Gregory Hislop, PhD, professor at the Drexel’s College of Computing & Informatics (CCI), was recognized by Red Hat as one of the top 21 instructors in higher education who have incorporated open source into their academic work.
The 21 instructors who were honored had proven their commitment to teaching open source through: running a “Professor’s Open Source Software Experience” or POSSE workshop; creating an open source program at their institution; contributing materials to the growing open source curriculum base; or speaking about teaching open source at conferences like the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing and the SIGCSE (Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education) Technical Symposium.
Red Hat assists Fortune 500 companies by using open source technology to solve problems within the business. Red Hat’s recognition is aimed at honoring the work of instructors coming from universities and colleges across the U.S. who are committed to teaching the open source development process to their students. The honorees are all past participants in Professor’s Open Source Software Experience (POSSE).
POSSE is a Red Hat-sponsored cultural immersion in the tools and practices of open source communities, designed for professors looking for ways to bring their students into active participation in those communities. Launched by Red Hat in 2009 and made possible through National Science Foundation grants awarded to Western New England University, Drexel University, and Nassau Community College, these workshops are designed to give professors the skills and experience needed to involve their students in open source projects and are co-taught by members of the academic and open source communities.
Outside of his efforts in open source projects, Hislop is currently focused on computing curriculum development and sharing, and online education. Hislop’s research interests include: computing education research, technology in education and software engineering. In his role as senior associate dean of academic affairs, Hislop addresses issues related to quality, strategy and content of education programs cross-College.