Gregory W. Hislop

• Ph.D.
• Professor at Drexel University

Open source software has become part of the mainstream of software development, with the adoption of open source by a large majority of business and governmental organizations. Results of recent surveys [1] indicate that 95% of responding organizations use open source in mission critical software applications and plan to increase spending on open s...

Many students transfer into BSIT degree programs either from community colleges or from other 4-year institutions. These students have more varied academic background and work experience and this creates different considerations for their academic programs. This panel will address issues and challenges related to ensuring success of transfer studen...

Student involvement in Humanitarian Free and Open Source Software (HFOSS) increases student self-reported learning while providing the motivation of "doing good" [11]. Supporting this type of student participation also impacts the instructors. This effect includes modifying one's teaching approach, providing a different perspective on the subject m...

With the recent upsurge in the development, use, and adoption of free/libre open source software (FLOSS) across all sectors of business, it is critical that graduates of computing degree programs gain an understanding of FLOSS development tools, processes, and culture. However, many faculty members are not fluent in FLOSS development and have littl...

Computing often makes headlines for negative social impacts such as data breaches, algorithmic bias, and cyber warfare. The many ways that computing can create social good are similarly powerful but seem to get much less attention. This BoF will explore ways to incorporate the positive potential of computing for social good in undergraduate courses...

This special session is intended for people who are curious about integrating Humanitarian Free and Open Source Software (HFOSS) into their courses and involving students in HFOSS projects. HFOSS participation provides an excellent vehicle to introduce students to computing for social good while also giving them experience with real-world software...

Computing degrees in the United States experienced a period of low enrollment in the early 2000s, but enrollment has grown significantly at many institutions in recent years. However, it appears that much of this growth has been concentrated in Computer Science (CS) degree programs. Information Technology (IT) degree programs are well-established o...

With the advent of cloud computing, containers, devops and other emerging IT technologies, there are increased opportunities for student learning. Many of these new technologies have their roots in open source as many of the major tools are open source such as Git (version control), Ansible (configuration management), Docker (containerization), and...

Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) is interesting to many students and provides an excellent opportunity to observe and practice many aspects of software product development and management. There is an active community of faculty fostering student participation in open source within computing curricula (see http://teachingopensource.org). However...

Studies have shown that Humanitarian Free and Open Source Software (HFOSS) projects provide a rich learning environment for students, allowing them to gain a range of both technical and professional skills. Although there have been a number of studies on student attitudes toward learning within HFOSS projects, little has been documented about instr...

1. Many instructors are excited by the potential learning that occurs via student participation in Humanitarian Free and Open Source Software (HFOSS) projects. However, one of the main challenges for instructors desiring to support such participation is identifying an appropriate project. There are a vast number of HFOSS projects with varying sizes...

This poster presents a plan for a first-semester freshman computing course based on Open Organization principles using humanitarian organizations as the context. The goal of the course is to instill engagement with learning in students from the beginning of their academic careers when they are psychologically invested in their learning and more lik...

There is a growing community of faculty members who support student participation in Humanitarian Free and Open Source Software (HFOSS) projects in a variety of courses at a range of different institutions. HFOSS can provide a plethora of learning opportunities for students that ranges from design to code to test to documentation and more. Involvem...

Empowering students to become socially responsible professionals is a desirable result of computing education. Humanitarian Free and Open Source Software (HFOSS) projects provide an opportunity for computing educators to inspire their students to tackle global humanitarian challenges while also learning about software engineering.

Preparing students for the complex mix of knowledge and skills needed for professional practice is an essential part of computing education. Students need both technical skills as well as professional skills such as communication, teamwork, and more. Helping students master fundamental technical topics as well as become problem solvers, communicato...

Student participation in Humanitarian Free and Open Source Software (HFOSS) projects offers great learning opportunities for students, including: designing, coding, testing, documentation, collaboration and other professional skills. Humanitarian projects also foster understanding of computing's potential social impact. However, working with any op...

Providing students with the professional, communication and technical skills necessary to contribute to an ongoing software project is critical, yet often difficult in higher education. Involving student teams in real-world projects developed by professional software engineers for actual users is invaluable. Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) has...

In this panel session, the relationship between computer science programs and information technology programs at universities that house both will be explored. People outside the computing disciplines often find the distinction between these programs confusing. The panelists, who have experience with both types of program, will discuss strategies f...

This lightening talk discusses how various Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) artifacts can be used for student evaluation. These artifacts include wikis for tracking documentation, repositories for tracking code and commits, issue trackers for tracking project issues and enhancements, and version control for tracking contributions to the project...

This poster presents a summary of student opinion of the practical experiences that students gain via participating in a Humanitarian Free and Open Source Software (HFOSS) project. The poster reports on a study of student participation in HFOSS that includes six institutions with a variety of profiles. Pre-course expectations of what students expec...

This paper reports on a study of student opinion of the impact of participation in Humanitarian Free and Open Source Software (HFOSS) on motivation, computing learning, and major/career direction. The study builds on an existing body of work in student participation in HFOSS. Six institutions with a variety of profiles are involved in the study and...

Real-world projects are frequently used to provide students with professional software development experience. Involvement in Humanitarian Free and Open Source Software (HFOSS) projects allows students to learn about a complex software project within a community of professionals. In addition, the humanitarian aspect of HFOSS provides students with...

This paper describes student learning within the environment of an HFOSS project that is jointly shared between the GNOME Accessibility Team and three academic institutions. This effort differs from many project-based learning efforts in that the project is shared between the academic participants and the HFOSS community. By involving students in a...

Curriculum guidelines for both Computer Science and Software Engineering emphasize the need for student experience working on a sizeable, real-world project. This poster presents student experience in a Humanitarian Free and Open Source Software (HFOSS) project that is jointly maintained by the GNOME Accessibility Team and three academic institutio...

Software engineering students need to understand the major phases of software development such as requirements elicitation, design, etc., as well as the documentation that supports these activities. Students also need to understand the critical need for excellent communication both within development teams as well as with customers, managers, and o...

The Ensemble computing portal originated under the NSF NSDL program and enjoys the respect and continued interest of the computing education community. The project has reached a maturity level at which it is time to focus on the long-term viability of the activity. The original proposal included a commitment from the Villanova University library to...

Have you ever wanted your students to contribute to or learn from a real-world software project that benefits society? Want some help getting started? Many students find involvement in Humanitarian Free and Open Source Software (HFOSS) projects engaging and motivating. As a first step, this workshop will introduce faculty to FOSS tools and culture....

Student involvement in Humanitarian Free and Open Source Software (HFOSS) projects holds much potential for learning and student motivation. Many faculty members would like to take advantage of this potential and want to know more about FOSS, including its tools and culture. This workshop introduces participants to several common tools for collabor...

Studies have shown that the "near peer" experience where students of various levels are jointly involved in co-learning activities can motivate students and support wide learning. Humanitarian Free and Open Source Software (HFOSS) projects have shown promise for educating students using real-world projects within a global, professional community. L...

Student involvement in Free and Open Source Software projects provides rich potential for learning. However, the selection of such projects for use within a class can present difficulties due to the large number of available projects, and the wide range of size, complexity, domains, and communities in those projects. This workshop will provide guid...

Whenever society comes to depend on the services of a group of skilled individuals, society demands a way to recognize if a particular individual has the skills needed to support that dependency. Doctors, lawyers, engineers, dentists, plumbers, construction contractors, and even hairdressers are certified or licensed. Information and communication...

Studies have shown that the "near peer" experience where students of various levels are jointly involved in co-learning activities can motivate students and support wide learning. This poster describes initial steps towards the development of a Humanitarian Free and Open Source Software project by a mixed team of students of various levels and from...

Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) projects offer a rich learning environment for computing students due to the transparent nature of the process and artifacts used to develop the product. Student participation in such a project allows students to learn collaboratively within a professional community while working on a real-world, frequently inte...

Many faculty members are excited by the learning potential inherent in student participation in a Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) project. Student learning can range from software development to technical writing to team skills to professionalism and more. The altruistic nature of humanitarian FOSS provides additional appeal to students by pro...

Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) has become an important segment of the computing industry and a source of innovation in software development. The open culture of FOSS projects where all project artifacts are accessible and communication is visible provides computing educators with an array of unique opportunities for student learning. However,...

This panel will engage participants in a discussion of recent changes in software engineering practice that should be reflected in curriculum guidelines for undergraduate software engineering programs. Current progress in revising the guidelines will be presented, including suggestions to update coverage of agile methods, security and service-orien...

Student involvement in Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) holds the potential to support a wide range software engineering education topics from requirements to design to testing and more. In addition, participation in a FOSS project exposes students to large, complex software projects and real-world development teams and environments like those...

This panel will discuss recent trends in graduate software engineering programs, including adoption of GSwE2009, cooperative programs between schools, increasing use of distance education formats, and specialization of programs for industry partners. Panelists will also discuss the evolving relationship of software engineering to other disciplines,...

We shall conduct a half-day workshop on needed revisions to Software Engineering 2004: Curriculum Guidelines for Undergraduate Degree Programs in Software Engineering (SE 2004). A brief overview of the current guidelines and their revision status will be presented. Workshop attendees will share their experience using the current guidelines and sugg...

Humanitarian Free and Open Source Software (HFOSS) projects provide a real-world application with an approachable and welcoming community for both faculty and students. Many faculty members are excited by the prospect of their students contributing to HFOSS. They perceive it as an opportunity to engage students, regardless of race or gender, in pro...

Software Engineering 2004: Curriculum Guidelines for Undergraduate Degree Programs in Software Engineering (SE 2004) [1] is one volume in a set of computing curricula adopted and supported by the ACM and the IEEE Computer Society. In order to keep the software engineering guidelines up to date the two professional societies began a review and revis...

The goal of this panel is to discuss best practices for capstone experiences for BSIT degree programs. The panel will contrast varied implementations of IT integrative capstone experiences to provide a starting point for discussion. Each panelist will briefly describe their institution's capstone experience, discuss the benefits and drawbacks to th...

Revised curriculum guidelines help university faculty create or update undergraduate software engineering programs.

Many faculty members (and students) desire to know more about free & open source software (FOSS) development and its tools and practices. This workshop introduces participants to collaboration tools & techniques used in FOSS. In particular, we will focus on task tracking systems and version control systems, which are unfamiliar to many faculty and...

Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) offers a transparent development environment and community in which to involve students. Students can learn much about software development and professionalism by contributing to an on-going project. However, the number of FOSS projects is very large and there is a wide range of size, complexity, domains, and co...

Participating in free and open source software (FOSS) has numerous benefits for students (and faculty), and there is increasing interest in encouraging such participation. There is a broad range of possible contributions to FOSS projects including documentation, testing, coding, and more. This range allows people with a variety of backgrounds, incl...

Participating in free and open source (FOSS) software communities provides students with authentic learning while supplying instructors with a wide variety of educational opportunities including coding, testing, documentation, professionalism and more. However, instructors may be unfamiliar with how FOSS communities work and therefore may be reluct...

Software engineering education has long sought to provide students with real-world software development and professional experience. The use of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) projects is one attractive approach for providing students with easy access to a complex, ongoing project of size that is supported by a professional community. Humanita...

Student involvement in Humanitarian Free and Open Source Software holds the potential to attract students to computing majors. The HumIT project is investigating how IT students can provide IT infrastructure services to users of such applications. This poster reports on the status of the HumIT project and some initial results.

Software projects are frequently used to provide software engineering students with an understanding of the complexities of real-world software development. Free and Open Source Software projects provide a unique opportunity for student learning as projects are open and accessible and students are able to interact with an established professional c...

This WIP discusses Inspire-CT, an NSF-funded, multi-institutional project that is exploring ways to share the excitement and engagement of advanced computing courses with pre-college and introductory undergraduate students. The discussion includes examples of initial educational activities and a summary of results, issues, and future plans.

We report on focus group feedback regarding the services provided by existing education-related Digital Libraries (DL). Participants provided insight into how they seek educational resources online, and what they perceive to be the shortcomings of existing educational DLs. Along with useful content, social interactions were viewed as important supp...

This poster reports on student opinion of the Software Engineering knowledge gained by students exploring a Humanitarian Free and Open Source Software project. Eight students in a non-majors class and eleven more-advanced software development students were surveyed pre- and post-course on their opinions of technical and professional knowledge gaine...

Many faculty members understand the potential for computing students to learn via participation in Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) projects. However, there are few resources for introducing students (and faculty members) to FOSS projects. This tip presents several "FOSS field trip" assignments that allow students to explore and learn about FOS...

Ensemble is a Pathways project of the NSF NSDL (National Science Digital Library) dedicated to supporting computing education. This tutorial will introduce Ensemble and enable faculty members to take advantage of the Ensemble facilities. The session will also provide an opportunity for the CCSC community to provide feedback about the Ensemble facil...

Student participation in Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) projects and communities offers excellent opportunities for learning and for developing student interest in computing. This workshop will be a virtual field trip for faculty wanting to know more about FOSS communities, practices, and tools so they can take advantage of this opportunity....

Ensemble is a Pathways project of the NSF NSDL (National Science Digital Library) dedicated to supporting computing education. This tutorial will introduce Ensemble and enable faculty members to take advantage of the Ensemble facilities. The session will also provide an opportunity for the CCSC community to provide feedback about the Ensemble facil...

Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) and documentation projects provide excellent learning opportunities for students. In the context of active learning, FOSS is particularly interesting in providing transparent meritocracies that allow students to observe and contribute as part of their learning. This panel will present four different perspectives...

This panel will present several experiences in involving students in Open Source Software (OSS) projects from the perspectives of both the instructor and a member of the OSS community. OSS is growing rapidly and gaining market share in both industry (e.g., Linux and Mozilla) as well as academia (e.g, Moodle, Greenfoot, and Drupal). OSS projects hav...

NSF’s NSDL is composed of domain-oriented pathways. Ensemble is the pathway for computing and supports the full range of computing education communities, providing a base for the development of programs that blend computing with other STEM areas (e.g., X-informatics and Computing + X), and producing digital library innovations that can be propagate...

Active participation in Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) projects can provide students with large-scale collaborative software development experience. Frequently these experiences include interacting with an international group of professionals. The ability to participate in an active project empowers and motivates students to learn. FOSS proje...

This demo will introduce attendees to Ensemble, the online community center for all computing educators. Ensemble provides content, communities, and tools for computing educators and students. The content consists of freely available computing education resources stored within Ensemble or at other locations. Ensemble provides federated search, inde...

Open Source Software (OSS) is undergoing extraordinary growth. This rapid growth requires an increasing number of software developers working in a variety of areas. Computing education needs to provide students with professional experience, preferably within the context of a large, distributed software project. Educating students within OSS project...

It seems clear that online teaching will be a growing proportion of teaching overall, both in the form of completely online courses and blended courses with significantly reduced face-to-face interaction.

Ensemble is a new NSF NSDL Pathways project working to establish a national, distributed digital library for computing education. Our project is building a distributed portal providing access to a broad range of existing educational resources for computing while preserving the collections and their associated curation processes. We want to encourag...

This paper discusses a new set of introductory courses for a BSIT degree program. Previously, the BSIT students in this program started with a fairly typical "CS1/CS2" sequence. Our faculty decided to move away from this programming-oriented sequence as the degree starting point, while not reducing the programming learning outcomes for the overall...

The goal of this session is to start a discussion among IT educators about the value and possible approaches to sharing instructional materials. IT is the computing discipline for which the community of educators has most recently organized (as measured by milestones such as accreditation and development of a curriculum model). Sharing instructiona...

Student involvement in Humanitarian Free and Open Source Software (HFOSS) projects holds the potential to provide a rich education experience to undergraduates. This paper discusses educational use of HFOSS including identification of the potential for HFOSS to impact curricula, an overview of an implementation of HFOSS in education and a descripti...

This poster describes an effort to create a different initial course sequence for computing degrees. This effort, the EntryPoint project, focuses primarily on the first two years of the undergraduate program. An intention of the project is to retain programming learning objectives, but move away from the traditional programming-focused introductory...

Ensemble is a new NSF NSDL Pathways project working to establish a distributed digital library for computing education. This project is funded by the National Science Foundation. The project includes the CSTA portal for teaching materials for teachers in schools.

This panel will discuss issues and methods for incorporating free and open source software (FOSS) in computer science education. The panelists are investigating approaches to student participation in FOSS that produce results that are contributed to the FOSS community and actually used by others.

The complexity and scale of modern software systems require that such software be developed by teams. Good communication skills are critical to the success of software development efforts. However, software engineering students typically have little experience in conveying information in a clear, complete, and unambiguous manner. In this paper we d...

This WIP describes the challenges faced by the SoftHum (student participation in the community of open source software for Humanity) project in incorporating undergraduates in humanitarian free and Open Source Software (H-FOSS) projects. The goal of SoftHum is to develop course-level support for the use of H-FOSS as a foundation for software engine...

This WIP describes an effort to create a better starting course sequence for computing degrees. This effort, the entrypoint project, focuses primarily on the first two years of the undergraduate program. As such, a key aspect of the effort relates to the traditional introductory programming sequence, and an attempt to move beyond that approach. A t...

Software engineering has emerged as a discipline, but it is still new and relatively small. It is important to consider how this process has progressed, and to ensure that the continued evolution of the discipline has the support and attention that will ensure success. Nancy Mead has positively influenced software engineering education for the past...

The net generation of students have characteristics which make them well-suited for participating in open source projects including being comfortable with information technologies, using IT as a form of communication, desiring to work in groups, a desire to do social good, and being fascinated by new technologies. The nature of open source projects...

This paper provides an overview of work being done in the EntryPoint project, which is examining the first course work in computing degrees. A key goal of this project is to move away from the traditional CS1/CS2 programming courses as the start of a computing degree. In addition, the project team is looking at how these ideas might be extended to...

There is a strong and growing global demand for skilled software engineers. The institutions that educate software engineers are evolving and changing to meet this need. This chapter provides an overview of this effort to develop software engineering education. It discusses the historical development of software engineering education, provides some...

There is a strong and growing global demand for skilled software engineers. The institutions that educate software engineers are evolving and changing to meet this need. This chapter provides an overview of this effort to develop software engineering education. It discusses the historical development of software engineering education, provides some...

In spite of tremendous attention, the existing models for the introductory courses in computing majors remain problematic and dominated by programming courses. The "programming first" model, along with ideas on how to implement it, has been the topic of endless debate for decades. In spite of many projects and publications, the problems have not be...

For the past year, Trinity College has utilized Sahana, a free and open source disaster management system, as a foundation to teach software engineering. The goals of the use of the Sahana project are threefold: to provide students with a real-world software engineering experience; to introduce students to the open-source development model; and to...

The World Wide Web is increasingly being used to allow both educators and learners to more easily locate desired information, as well as to support integration of related materials from different sources. This paper reports on an ontology constructed for the Network Community for Software Engineering Education (SWENET) and represents a teaching per...

This paper focuses on approaches to supporting and organizing student work for a capstone sequence shared by several computing degrees. These courses focus on software product creation from requirements specification through prototype product development. In these degree programs, students begin the capstone courses with good relevant knowledge, bu...

During the past decade, the use of online education to deliver information systems courses and even entire degree programs has increased significantly. One result of this growth in distance education is that an increasing number of faculty members are being asked to teach an expanding number and variety of courses in an online format. The time requ...