Improving Our Visibility In SchoolsFlock 2015
Giannis KonstantinidisPRESENTED BY:
Fedora Ambassador
Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 4.0
Today's Topics
· The Need.
· FOSS in Education.
· Edu Spin/Remix.
· Campus Ambassadors.
· University Initiative.
· Open Discussion.
The Need
· High schools and universities are important places where we should conduct outreach.
· Students are the ones that would later grow up using fedora and free & open source software in general.
· They are also the ones that could become part of our community and contribute their time, talent and skills to our project.
Current Issues
· Closed-source software costs. A lot.
· Because it does, some students are unable to afford it. They use pirated software.
· Students are tied to closed-source software.
· Students related to ICT don't have the chance to see how the software works.
· Education is about sharing knowledge. Closed-source software is opposed to that.
What About It?
· Apps for any use (e.g. Firefox, LibreOffice, VLC, GIMP).
· Additional edu-related apps (e.g. KDE Edu).
· Available to be adopted and used in primary, secondary and tertiary education.
· Every teacher and/or student can customize it to their own needs.
Benefits
· Zero cost.
· Safe, stable and portable.
· Innovative.
· Fully customizable.
· Backed by the community.
Where Are We Now?
What we have:
· SoaS pre-school (mostly?) education.→· Scientific tertiary (mostly?) education.→
What we used to have:
· FEL tertiary (mostly?) education.→
What Can We Do?
· Make sure to cover all stages of education.
· Produce a spin or a remix that can be used by students and teachers, both inside and outside the classroom.
· Provide simple, straightforward instructions to every student and teacher who wish to build their own, custom fedora environment.
What About It?
· Focus on promoting Fedora at schools and universities around the world.
· Connected to the larger fedora ambassadors project. One had to be a fedora ambassador already in order to join.
· No final programme structure, got stuck in its formative stages.
· Currently dead, never truly worked out.
Proposed Changes (1/2)
· Campus Ambassadors Student →Ambassadors.
· No longer directly connected to the larger fedora ambassadors project. Students don't necessarily have to be fedora ambassadors in order to join.
· Applicants must have some knowledge around the distribution and the project, but do not need to be experts.
Proposed Changes (2/2)
· Students will go through a mentoring process to make sure they meet some requirements before joining the program.
· Mentees will remain connected to their mentors.
· Provide people with new contribution opportunities, as they see fit.
· Bring back the fedora classroom.
· Bring back the fedora scholarship, maybe?
Possible Activities
· Give a talk or conduct a workshop.
· Invite someone else to speak.
· Host a fedora installfest.
· Maintain a computer lab.
· Organize a meetup.
· Have a release party.
· Plan an activity day.
How Do We Begin?
· Let the fedora community know.
· Discuss and brainstorm about the structure of this new initiative. Update and create new content on the wiki.
· Invite existing fedora ambassadors who are students and also experienced ambassadors (preferably) to join.
· Start planning events in schools and recruit new students.
What About It?
· University Involvement Initiative.
· One of the current 12-18 month community objectives, approved by the council.
· Aims to “Increase Fedora's exposure in university environments, particularly engineering universities.“
· Some more info on this?
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Objectives/University_Involvement_Initiative