is full of mistakes is essential to learning.
So getting a fresh student working on konqueror typically doesn’t result in code that KDE actually wants. Unless that student rewrites it twice after he learned from his/hers previous mistakes…

]]> By: reeth http://franz.keferboeck.info/blog/?p=19&cpage=1#comment-64640 reeth Mon, 01 Dec 2008 19:35:36 +0000 http://franz.keferboeck.info/blog/?p=19#comment-64640 Hi, This is strange because I was wondering the very same thing this week-end. Why my school (or specifically teachers) still ignore free softwares subjects for students projects? Last year, I've worked with 3 other guys on Horde (a free groupware), but it was the only subject of that kind. Other people have just done 'academics' projects that will be thrown after the project, what a waste of time (for the student) and waste of work force (for FOSS projects). I believe that it's because teachers' fear of unknown things (our project manager didn't know Horde, but it wasn't a problem), they don't want to have to manage something they don't control entirely. There are also cases where teachers don't know themselves FOSS (yes it appends even in computer sciences), so it's difficult to get involved into a FOSS project. Hi,

This is strange because I was wondering the very same thing this week-end. Why my school (or specifically teachers) still ignore free softwares subjects for students projects? Last year, I’ve worked with 3 other guys on Horde (a free groupware), but it was the only subject of that kind. Other people have just done ‘academics’ projects that will be thrown after the project, what a waste of time (for the student) and waste of work force (for FOSS projects).

I believe that it’s because teachers’ fear of unknown things (our project manager didn’t know Horde, but it wasn’t a problem), they don’t want to have to manage something they don’t control entirely. There are also cases where teachers don’t know themselves FOSS (yes it appends even in computer sciences), so it’s difficult to get involved into a FOSS project.

]]> By: raul http://franz.keferboeck.info/blog/?p=19&cpage=1#comment-64635 raul Mon, 01 Dec 2008 17:48:14 +0000 http://franz.keferboeck.info/blog/?p=19#comment-64635 I think this is a great idea, actually I have also been thinking about this lately, and I think it makes a lot of sense. The only problem is that it requires a lot of time from the teachers and schools son it won't be easy to implement, but I really think that FOSS projects should start selling this idea to schools. I think this is a great idea, actually I have also been thinking about this lately, and I think it makes a lot of sense. The only problem is that it requires a lot of time from the teachers and schools son it won’t be easy to implement, but I really think that FOSS projects should start selling this idea to schools.

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