00:06:56 <lorip> #startmeeting 00:06:56 <zodbot> Meeting started Wed Oct 9 00:06:56 2013 UTC. The chair is lorip. Information about MeetBot at http://wiki.debian.org/MeetBot. 00:06:56 <zodbot> Useful Commands: #action #agreed #halp #info #idea #link #topic. 00:07:11 <lorip> #topic updates 00:07:23 <lorip> bcoleman: willing to start? 00:07:32 <bcoleman> #info Yes, I'll start 00:07:46 <bcoleman> About 4 weeks ago Matt announced that he's accepted a position at Google. 00:07:56 <bcoleman> He will be leaving Moravian around November 1. 00:08:06 <joanne_t> Wow! 00:08:07 <darci> wow...I didn't expect that. 00:08:12 <lorip> ugh 00:08:22 <bcoleman> As a result, "our" plans for OpenMRS have become "my" plans for OpenMRS. 00:08:25 <joanne_t> Was he tenured? 00:08:44 <bcoleman> No, but tenure wasn't an issue. He was set. 00:09:04 <bcoleman> He was approached by Google, and he feels this is just too good an opportunity to pass up. 00:09:11 <joanne_t> Well, ok... 00:09:42 <bcoleman> Our plan was to teach our 2 software engineering courses at the same time next semester and use the students from both courses as a large team. 00:09:58 <bcoleman> I still plan to do so in my course - although at this point I don't know which of the 2 courses I'll be teaching. 00:10:16 <lorip> does this mean you are covering his courses at the end of the semester? 00:10:34 <bcoleman> Our program only has 2 people total, so the department (joint with math) is trying to figure out what to do. 00:10:52 <joanne_t> That's a hit. 00:11:22 <bcoleman> He is teaching extra sessions during the remaining weeks, and he is going to grade projects and the final exam, so we do not need to find anyone for this semester. 00:11:53 <darci> hi fuzzybunny 00:12:01 <fuzzybunny> hi, sorry i am late 00:12:15 <darci> it's ok :-) 00:12:24 <lorip> no problem fuzzybunny, bcoleman was just catching us up 00:12:36 <bcoleman> I have I have an email to Heidi and Greg started. I guess this announcement will mean that I'll need to get that out ASAP... 00:12:38 <fuzzybunny> great, thx 00:13:34 <bcoleman> So, it's been an interesting semester so far... 00:13:46 <bcoleman> My other item for the update is more positive. 00:13:50 <lorip> i can only imagine 00:14:38 <bcoleman> We have an alumnus at Merck who is the Director of Emerging Technologies. I've worked with him in the past to help our students get jobs. One of those students got me back in touch with him, and we started talking internships. 00:14:58 <bcoleman> In the midst of that conversation, I mentioned this project, and he was suddenly quite interested in what we're doing. 00:15:16 <bcoleman> Turns out they are exploring the option to utilize some of the OpenMRS framework in some of their projects. 00:15:24 <lorip> cool! 00:15:59 <bcoleman> He and I are working to find a time that we can meet weekly to talk about how to incorporate our students into this project. 00:16:12 <bcoleman> Kinda like a triangle of a "team." 00:16:14 <darci> sounds like your students are quite likely to get an internship! 00:16:23 <bcoleman> Not sure where this is headed, but it seems like a great opportunity. 00:16:31 <bcoleman> That's all I got. 00:16:36 <bcoleman> Sorry it isn't more interesting… ;) 00:17:16 <lorip> lots of stuff going on, definitely more interesting than what I've got to report... 00:17:36 <bcoleman> recall that Chinese curse… I'm living it! 00:18:03 <darci> Chinese curse? 00:18:22 * lorip thinking Chinese curse, should I google it (no pun intended) 00:18:40 <bcoleman> "May you live in interesting times." 00:18:48 <fuzzybunny> yeah, i just googled it 00:19:44 <lorip> I can go next, my update will be quick... 00:20:04 <lorip> ok? 00:20:24 <joanne_t> ok 00:20:25 <fuzzybunny> shoot 00:20:36 <lorip> #info 00:21:14 <lorip> not sure where I left off at the end of the summer but I finally got the dev environment up and running before the semester began 00:21:39 <bcoleman> congrats! I know it was a major battle. 00:21:59 <lorip> I'm not teaching a class where I can use OpenMRS this semester, but last Friday I met with a student taking Joanne's independent study and a few other CS students 00:22:18 <lorip> they are interested in getting involved in OpenMRS 00:22:46 <joanne_t> Who were the others? Do you know them? 00:22:52 <lorip> I spent time identifying a ticket and then trying to figure out how to fix it - totally overwhelmed! 00:23:15 <joanne_t> YES! Overwhelmed is good! 00:23:29 <lorip> one was Ed Pappalardo, the other was named Justin, but I don't know his last name 00:23:38 <darci> Williams 00:24:02 <lorip> I wasn't any help at all. I have no idea on how to figure out where in the source code to start looking... 00:24:02 <joanne_t> I know justin 00:24:56 <joanne_t> To be honest, i think the activity of searching through code for a big is an independent activity. At least it starts out that way. 00:25:04 <joanne_t> For a bug 00:25:09 <lorip> so I would love to hear how others have approached their first ticket and contribution 00:26:13 <bcoleman> Well, for mine I blew through the allotted time without fixing the bug - heck, I wasn't even sure what most of the code meant by then! 00:26:29 <joanne_t> I began by tracing the code from the jsp web interface pages. Eventually i found the file 00:27:06 <joanne_t> It also tooke me longer than the time estimated 00:27:15 <lorip> joanne_t: so you looked in the web application code first? 00:27:25 <joanne_t> Yes webapp 00:27:35 <bcoleman> I learned a bunch of new technologies - at least the basics of them... 00:27:48 <bcoleman> Mine was in the core. 00:27:49 <darci> Hence you 00:27:59 <darci> *your Career Planning activity 00:28:23 <darci> Which I really like btw. 00:28:23 <fuzzybunny> for the two I looked the bug gave some pointers where to look 00:29:12 <lorip> what I'm wondering, is if we find it difficult/overwhelming, how do we make it more accessible for our students? 00:30:52 <fuzzybunny> How about students work together? Also, I have seen that if people show initiative and post questions on the mailing list people are pretty responsive. 00:30:58 <darci> I'm hoping to put an entire class on a bug...so much for two heads are better than one! 00:31:15 <joanne_t> I think they are handling it ok. They are confused, but i assured them tbere is a solution. They seem to like they challenge. 00:31:25 <lorip> that's all for me 00:31:41 <joanne_t> Ok i'll go 00:32:14 <bcoleman> I have similar concerns about students getting overwhelmed. 00:32:30 <joanne_t> My ind study has 2 students now, which has made our meetings interesting. 00:32:50 <joanne_t> They help each other, which is great, 00:33:51 <joanne_t> Our meeting this week was great. They each have the dev env running, and they both have tickets checked out that they are working on. 00:34:26 <lorip> Do you feel like they have had any interaction with the community thus far? 00:34:48 <joanne_t> I've alreday solved one of the tickets, so i can assist him if he really gets stuck. I intend to do the same with the other 00:35:50 <fuzzybunny> Did they pick out the tickets to work on or did you point them at some that looked doable? 00:36:01 <joanne_t> Yes, david has contacted someone, i forgot who, and have lengthy corrrespondence. Not sure about Lamar. 00:36:43 <joanne_t> I picled one of the tickets. The other i helped the student pick one himself. 00:37:09 <joanne_t> Sorry about my typing. On a tablet 00:37:48 <fuzzybunny> Just wondering. I think it might be a good thing to help them with so they don't bite off something too difficult 00:38:03 <becka> So sorry to be so late. heck of a day 00:38:11 <darci> Hi becka! 00:38:16 <bcoleman> welcome! 00:38:18 <becka> :-) 00:38:21 <lorip> hi becka! 00:38:29 <fuzzybunny> Hi! 00:38:48 <joanne_t> All the 'getting started' bugs are easy fixes. And you can always unassign it if you can'r do it. 00:38:48 <becka> **waves to all 00:38:58 <joanne_t> Hi becka 00:39:22 <lorip> becka: we are in the process of doing updates 00:39:38 <becka> OK. I will also read the log after 00:39:42 <lorip> joanne_t was filling us in on her independent study 00:40:07 <lorip> I didn't have much to say and definitely read bcoleman's report 00:40:13 <joanne_t> I'm just about done. 00:40:27 <bcoleman> yeah, cause I had the "exciting" news… :) 00:41:46 <joanne_t> My students really like the experience. One is on linux, the other on mac 00:42:31 <becka> bcoleman now I am on "pins and needles" 00:42:50 <joanne_t> The linux student intends to make a video on the install for linux 00:43:05 <joanne_t> Ok, done 00:43:22 <darci> Very cool! 00:43:47 * lorip nodding in agreement 00:43:58 <fuzzybunny> That's great. 00:44:25 <joanne_t> :-) 00:44:45 <lorip> next? 00:44:55 <fuzzybunny> I'll go 00:46:54 <fuzzybunny> I haven't done much on OpenMRS in a while. I've reached out to someone who is filling in for Michael Downey while he's been busy getting ready for the OpenMRS Implementers meeting. I am trying to get two student interns here involved in picking up a task not completed by GSOC students. Basically trying to leverage the GSOC opportunities OpenMRS put together. 00:47:31 <lorip> what is the OpenMRS Implementers meeting? 00:47:59 <fuzzybunny> It's a big meeting I think in Africa where they meet with the local implementers of the OpenMRS. 00:50:10 <lorip> does it look like you will be successful in getting the students involved? 00:52:59 <bcoleman> did we lose her? 00:52:59 <fuzzybunny> Haven't heard back from the Michael or his replacement so I might not be. However, I plan to keep trying, but not in a pushy way. If it doesn't work out then I'll get them involved like Joanne did. I was thinking the GSOC activities might have a little more visibility. I know too that they have mentors assigned. I was hoping those people might be willing to field questions and be used as... 00:53:01 <fuzzybunny> ...a resource. Might not be the case, but I thought worth a try. I am pitching it to them as a good investment because these students will be available for at least a school year. 00:53:44 <lorip> good luck - if that works out it would be great! 00:54:09 <lorip> it's getting late, darci & becka do you want to give updates? 00:54:18 <fuzzybunny> thx, i'd like to build a relationship, since we want to keep involving students in their project 00:54:41 <darci> Sure... 00:54:49 <becka> I can say quickly that I have been focusing on developing the HFOSS course I am teaching Winter term 00:55:41 <darci> I will be administering a pre-survey, hopefully tomorrow. 00:56:25 <darci> My overarching goal is to get my CS2 students to see beyond the classroom and to find a way to connect what we're doing in class to the "real world". 00:56:59 <darci> I'd like to find examples of typical CS2 data structures in use in the OpenMRS code base and 00:57:55 <darci> was thinking of reaching out to the OpenMRS community, in the hopes that they could direct me to some examples...must more quickly than I might be able to find them on my own. 00:58:32 <darci> I was just think that as all of you become more involved, you too could be on the lookout for these types of examples. 00:58:54 <darci> I'd like to know your thoughts on this... 00:58:56 <lorip> After looking at the tremendous amount of code, I think asking the community for suggestions would be very helpful. 01:00:31 <bcoleman> It would be interesting to search the code base for usages of Arraylist, LinkedList, HashMap, TreeMap, etc. 01:01:02 <joanne_t> I think ittcould be a good exercise to walk students through how you found the code referenced by a ticket, and show them how you made the fix. 01:01:56 <darci> fuzzybunny: I was thinking of contacting Michael, but it doesn't sound like that would be a good idea right now. Do you think it would be worthwhile to contact his replacement? 01:02:38 <fuzzybunny> Sure, it can't hurt to try. I'll send you the names he gave as his replacement for different types of questions. 01:02:52 <darci> Thank you 01:03:34 <darci> I guess that's it for now. 01:03:59 <lorip> anything else? 01:04:45 <darci> nope... 01:04:55 <becka> I'm good 01:05:11 <joanne_t> nothing for me 01:05:46 <bcoleman> lots of progress all around! 01:06:16 <lorip> thanks everyone for meeting tonight! see you in 2 weeks... 01:06:30 <darci> It was nice to hear from everyone! 01:06:36 <becka> When are the logs posted? 01:06:37 <darci> bye! 01:06:42 <lorip> #stopmeeting 01:06:47 <lorip> oops... 01:06:48 <fuzzybunny> bye 01:06:48 <becka> I am glad I made it at least for a bit 01:06:56 <lorip> #endmeeting