Open Education 2016

This presentation is intended to provide instructors with working knowledge of open source software concepts and communities. In this brief introduction, we will:

* talk about what open source is and why it is gaining traction in the business world;
* explore how instructors (and their students) can benefit by incorporating open source into the curriculum;
* review what differentiates open source from proprietary software; and
* discuss how teaching open source in an open way aligns with many current pedagogical practices, such as continuous assessment and cooperative learning.

We'll start with a quick definition and history of open source as a prelude to talking about the state of open source in business today. Then we'll cover the business drivers that are creating a need for students to learn open source, and what benefits you and your students can expect to see when you incorporate more open source into your classes.

Next, we will look at the key differences between open source and proprietary software, from a legal point of view as well as a philosophical one. We'll talk about how the legal aspects of open source, combined with open source principles, create a fundamentally different, community-centric software development environment.

We'll talk about the benefits -- and potential "gotchas" -- of embedding students in open source projects and how you as an instructor can think about those.

Finally, we'll talk about additional resources for instructors who want to learn more about open source: mailing lists, courses, and online resources will be provided for additional exploration of the topic.