Revitalizing Computing Education Through Free and Open Source Software for Humanity

摘要

What if undergraduate students viewed computer science as, in part, a discipline that designed and built free software to help one's friends and neighbors in need? Would that bring more of them in the front doorrnof academic computing departments? What sort ofrncurricular and pedagogical changes would be required to support such opportunities for these students? Would these changes help revitalize computing curricula and enrollments throughout the U.S.?rnThe Humanitarian Free and Open Source Software (HFOSS) Project is addressing these questions. The goal is to help revitalize U.S. undergraduate computing education by engaging students in developing FOSS that benefits humanity. What started as anrnindependent study by two undergraduates in 2006, the Project today includes students from a number of U.S. colleges and universities engaged in a range of FOSS development projects, both global and local.