The openSE Project:

“openSE – open educational framework for computer science Software Engineering”

Project Objective
• To set up an Open Educational Framework for Software Engineering bringing
together academia, formally enrolled students, fellow students, free learners outside
of formal education and open source practitioners and enterprises.
• To systematically combine formal and informal learning within an unfettered
informal learning environment.
• To stimulate participatory learning experiences and foster practical ‘hands-on’
sessions where learning activities and output become a learning resource itself.
• To enable current and future learners to benefit continuously and fully from others'
achievements, regardless where these achievements have been made.

About
The openSE project brings together higher education institutions, open source projects and
enterprises from different countries, from Europe and beyond, to collaboratively build up a
common learning ecosystem.
The openSE framework is an open approach to computer science Software Engineering and
aims at the continuous provision of up to date and relevant learning materials and
opportunities that match students' interests and employers' demand; providing firms with
better educated employees and allow learners to acquire an enhanced set of skills than
traditional educational provision does. The openSE framework will be open to any type of
learner: students of partnering universities, learners from the enterprise field, or 'free
learners' outside of any type of formal educational context. Within the openSE project we
aim at drawing on ongoing initiatives and prior experiences on open educational provision
or experiences of computer science education within open source projects.
We cordially invite fellow educational institutions, practitioners and enterprises from the
open source field, and all types of learners to contribute to the development of openSE, be it
in terms of structuring and shaping the openSE environment, to provide learning resources,
mentorship and support opportunities, etc.

Why openSE?
Traditionally, in closed formal education, students cannot fully benefit from and build upon
the achievements of previous student cohorts or firms and learners outside of the institution.
Similarly, learners outside traditional educational institutions cannot benefit from students’
learning processes and outcomes inside these institutions.
In contrast, the Web 2.0 offers opportunities for open and inclusive education. Open Source
communities, for example, have proven that volunteer collaboration can outperform
traditional ways of knowledge creation and sharing, which are the cornerstones of
innovativeness.
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This
publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the
Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the
information contained therein.
A reasonable way to better exploit these opportunities is applying the principles of open
participatory learning to existing training courses. This appears particularly appropriate for
Computer Science, as only in this field the approach can directly build upon the
achievements of the global open source community.
We therefore propose an Open Educational Framework for Software Engineering - openSE.
openSE brings together HEIs, formally enrolled students, fellow students, free learners
outside of formal education, open source practitioners and enterprises. The novelty of the
openSE project is that it systematically combines formal and informal learning within an
unfettered informal learning environment.
openSE will stimulate participatory learning experiences, involving practical ‘hands-on’
sessions where learning activities and output become a learning resource itself. OpenSE thus
enables future learners to benefit continuously and fully from others' achievements,
regardless where these achievements have been made.
A deeper understanding of educational settings that integrate formal education with expert
driven communities will help developing new educational scenarios that unfold the
opportunities the web provides and goes beyond software engineering. It will strengthen the
linkage between education and business and increase the speed of innovation.

Partnership
• Aristotle University of Thessaloniki – Greece (Pilot Lead)
• EPITA, Ecole pour l'Informatique et les Techniques Avancées – France
• Free Technology Academy - The Netherlands (Content Lead)
• IBM Europe – Belgium
• Sociedade Portuguesa de Inovação - Portugal (co-ordinator)
• Tampere University of Technology, Department of Software Systems – Finland
• The Open University, Institute of Educational Technology (IET) – UK
• Universidade Rey Juan Carlos, Departamento de Sistemas Telemáticos y
Computación – Spain (Technical Lead)
• University of Oxford - OSSWatch, Research Technology Service (RTS), Oxford
University Computing Services. - UK (Learner support Lead)
• UNU-MERIT: United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and social
Research and training centre on Innovation and Technology - The Netherlands
(Evaluation Lead)

Project website: www.openSE.net

For further information:

on the concept, related research & earlier works please contact:
Andreas Meiszner (meiszner@merit.unu.edu)
with regards to the LLP funded project co-ordination please contact:
Jose Carvalho (josecarvalho@spi.pt)

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This
publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the
Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the
information contained therein.