Improving Our Visibility In SchoolsFlock 2015

Giannis KonstantinidisPRESENTED BY:

Fedora Ambassador

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Today's Topics

· The Need.

· FOSS in Education.

· Edu Spin/Remix.

· Campus Ambassadors.

· University Initiative.

· Open Discussion.

The Need

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.

FOSS In Education

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.

Edu Spin/Remix

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.

Campus Ambassadors

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.

University Initiative

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

Discussion

giannisk@fedoraproject.orgCONTACT:

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