Pilot studies relevant to learning in FLOSS

A major issue in teaching software engineering education is how to engage students in real world software development situations. In this presentation, the participation of students in FLOSS projects while teaching all kinds of software engineering disciplines, such as requirements, design, management and quality is discussed. It is shown that students may benefit in all software engineering areas considered by the Software Engineering Body of Knowledge. In certain areas, such as software construction and configuration management, problems may arise, somewhat reducing the vigor of the approach. However, even in those cases, remedies and alternatives exist. The overall approach may alter dramatically the way software education is conducted and assist in preparing students effectively for their software development career.