By Renata Ribero
She is located at a university on the countryside in Brazil. Universities moved to rural areas to promote sustainable development. Many of the students are from large cities on Brazil. 10%are African.
The uni was founded in 2006. She is on the digital design course, which is new. They are doing Moodle development.
They use free software for student projects. Work is hosted on the uni website.
The students went on a visit at the local hacker space for a project showcase. Students are collaborating with the hacker space now. This have the students ideas as well.
The kids prefer free software now.
Students decided their projects should reflect the community. Some of their work was about how they might do startups. Now they are working on websites and branding.
Only a tiny minority thought unis should only free software, but the vast majority more think floss is really important. More than 70%think it’s important to contribute to floss development.
They want to learn concepts more than tools.
Questions:
Will this experiment continue? Was language an issue in tutorials and documentation?
The language barrier is an issue. They all want to learn English, bit it’s not taught in state schools, so they’re just starting. Students are also z seeking a regional identity when joining user communities. They are now doing peer learning groups, which is helpful.
