In spite of several successful programs [7], incorporation of FOSS4G into
GIST education remains challenging. Although substantial educational material
is available, preparing and maintaining free, up to date, on-line educational
material for multiple systems requires substantial resources in time and expertise
but the number of faculty directly involved in FOSS4G projects is still rather
small. Student contributions to FOSS4G remain limited in spite of positive
role of GSoC and university research laboratories. Several initiatives based on
experiences from universities with successful programs [7] may bring progress
on these issues. The proposed global network of OSGEO Research and Education
Laboratories [10], if supported by sufficient funding, has a potential to create
a coordinated front for FOSS4G education material development, including
electronic textbooks, task oriented software tutorials, lectures and webinars.
Direct involvement of university faculty and students in the FOSS4G projects
as power users or developers and broader participation in GSoC as mentors and
programmers could provide the bridge between the academic world and FOSS4G
development community. Testing of new modules, development of add-on tools
and contribution to teaching materials can be incorporated into courses as class
assignments, helping students to overcome potential barriers to involvement in
FOSS4G communities.
As the successful programs demonstrate, FOSS4G provides a cost-effective,
portable and highly functional toolset for interdisciplinary research and education
that is especially valuable in science and engineering programs. With coordinated
effort and collaboration of academic community it can be fully integrated into
GIST curricula worldwide and bring a new level of innovation and creativity
into geoinformatics and geomatics education.