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Classes Using Open Source
There are two core ways curriculum at Oregon State is using free/open source software:
- Adopting open source applications as teaching tools
- Teaching directly discussing free/open source development
OSU classes adopting free/open source applications as teaching tools
- CS 161,CS 162 Eclipse is now the recommended development environment for students to use in the very first programming courses.
- CS 261 Data Structures. In this course students get their first exposure to classic data structures, such as stacks, heaps, hash tables, and the like. As students learn about these abstractions, assignments are given out that have them see how they are actually used in working open source software systems.
- CS 275 Introduction to Databases. Uses mysql, PHP, Python and other open source applications. These are again used in CS 295 (Advanced web page design) and CS 440 (database management)
- ENGR 201 One of the first Engineering classes (used by all Engineering disciplines, not just EE) students make extensive use of a graphical data logger program. The program was developed by OSU undergraduates and is released under an OSS license.
- ECE 111, ECE 375, ECE 473 Students in Electrical Engineering in several courses program Atmel boards using a graphical interface developed by OSU undergraduates and released under an OSS license.
- ECE 473 The instructor for ECE 473 distributes a modified version of Ubuntu bundled with other tools needed for this course. A number of open source licened tools are used in this course.
- BA483 IT Strategy and E-Commerce. This capstone course for Information Systems majors puts students to work building real business applications. About 1/3 of these students choose to build their application on a LAMP stack.
OSU classes directly discussing free/open source development
- CS 411 Operating Systems II. This course covers a variety of topics about the design and implementation of operating systems and class projects are designed around the Linux Kernel. The OSEL helps too, see our CS411 page.
- CS 419 Selected Topics in Computer Science: Open Source. This course taught by Dr. Tim Budd will cover a variety of topics on open source software including, licenses, development styles, revision control systems, and interacting with communities.
OSU classes studying free/open source business models
The OSU College of Business offers courses that discuss open source software ideals, licenses and business models.
- BA 469 Strategic Management course. Sections of this course taught by Dr. Corrine Gobeli use Linux as a case study in disruptive technologies and discuss the strategic business case for FOSS.
- B572 Advanced Information Systems. This graduate course studies a number of IT cost studies and critiques the approaches made by each study. The question this course tries to answer is: "How much does IT cost?"
- The following courses feature one or more guest lectures by Dr. Rene Reitsma. These lectures cover a gamut of topics including the history of FOSS, licenses, business strategies and economic models. A few brief case studies are also presented.
