NRC-FOSS phase II - syllabus introduction and teacher's training
Kenneth Gonsalves
NRC-FOSS at AU-KBC has been somewhat dormant over the past few months as we
were awaiting sanction and funds for phase II. The sanction has come and funds
will arrive soon, so we are moving to launch phase II. Phase II is of much
broader scope than Phase I as several institutions like IIT Bombay and Madras,
IIIT hyderabad and several CDACs will be involved in various projects to do
with the promotion and spread of FOSS.
One of our tasks is to introduce FOSS electives in the Syllabi of at least 25
Universities throughout the country in the next 3 years. Also to train
teachers to teach these subjects. Therefore we will no longer randomly
sponsor/conduct Teacher Training Programs (TTPs), but will only conduct TTPs
in those universities that commit to introducing FOSS electives. So those of
you on this list who are in the Educational domain are requested to help us
arrange meetings with Vice-chancellors/HODs/BOS members in various
universities so that we can convince them to introduce these electives.
I will be sending separate mails regarding the other deliverables we have in
the coming phase II.
--
regards
kg
http://lawgon.livejournal.com
Dattatraya Kodavade
Thanks for information , it is great from my university we will fix up the date and we are ready to introduce as a elective in final year as final year syllabus restructuring is about to start.
As i have mentioned earlier mails regarding FOSS lab server there is no further movement in this regards, pl discuss with srinivasan sir and let me know as all the colleges are demanding the same to make it effective from next semister. I think this will be good start because students and faculties should have hands on experience on FOSS. Again i have requested for one training program for students under DKTE-Walchand LInux User Group a exclusive training program sothat they can start taking projects for their final year with industrial sponsorships.I my institute four projects were successfuly completed in FOSS this year as a outcome of training programs conducted in Jan 2008 and July 2008 respectively.
regards
dvk
Prof.D.V.Kodavade
Assistant Professor,
Department Of Information Technology
D.K.T.E'S Textile & Engineering Institute ,Ichalkaranji 416 115.M.S. INDIA
Dist .Kolhapur .
Member-Faculty BOS Computer Sc. & Engg, Shivaji University Kolhapur
Phone 0230-2421300 cell 9422614723
Vivek Khurana
One of our tasks is to introduce FOSS electives in the Syllabi of at least 25
Universities throughout the country in the next 3 years. Also to train
teachers to teach these subjects. Therefore we will no longer randomly
sponsor/conduct Teacher Training Programs (TTPs), but will only conduct TTPs
in those universities that commit to introducing FOSS electives. So those of
you on this list who are in the Educational domain are requested to help us
arrange meetings with Vice-chancellors/HODs/BOS members in various
universities so that we can convince them to introduce these electives.
And what about the TTP's in universities which already have FOSS in the syllabus ? Will it count if an university has only FOSS mentioned in the lab syllabus ?
regards
Vivek
--
The hidden harmony is better than the obvious!!
Kenneth Gonsalves
> Thanks for information , it is great from my university we will fix up the
> date and we are ready to introduce as a elective in final year as final
> year syllabus restructuring is about to start.
that is good news - please inform us as to what help you need from our side.
> As i have mentioned earlier mails regarding FOSS lab server there is no
> further movement in this regards, pl discuss with srinivasan sir and let me
> know as all the colleges are demanding the same to make it effective from
> next semister. I think this will be good start because students and
> faculties should have hands on experience on FOSS.
Dr Srinivasan is now with CDAC, Chennai (but he is still consulting with us
also). Ms Latha G has joined in his place, and I will ask her to follow this
up.
> Again i have requested
> for one training program for students under DKTE-Walchand LInux User Group
> a exclusive training program sothat they can start taking projects for
> their final year with industrial sponsorships.I
when would you like to have this?
> my institute four projects
> were successfuly completed in FOSS this year as a outcome of training
> programs conducted in Jan 2008 and July 2008 respectively.
congratulations - this is really good news
Kenneth Gonsalves
> > you on this list who are in the Educational domain are requested to help
> > us arrange meetings with Vice-chancellors/HODs/BOS members in various
> > universities so that we can convince them to introduce these electives.
>
> And what about the TTP's in universities which already have FOSS in the
> syllabus ? Will it count if an university has only FOSS mentioned in the
> lab syllabus ?
we will train teachers if FOSS is already in the syllabus - and IMHO lab
syllabus is much more exciting than theory syllabus.
Vivek Khurana
we will train teachers if FOSS is already in the syllabus - and IMHO lab
syllabus is much more exciting than theory syllabus.
I wil agree with the lab part. I know few univs which have FOSS electives in syllabus but no one takes the elective because there is no teacher to teach. What is more surprising that some of these univs are national level respected univs.
On the other hand univs like UPT which have FOSS mentioned in lab syllabus are helping penetration of FOSS more than the electives. Mentioning CVS< SVN instead of VSS or tar, rcs instead of some windows backup utility is going to create more awareness of FOSS in IT than the elective. We need to remember elective will be taken by few students but lab will be common to all. So pitching for FOSS in lab along side electives makes more sense, plus changing lab syllabus is far easier than adding an elective. in most cases it would involve single word chages like replacing 'unix' with 'Linux' or replacing 'VSS' with 'CVS/SVN/GIT'
I am all for pushing FOSS in lab syllabus.
regards
Vivek
cnk...@au-kbc.org
I dont think there are any strict rules in these matters, and if you feel
that some support is needed for a college that is doing FOSS seriously in
its Lab classes, then that can certainly be organised.
But when something is only mentioned in the Lab syllabus, it is note clear
how seriously the dept takes it, where as if there is a Thoery paper, then
the whole thing is taken seriously and the dept. "owns it up" -- it
becomes"official" part of the program etc. Hence the higher premium on
having FOSS as a part of the Theory course.
Since TTP is typically a 5-6 day full time affair for a class of about
40-50 teachers, and a faculty of 8-10, and costing between 75k to 100k, we
would prefer that it is aimed at teaching a theory course, which of course
means that the formal approval process etc involving the University should
also have started, but not necessarily completed. Typically we have been
doing this in two parts --
(i) Have a half-day (or one-day) meeting of the Principals/HoDs/BoS
Members etc of a region presided over by the VC in which all the players
in-principle agree for the intorduction of the FOSS Electives. A suitable
person/group would be indetified here to pursue the matter further with
the University.
(ii) Once the above is done,organise a 5-6 day TTP for the teachers coming
under that university who would be teaching this course as soon as the
Univ gives its approval.
Typically the whole process could take 4-6 months, and is best done when
there is a strong champion from a college/university belonging to that
region.
Regards
C N Krishnan
Kenneth Gonsalves
> date and we are ready to introduce as a elective in final year as final
> year syllabus restructuring is about to start.
here are some of the syllabi that we have helped to implement:
http://nrcfoss.org.in/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=38&Itemid=69
you may modify one or more of them suitably for your needs
Debayan Banerjee
>
> hi,
> Therefore we will no longer randomly
> sponsor/conduct Teacher Training Programs (TTPs), but will only conduct TTPs
> in those universities that commit to introducing FOSS electives.
I have forwarded your mail to our HoD.
~Debayan Banerjee
NIT Durgapur, Department of Information Technology
--
Be Intelligent, Use GNU/Linux
http://debayanin.googlepages.com/
http://debayan.wordpress.com
http://lug.nitdgp.ac.in
Mohit Singh
I hope to find you in fine fettle.
Let me reintroduce myself as Mohit Singh,coordinator,M.Tech.(CS) of
UPTU Lucknow in IIMT Engineering College, Meerut(NCR). I have been
associated with BOS of UPTU as guest member for updation of
B.Tech.(CS) and B.Tech.(IT) final year curricula. I have also served
the BOS for creation of M.Tech.(CS) syllabus at UPTU.
We worked in the period from November 2006 to July 2007 and my
personal contribution was updation of B.Tech.(CS) and B.Tech.(IT)
final year labs as TOTALLY FOSS BASED LABS. I also put GNU/Linux at
the places in theory in case studies and wherever possible in both UG
and PG.
RMS came to IIT Roorkee on 24-03-2003 and I became a small soldier of
software freedom ever since. I am sending a copy of this syllabus.
BTW, IMHO NRCFOSS has done the seminal work in FOSS curricula and the
elective I and II syllabii may be used by ALL UNIVERSITIES just like
the threshold created by ocw.mit.edu in the field of open courseware.
I dont think any heavy editing is needed in elective I & II , and even
if its needed, we can generate a consensus by creating a feedback
mechanism after imposing it in the STATE TECHNICAL UNIVERSITIES.
From very first day, I have been opposing a piecemeal introduction of
FOSS by FSF/NRCFOSS/MIT. Free Software is the way of life and non free
shops are adjunct only. We have the right for information in
constitutions of democracies and that may be related for inclusion of
free software as a natural ingredient in the way of the computing.
To make a long story short, we need to make the HRD ministry realize
that the whole computerization has been moving in wrong direction with
the evolutionary dependence of non-free software. We need to involve a
policy decision by apex bodies like UGC,AICTE and MIT to come at one
platform and declare the adoption of free software as the first choice
for all needs. A copy of such a declaration may be sent to all BOS
heads and the academic councils of all UGC and AICTE approved bodies.
Non-free software is as bad as ragging or terrorism and even if this
is considered as extremism, at least it helps attain a gesture and
gives a message loud and clear.
Mohit Singh
Coordinator,
GLUG-MEERUT
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