My answers, as promised. I've probably agonized over them too long, so
I'm just going to ship...
1. Do we want to do POSSE (or other types of faculty workshops) this
summer?
Yes - I think they're a valuable drumbeat to keep up. There are tweaks
and edits we can make, but I think it's worth doing again, provided
there's interest in organizing and attending.
2. If so, what might we be willing to pitch in / put up for it?
It's easy to say "yes, that'd be a good idea" up until you're forced to
pony up the resources to make it happen yourself. :) For me personally:
I've loved running POSSE the past few years, but I'm at the point where
I want to look at the *effects* and the *effectiveness* of POSSE and TOS
-- and since nobody else is stepping up to do that research (any
takers?) I'd like to hand responsibility for its operations and
logistics off and start that research myself. I know I cannot
simultaneously research POSSE *and* bear the load of keeping the program
in existence -- at most, I can do one of the two, and I've done the
latter for a while now.
I love -- and am willing to -- do curriculum development and teach
workshops, but need to think about finances for the summer (ah, grad
student life). I'm also willing to work on or help with grant
applications to fund POSSE, but will need plenty of coaching through
that process. And I will, of course, help with the transition as I can.
But if POSSE's going to keep happening, others are going to have to step
up with funding, hosting space, attendees, help with recruiting,
organization, etc.
3. If not, what do we want to do instead? ("Nothing" is a completely
valid answer -- we shouldn't do something for the sake of having
something to do!)
I would advocate for doing some other Fairly Largish Project with a
Concrete Milestone and Drumbeat if we drop POSSE, because I fear that
without *something* central to keep a TOS drumbeat going, we'll lose
cohesion. I'm curious what other proposals/ideas there might be. Is
there something higher-impact we could do to strengthen the TOS
community (and what criteria for "higher-impact" are we using)?
--Mel
_______________________________________________
tos mailing list
tos@teachingopensource.org
http://lists.teachingopensource.org/mailman/listinfo/tos
