Call for Participation

Overview

Welcome to the inaugural Summit for Educators in System Administration (SESA), co-located with the USENIX Large Installation System Administration (LISA) conference. As a standalone event, the mission of SESA is to bring together university educators to share best practices and support the creation and advancement of high-quality system administration degree programs and curricula.

Higher education engineering and computer science programs, with a focus on system administration, are emerging as popular tracks for students who are interested in operational careers. At the moment, there are only a few degree programs that are targeted specifically at system administration and operational careers, but interest is growing. For those who create, teach, or manage current and future programs, it is important to build a community and collaborate with other institutions in order to compare approaches and address common challenges.

For the first time, the USENIX Summit for Educators in System Administration (SESA) invites educators from colleges and universities to a one-day event focused on formal system administration education. At SESA ’13 we will discuss topics important to educators who teach system administration-related courses at universities and colleges, develop courses, and build curricula. We hope to engage all attendees to share ideas and best practices and together create a community of sysadmin educators. System administrators who have taught courses at their university or college are also invited to join and share their experiences.

Topics 

Topics will depend on the speakers and facilitators we schedule for the day. We aim for a productive day where we can offer advice and analysis on various successful approaches. One of the main focal points of the day includes identifying a common base of curriculum and terminology, but other possible topics for speakers include:

• Curriculum development
• Definition of learning goals and outcomes
• Assessment of skills through exams
• The importance of teaching soft skills
• How to teach and measure problem-solving skills
• Maintaining industry relevance and contact
• Accreditation processes
• Building lab environments
• How to build a university program

Logistics & Submission Instructions

This will be a one-day summit. We look for a good mix of mini-workshops, presentations, and experience reports. Speakers and facilitators should be prepared for interactive sessions with the audience. Presentations should stimulate healthy discussion among the summit participants.

Submissions are welcome via email to sesa13chair@usenix.org.