Education/StatusMeetings/2009-06-22

Mozilla Education Status Meeting - June 22, 2009

Teleconference System Info

• Monday, June 22, 2009 11:00 am EDT, 8:00 Pacific, 1500 UTC (other time zones here)

• +1 650 903 0800 extension 92, conference # 7600 (US/International)
• +1 416 848 3114 extension 92, conference # 7600 (Canada)
• +1 800 707 2533 (password 369), conference # 7600 (US/Canada Toll Free)

Pressing *1 will mute or unmute your line. If you're having trouble hearing other people, pressing *6 will make the conference louder to you (*4 makes it quieter). If other people are having trouble hearing you, pressing *9 will make you louder to everyone else (*7 reverses this).

IRC Backchannel

During the call you can also join the #education channel. If you don't have an IRC client installed, you can use Mibbit to connect directly in your browser (enter a nickname and click Go). Whatever you type will be sent to the rest of the group in real time.

Agenda

• Discussion of the Open Source Textbook project and how we might a) help with it; and b) align it with things we're doing at Mozilla Education. (Dave)

Participants

• James Boston
• Greg Dekoenigsberg
• Frank Hecker
• Dave Humphrey
• Mark Surman
• Chris Tyler

Notes

Discussing http://teachingopensource.org/index.php/User:Gregdek/Textbook

Chris

• 2 publishing currently in discussion
• prentice-hall - not comfortable with CC for entire text
• oreilly comfortable with CC but not strong in educational space
• oreilly don't think it's a strong commercial viability

David

• having a textbook is nice because those not deeply engaged can dip toe
• for profs who are terrified

Frank

• commercial viability a red herring maybe
• print on demand / download textbook might work better? (esp. India)
• getting content from a book that we can repurpose is a win
• getting Mozilla content included is also a win

David

• Mozilla content would have upfront and ongoing cost to develop and maintain
• material will become out of date quickly

Frank

• perhaps look at content that is more overview rather the technology specific
• eg. Mozilla philosophy and how Mozilla operates

David

• so not try to be Mozilla developer center?
• I think Greg has a vision of something practical

Chris

• certainly a nuts and bolt side but also goals as well

Mark

• is the goal something to teach from or something about teaching?
• or is goal a book on how to participate?

David

• it's for someone not already an expert inside open source
• textbook is a traditional safety net in educational institution

Frank

• is it a good use of our time?
• yes because we will have to produce material like this ourselves

Mark

• up to what level of effort?

Chris

• Greg wants book divided up, each doing only a part
• book would be weaker without Mozilla
• maybe it won't be a published text book but content that can be remixed

Mark

• calling it a textbook helps
• we'd be willing to put effort into writing a case study
• we agree that there is a market gap but it is a bit tangential to Mozilla needs
• limit effort but take out a part and do it
• if it's a general textbook on how to participate is what we have done with Mozilla Education content useful?

Frank

• would like more concrete proposal for how work is split up
• regarding publisher, shouldn't worry about who publishes or how or whether it is commercial viability
• content useful even in partial form if under right license

David

• commercial viability influences who works on it and how much

Frank

• don't want to be stuck with an textbook under wrong license