> There is a POSSE seeding issue we'll keep having. If we require a > physical human presence on site to start a POSSE seed in a part of the > globe, it's going to slow things down ... when they are slow enough > already. :)
Honestly, I think they're pretty fast - after June alone, we'll have multiplied the number of POSSE alumni by at least 5. Exponential growth takes a little time to snowball. > What alternatives do we have? > > Video conferencing + FOSS tools being used? Not as a replacement for a POSSE. I believe the in-person aspect of the experience is an important one; we're not trying to (just) teach technical skills, we're trying to teach cultural immersion - and we need the lowest possible communication barrier since we only have a week to do it. > Accepting a FOSS expert (e.g. Jan) as an instructor without previous > POSSE experience? Technically speaking, this is what we did/will-do for the POSSEs in Singapore, Worcester, and to some extent California. A large amount of effort and advance planning - and remote meeting and prep time - has gone in to getting the second instructor and the curriculum ready for POSSE in all three cases; it's workable, but it does take extra effort to sync-up. > On that last one, my biggest concern is the one that Matt taught me -- > the need for at least one of the instructors to intimately know the > experience of teaching and academics. But that person doesn't have to > be a POSSE graduate. Our current requirements, from http://teachingopensource.org/index.php/POSSE_Instructors, seem to fulfill this: * A POSSE must be taught by at least 2 instructors. * A POSSE must have at least 1 instructor who has taught a POSSE before. * A POSSE must have at least 1 instructor with deep community involvement in that POSSE's focal project. * A POSSE should have at least 1 instructor who is teaching, or has taught, at the college level. > Or do we accept the slower pace? Patience is good - and multiplying by a factor of 6 (likely more by the end of the calendar year) seems pretty good to me. We'll be starting Summer 2011 POSSE planning in June... one thing I've been repeatedly told is that things move a little more slowly in this world. :) --Mel _______________________________________________ tos mailing list tos@teachingopensource.org http://teachingopensource.org/mailman/listinfo/tos
