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Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) projects operate transparently, providing excellent educational opportunities for computing students to acquire and practice both technical and softer skills that are in high demand. Humanitarian Free and Open Source Software (HFOSS) projects are FOSS projects that broadly but intentionally aim to improve the human condition. This paper analyzes data from five years of a two-semester capstone experience in which students consider a number of FOSS and/or HFOSS projects and choose one to engage with. Findings support assertions that projects with humanitarian goals are preferred by both women and students with lower confidence in their software development and teamwork skills. The data analysis is suggestive that African American, Black and Hispanic (ABH) students may also show preferences for projects with humanitarian goals. An exploratory analysis of pre-course survey data adds additional insight into how gender, race/ethnicity, student confidence and perceptions of community may influence project selection, helping to identify important directions for further investigation. Collectively the results presented here reinforce suggestions that incorporating HFOSS, or more generally computing with social value, holds potential for broadening participation in computing.
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Support for Broadening Participation through Humanitarian Free and Open Source Software
The necessity and benefits of broadening participation in computing and the roles that computing programs must play in addressing this challenge have been well documented. Elevating the social value of computing has been advocated as an approach to increasing the appeal of computing to both women and other underrepresented groups. This poster adds empirical support for that approach. It reports on the analysis of projects selected by students over four years of a two-semester senior capstone. In this capstone students select Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) communities with which to engage. The students learned about FOSS principles and processes and were introduced to humanitarian FOSS (HFOSS). They completed pre-semester surveys and engaged in a three-stage project selection process. The types of projects that students considered (FOSS or HFOSS) support the assertion that computing with social value is appealing to both females and students in underrepresented groups. Analysis of pre-semester attitude surveys adds additional insight and suggests further avenues for investigation.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2013069
- PAR ID:
- 10287711
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Proceedings of the Annual SIGCSE Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education
- ISSN:
- 1931-0536
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 1306
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Conference Paper:
- https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1145/3408877.3439629
