Assessor Resource

ICAB4232B
Maintain open source code programs

Assessment tool

Version 1.0
Issue Date: March 2024


This unit defines the competency required to contribute as a member of an open source software project community and to maintain open source code. The open source development model differs considerably from the traditional commercial model.

No licensing, legislative, regulatory or certification requirements apply to this unit at the time of publication.

You may want to include more information here about the target group and the purpose of the assessments (eg formative, summative, recognition)

Prerequisites

ICAB4222B

Apply introductory programming skills in another language


Employability Skills

This unit contains employability skills.




Evidence Required

List the assessment methods to be used and the context and resources required for assessment. Copy and paste the relevant sections from the evidence guide below and then re-write these in plain English.

The evidence guide provides advice on assessment and must be read in conjunction with the performance criteria, required skills and knowledge, range statement and the Assessment Guidelines for the Training Package.

Overview of assessment

Critical aspects for assessment and evidence required to demonstrate competency in this unit

Evidence of the following is essential:

Assessment must confirm that a significant contribution to an open source project has occurred. Contributions will be in the form of:

Program source code changes and/or additions

Documentation changes and/or additions

On-line participation in the project direction

Local proof of building of snapshots, code modifications and testing

To demonstrate competency in this unit the person will require access to:

Software development environment

Access to the internet

Technical requirements

CVS databases

Information repositories

Programming languages

Group facilitation software

Context of and specific resources for assessment

The breadth, depth and complexity of knowledge and skills in this competency would cover a broad range of varied activities or application in a wider variety of contexts most of which are complex and non-routine. Leadership and guidance would be involved when organising activities of self and others as well as contributing to technical solutions of a non-routine or contingency nature.

Assessment must ensure:

Performance of a broad range of skilled applications including the requirement to evaluate and analyse current practices, develop new criteria and procedures for performing current practices and provision of some leadership and guidance to others in the application and planning of the skills would be characteristic.

Applications may involve responsibility for, and limited organisation of, others.

Method of assessment

The purpose of this unit is to define the standard of performance to be achieved in the workplace. In undertaking training and assessment activities related to this unit, consideration should be given to the implementation of appropriate diversity and accessibility practices in order to accommodate people who may have special needs. Additional guidance on these and related matters is provided in ICA05 Section 1.

Competency in this unit should be assessed using summative assessment to ensure consistency of performance in a range of contexts. This unit can be assessed either in the workplace or in a simulated environment. However, simulated activities must closely reflect the workplace to enable full demonstration of competency.

Assessment must confirm competency in all areas of the software development cycle. Code-only solutions are not acceptable.

Assessment will usually include observation of real or simulated work processes and procedures and/or performance in a project context as well as questioning on underpinning knowledge and skills. The questioning of team members, supervisors, subordinates, peers and clients where appropriate may provide valuable input to the assessment process. The interdependence of units for assessment purposes may vary with the particular project or scenario.

Guidance information for assessment

Holistic assessment with other units relevant to the industry sector, workplace and job role is recommended.

An individual demonstrating this competency would be able to:

Demonstrate understanding of a broad knowledge base incorporating some theoretical concepts

Apply solutions to a defined range of unpredictable problems

Identify and apply skill and knowledge areas to a wide variety of contexts, with depth in some areas

Identify, analyse and evaluate information from a variety of sources

Take responsibility for own outputs in relation to specified quality standards

Take limited responsibility for the quantity and quality of the output of others

Maintain knowledge of industry products and services

Additionally, an individual demonstrating this competency would be able to:

Contribute to and understand a range of development methodologies and their application to a project or scenario

Demonstrate theoretical knowledge of open source practices

Produce documentation


Submission Requirements

List each assessment task's title, type (eg project, observation/demonstration, essay, assingnment, checklist) and due date here

Assessment task 1: [title]      Due date:

(add new lines for each of the assessment tasks)


Assessment Tasks

Copy and paste from the following data to produce each assessment task. Write these in plain English and spell out how, when and where the task is to be carried out, under what conditions, and what resources are needed. Include guidelines about how well the candidate has to perform a task for it to be judged satisfactory.

Required skills

Communicating with global peers

Participating in volatile communities of interest

Effectively participating in open source projects

Building existing software projects from source

Creating and maintaining code

Testing and debugging code at a high level

Required knowledge

Open source development methodology

On-line project communities

Project-specific knowledge

The range statement relates to the unit of competency as a whole. It allows for different work environments and situations that may affect performance. Bold italicised wording, if used in the performance criteria, is detailed below. Essential operating conditions that may be present with training and assessment (depending on the work situation, needs of the candidate, accessibility of the item, and local industry and regional contexts) may also be included.

Documentation may follow:

ISO/IEC/AS standards

audit trails

naming standards

version control

project management templates

report writing principles

On-line project may be:

private website

commercial hosting facility hosting community code

ftp site

CVS site

other type of group repository

On-line community

May include but is not limited to local communities, on-line virtual communities of interest and organisational communities

The main tools for on-line communities are mailing lists, web conferencing and newsgroups.

On-line resources may be:

websites

news groups

CVS trees

gopher sites

ftp sites

community sites

on-line communities

Communityparticipationstandards may be:

verbal or written policies

procedures or guidelines

may be informal or formal rules and regulations used by groups to manage their on-line projects.

Software may include but is not limited to:

commercial software applications; organisation-specific software, packaged software, in-house or customised software

Sociallyacceptable messages should be:

designed and sent with regard to recipient's location

culture

ethnicity

race

social sensitivities

Softwaredevelopmenttools may include:

operating systems

target environments

development tools

computer language

version control systems

development methodology

Licensingmodels may include but are not limited to:

GPL

LGPL

BSD

Mozilla

Apache licences

Copy and paste from the following performance criteria to create an observation checklist for each task. When you have finished writing your assessment tool every one of these must have been addressed, preferably several times in a variety of contexts. To ensure this occurs download the assessment matrix for the unit; enter each assessment task as a column header and place check marks against each performance criteria that task addresses.

Observation Checklist

Tasks to be observed according to workplace/college/TAFE policy and procedures, relevant legislation and Codes of Practice Yes No Comments/feedback
Examine the open source paradigm and demonstrate an understanding of the differences from the traditional software development models 
Investigate and demonstrate understanding of the types of on-line resources 
Investigate and demonstrate understanding of the types of project documentation 
Recognise and demonstrate understanding of the role of an on-line community and international collaboration 
Examine and demonstrate understanding of motivational factors for contributors to open source code 
Analyse and demonstrate understanding of open source licensing models 
Examine on-line resources associated with the target project 
Download pre-built executable binaries, to install and run project 
Download, read and demonstrate understanding of supporting documentation 
Select and register with a relevant on-line community open source group 
Download nightly snapshots of latest source code and supporting documentation 
Build and execute snapshot where appropriate 
Access the project bug database and select bugs to be resolved or features to be added 
Make changes to local copy of code to resolve selected bugs 
Test resulting code to ensure it performs appropriately 
Prepare code patch for submission 
Submit code patch to project 
Use appropriate software development tools and environment 
Access project documentation 
Prepare and contribute new information or updates to existing documentation 
Prepare and submit documentation changes to project 
Exchange messages with other project members and actively participate in community activities 
Take action to ensure exchanges are sociallyacceptable 
Submit code and documentation code patches for inclusion 
Access on-line project resources frequently to keep up to date with project and community developments 
Take action to ensure community participationstandards are observed and maintained 

Forms

Assessment Cover Sheet

ICAB4232B - Maintain open source code programs
Assessment task 1: [title]

Student name:

Student ID:

I declare that the assessment tasks submitted for this unit are my own work.

Student signature:

Result: Competent Not yet competent

Feedback to student

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Assessor name:

Signature:

Date:


Assessment Record Sheet

ICAB4232B - Maintain open source code programs

Student name:

Student ID:

Assessment task 1: [title] Result: Competent Not yet competent

(add lines for each task)

Feedback to student:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Overall assessment result: Competent Not yet competent

Assessor name:

Signature:

Date:

Student signature:

Date: