By Mark Johnson August 6, 2014
Community

UPDATE: Please note that sign-ups for the original round of Semester of Code have now closed.  Please refer to the Semester of Code website for the latest information.

As we’ve mentioned before, OSS Watch is working as part of the VALS Project to run a Semester of Code, engaging students with FOSS projects as part of their studies.  This week, our Virtual Placement System went live, allowing projects to register and submit ideas for student projects.

If you’re part of a FOSS project and would like to participate, make sure you’re signed up to the mailing list, then head over to http://vps.semesterofcode.com and follow these steps:

Firstly, a member of your organisation to sign up as an Organisation Administrator and register your organisation;

• Go to http://vps.semesterofcode.com/ and click “Create New account” under the login form
• Fill in your basic details and select “Organisation Administrator” as your role
• Enter the following sign-up key: AHGLL765OW
• Click “Create New Account”
• You will recieve and email with a one-time login link. Log in and set your password.
• Click on the “Dashboard” link
• Click “Managed Organisations” and complete the form.

You will now see your organisation’s details with 2 codes: One to allow your mentors to sign up, and one to allow additional administrators for your organisation to sign up.

Once registered, you and your mentors can submit ideas;

• Log in and click the Dashboard link
• Click “Manage your project ideas”
• Fill the form (You may have to click the “Add” tab if you have already submitted ideas”
• When entering the description, please consider the following guidance:
  At a minimum, please include the expected outcome of the project, a  potential mentor, the skills and/or languages required to  complete the project, and a general “difficulty” level.The project should take about 3 months to complete. Please bear in mind that it’s better to start with a smaller project that can be extended if your student proves to be capable rather than have an over-ambitious idea which can’t be completed in time.
• Include a link to a bug tracker issue or somewhere in your project’s workflow system that this project will be tracked

If you have any questions or feedback about the Virtual Placement System or the Semester of Code programme, please get in touch on the mailing list.