AN EMPIRICAL APPROACH TO EVALUATE STUDENTS PARTICIPATION IN FREE/OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE PROJECTS

Despite the popularity and global adoption of Free/Open Source Software (F/OSS), the implementation of teaching and learning methodologies in the context of traditional software engineering courses is still a novelty. This paper summarizes the approach we used to evaluate the participation of students in a F/OSS teaching and learning framework. The framework was implemented as a pilot study in which students volunteered to participate in software testing in F/OSS projects. The evaluation approach we discuss here is based on (a) students' participation in software testing and (b) results from two online surveys. In the evaluation process we utilized a statistical approach (both descriptive and inferential) we considered appropriate for assessing the students. We hope that our evaluation approach will help us further understand and strengthen empirical and experimental software engineering research in this emerging technology.