Seneca College teams with FOSS projects for hands-on learning 塞内卡学院为实践学习与FOSS项目合作
Submitted by Fannie on Thu, 08/14/2008 - 18:05.
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Seneca College teams with FOSS projects for hands-on learning
塞内卡学院为实践学习与FOSS项目合作
By（作者）: Bruce Byfield
Trans（编译）：<www.17lamp.com> Fannie
Where most computer science departments emphasize theory and mention free and open source software (FOSS) only indirectly, Seneca College in Toronto, Canada, offers a different approach: a hands-on introduction to the community in partnership with the Mozilla and Fedora projects. Now in its third year, the program is expanding rapidly and receiving attention from other academic institutions that hope to imitate it.
有一所学府，那里多数的计算机科学系都强调理论，只是间接的提及自由开源软件，但最近提供了一种不同的学习方法：与Mozilla和Fedora项目合作，对社区做亲身实践的介绍，这所学府就是加拿大多伦多的塞内卡学院。现在是合作的第三年，这个计划扩展得非常迅速，并且受到其他学院的关注，希望能仿效它。
According to Chris Tyler, one of the professors involved in the teaching and development of the program, Seneca College has been using FOSS in its courses for 15 years. However, when Mike Shaver and other evangelists from Mozilla's Toronto office began giving presentations on free software at the college, professor David Humphrey started working on Mozilla-related projects with students outside of class. As this extracurricular work began being integrated into the course material, it led to a $50,000 grant from Mozilla in 2006, and an additional $100,000 grant in 2007.
Chris Tyler是教育和项目发展的其中一个教授，据他说，塞内卡学院在各个课程中使用FOSS已经长达15年了。但是，当Mike Shaver和Mozilla多伦多办事处的其他传导师开始在学院赠送免费软件的时候，David Humphrey教授就已经开始与相关项目的学生在课后实践在Mozilla工作了。在2006年，当这项业余工作开始与主要素材整合的时候，David Humphrey教授和他的学生们享受了$50,000的津贴，到2007年，又增加了$100,000的津贴。
This year, the Fedora project began a similar relationship with Seneca, due largely to the efforts of Chris Blizzard, a former employee of Red Hat, Fedora's parent corporation, who now works at Mozilla. Red Hat also gave an undisclosed grant to Seneca.
Currently, Seneca offers four upper undergraduate course that involve Mozilla, two each in the Bachelor of Software Development and the Computer Programming and Analysis Diploma. It also offers the week-long Real World Mozilla course. This fall, thanks to Fedora, it will add the graduate-level Linux/Unix System Administration program.
今年，主要是由于Chris Blizzard的原因（Chris Blizzard原本在Fedora的母公司Red Hat工作，现在在Mozilla就职），Fedora项目和塞内卡学院开始了相似的合作关系。Red Hat也给了塞内卡学院一笔数字不予公开的津贴。
So far, approximately 150 students have taken Seneca's undergraduate courses in free software. "About half the students maintain some sort of involvement in open source," Tyler says. One recent student contributed a plugin to Firefox 3 that Mozilla developers said couldn't be written, and several have gone on to become Mozilla interns and employees.
到目前为止，大约150名学生参加了塞内卡的大学部的免费软件课程。“大约有一半的学生维护某些与开源相关的种类（的软件）。”Tyler说。一名新来的学生写出了一个连Mozilla开发商都说写不出来的Firefox 3插件，还有些学生已经成为Mozilla的实习生或者正式员工了。
Introducing FOSS
FOSS介绍
Those involved explain that the Seneca programs are necessary because familiarity with the free software world is not something that traditional computer science can teach.
那些对塞内卡项目相关的介绍是非常必要的，因为对自由软件世界的熟悉不是传统的计算机科学就可以教授的。
Greg DeKonigsberg, Fedora's liaison with Seneca, says, "There's a lot of knowledge that's just not taught that you need [in order] to participate in an open source project. There's a difference in how open source is approached [compared to] traditional software, and it's not like you can learn it in a book. It's very much an apprenticeship model."
Greg DeKonigsberg，Fedora与塞内卡的联络人，说，“有很多你需要的知识是教不了的，只有通过在开源项目中实践你才能学会。开源和传统软件相比有一个区别就是动手处理，并且处理得到的知识和你从书本学到的知识是不一样的。更象是以学徒身份的模仿。”
Frank Hecker, executive director of the Mozilla Foundation, makes the same point, referring to the learning process within the free software community as "osmosis."
Frank Hecker，Mozilla基金会的执行董事，提出同一观点，提到自由软件社区里的学习过程就像“渗透作用”。
"What they're doing is not something you can capture in a course book or video," Hecker says. "Part of the reason that the Seneca project works is that you don't just have students working on an isolated project, where they do the project on their own, they hand it in, and the teachers evaluate it. Part of the process is that [students] actually get directly involved in the community. they don't just submit code; they have to get involved in the Mozilla development processes. They're really learning as a sort of junior person to the more senior members of the project how to be a Mozilla developer. And there's no Big Book of Mozilla that will tell you everything you need to know. You have to learn by doing."
“他们做的东西不是你在课本还是录像中可以学到的，”Hecker说。“塞内卡项目运作其中一部分的原因就是，你不能只要学生在一个各自孤立的项目研究，也就是他们自己做自己的项目，然后上交，然后老师给他们评分。还有一部分过程，是学生要亲身实际地接触和介入社区。他们不能只提交代码，他们要进入Mozilla拓展进程。他们要真正成为一个种类的新生，向项目的资深成员学习怎样成为一个Mozilla开发商。并且，在Mozilla，并没有什么制胜宝典、学习手册这些东西告诉你需要知道什么东西。你必须要在工作中才能学习到你想要的知识。”
Among the knowledge that students learn via the Seneca projects, Hecker suggests, are: "How do you submit bugs? How do you get reviews for your code patches? How do you participate in the build process and don't mess it up?"
学生通过塞内卡项目能学习到的知识中，Hecker的建议是：“你怎么递交错误？你怎么得到代码补丁的复检？你怎么参与修造的过程并且不要混淆他们？”
DeKonigsberg says, "These are skills that people just don't learn at the undergraduate level."
DeKonigsberg说，“这些都是在大学里学不到的技能。”
Even those students who do not continue working in the FOSS community benefit, Tyler suggests. They learn to work with code bases several orders of magnitude greater than those in traditional student projects; pick up skills in project management, collaboration, and testing; and become acquainted with FOSS -- an acquaintance that is becoming increasingly necessary in the general high-tech world. And, of course, if they complete their FOSS projects, they have a real-world example of their coding skills to show employers.
虽然那些学生不是一直在FOSS社区持续地工作，但仍然是有所收益的。Tyler说。他们和代码基础及一些量值次序一起学习着工作，这要比那些传统的学习项目要好；他们在项目管理、合作和测试中学到技能；变得更加熟悉FOSS――这份熟悉在一般高科技世界中变得越来越重要。并且，理所当然的，如果他们完成了他们FOSS的项目，他们在现实世界中就有了一个编码技能的实例可以展示给他们的雇主看。
"Trying to teach these things artificially, either by creating a false open source community for the purposes of the class, or teaching them outside the community, is not effective," Tyler says bluntly. "This is a very applied, pragmatic approach. We've really become convinced that it's the most effective way to teach open source development."
“设法用人工教授这些东西，既不是以班级的目的创造一个虚拟的开源社区，也不是在社区之外教他们，这些都不是很有效果。”Tyler直言道。“这是一种非常实用，非常注重实效的方法。我们真的越来越相信，这已经是教授开源发展的一条最有效的通道。”
The benefits to projects
对项目的好处
That makes the benefit to Seneca's students clear, but why are Mozilla and Fedora so willing to work with Seneca? In Mozilla's case, part of the reason may be that some of the grant money goes directly toward paying the costs of Mozilla employees who fly in to give presentations. However, there are also more indirect benefits for the projects involved.
很明显，这个合作对塞内卡的学生非常有好处，那为什么Mozilla和Fedora也愿意去和塞内卡学院合作呢？在Mozilla 这个项目里，有一部分原因可能是津贴里的一部分资金会直接给Mozilla的那些作了很大贡献的员工。但是更多的是介入的项目的间接效益。
"From a Mozilla perspective, it wasn't just promoting Mozilla in general," Hecker says. "It's also a training facility to provide additional people to work on the Mozilla project." By contrast, he explains, people who volunteer in their spare time take much longer to reach the point where they are major contributors or potential employees. In effect, he says, the Seneca program is a way for Mozilla to actively develop and shape potential contributors.
“从Mozilla这方面来看，它不是一般地提升了Mozilla的水平。”Hecker说。“这也是一项训练设施，提供了额外人力资源去为Mozilla项目工作。”相反地，他解释，志愿者在他们的业余时间花费更多的力气去达到目标，他们是主要的贡献者，也是很有潜力的雇员。他说，实际上，塞内卡项目是Mozilla的一个能有效地开发和塑造潜在的贡献者的方式。
Although the Fedora part of the program is still being developed, DeKonigsberg hopes for similar advantages for his project. In addition, he points out that "Students bring a lot of perspective that [those already in the project] can miss. One of the problems of working every day in a project is that you become desensitized to the pain points of new contributors. But to students, those pain points are obvious if you're paying attention." In other words, by listening to students, DeKongisberg hopes to improve the prevailing practices within in Fedora.
虽然Fedora一部分项目仍然在开发中，但DeKonigsberg也希望他的项目能得到相同的好处。另外，他指出“学生们带来了（已经在项目中出现的）很多看法是不可错过的。每天都工作在一个项目中会产生的一个问题就是，你会对新贡献者做出的努力变得不太敏感。但对学生，如果你稍加注意的话，这些努力是很明显的。“换句话说，通过听学生的倾诉，DeKongisberg希望能在Fedora中改进主要的业务。
Even if students don't stay with Fedora, but use it as a gateway to other FOSS projects, DeKonigsberg says, "That would be a huge success. Our supply chain is the global commons of free software, which means that it is in our direct interest to do whatever we can to grow that commons."
DeKonigsberg说，即使学生没有留在Fedora，但如果使用Fedora作为对其他FOSS项目的一个门户也会有很大的成功。我们的供应链是免费软件的全球共享，这意味着在我们直接利益范围中，只要我们能做到的，我们都要做，继而来使这个共享的供应链成长。
Exporting the lessons
课程输出
The addition of Fedora to the Seneca programs is only the beginning, Tyler says. Another project is scheduled to start working with the college in the fall, and Tyler says that he is also talking to several other projects about their participation.
Fedora对塞内卡项目的增加仅仅是一个开始。Tyler说。另一个项目预计是秋季，与一个学院合作，Tyler同时也表示了，他也在和其他一些项目就相互之间的合作进行了交流。
Not only that, but, according to Hecker, Seneca has "received a lot of interest from France, Japan, and elsewhere about how to do similar projects, both for Mozilla and other open source projects."
但是，还是不仅如此，根据Hecker所说，塞内卡还“接受了许多关注的目光，包括法国、日本，还有其他一些地方，都是关于如何进行类似的项目的，这些项目既包括Mozilla，也包括了其他一些开源项目。”
To help satisfy curiosity about the college's programs, Tyler and Humphrey have added an educational track to Seneca's Free Software and Open Source Symposium this year, and Tyler is scheduled to speak at the upcoming Ottawa Linux Symposium on the college's programs.
为了帮助满足学院项目的求知欲，Tyler和Humphrey在今年对塞内卡免费软件和开源讨论会增加了一条教育的通道，并且Tyler也被安排了在学院项目中即将到来的渥太华Linux讨论会上发言。
Seneca's FOSS instructors are also in the early stages of developing a FOSS curriculum -- a venture in which Fedora in particular hopes to be actively involved. "My ideal goal would be a completely open source curriculum about the open source development methodology," DeKonigsberg says.
塞内卡的FOSS辅导员们也是FOSS课程的启蒙老师――Fedora特别希望他的项目能被积极地介入的一个尝试。“我的理想目标是成立一门关于开源发展方法学的完整的开源课程。”DeKonigsberg说。
By any standards, Seneca's FOSS projects seem an innovative success. The reason, those involved agree, is that as a polytechnic, the college, as Tyler says, "specifically has a mandate for applied, pragmatic applications."
不管根据什么标准，塞内卡的FOSS项目看起来都是一次革新的成功。原因，就是那些介入项目的认可，就是学院成为了一个工艺学校，正如Tyler所说的一样，“特别是对使用的、重实效的应用方面有了一个要求。”
By contrast, Hecker says, traditional computer science departments at larger academic institutions are more interested in research, with the ultimate goals of creating new graduates, prestigious publications, and, ultimately, valuable patents. "Because Seneca is not a traditional computer science school, it was willing to think outside the box and think about serving its traditional mission, which is helping people to go out and get jobs," Hecker says.
相反， Hecker说，在一些更大的学术机构中，传统的计算机科学系是对研究方面更感兴趣，他们带着终极目标：塑造新的毕业生，创建声望很高的出版物，并且最终，成就一项有价值的专利。“但是由于塞内卡不是一所传统计算机科学学校，它愿意在跳出这个圈子去考虑问题，当然也会考虑如何服务于他传统的使命：如何帮助他的学生出去后得到工作。”Hecker说。
DeKonigsberg says much the same, suggesting that, by working with the FOSS community, where sharing information is a prime virtue, Seneca is helping post-secondary education return to its original ideals.
DeKonigsberg也是这样表示的，他建议，通过与FOSS社区合作（在那里，分享信息是头等美德），塞内卡正在帮助继续再教育，这回归到了一个学院原始的理想。
"This is what universities are supposed to be about -- the creation and dispersal of knowledge," DeKongisberg enthuses. "Increasingly, universities are about locking up knowledge for profit. My hope is that we can make sure that, at least in the software world, we're putting up a good fight against that happening."
“这就是一所大学应该做的事――知识的创造和传播，”DeKongisberg充满了热情，“越来越多地，许多大学都是为了盈利而把知识封闭了。我的希望是，我们用我们的力量能够确保至少在软件世界中这种事情不会发生，我们在打一场漂亮的反击战。”
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