Open Source Masterclass — A Free MOOC to Learn How to Contribute to Open Source

A team of free software contributors from Télécom Paris, Open edX, OpenStack, and Wikipedia has just released Open Source Masterclass — a free, CC-BY-SA licensed online course that teaches you how to contribute to FLOSS projects. What's in it? The course is a 7-module MOOC covering: History of free software — from the GNU Manifesto to modern forges Software forges — navigating GitHub, GitLab, and project infrastructure Community dynamics — how open source projects organize and communicate Making your first contribution — a guided pathway from finding a project to landing your first PR Project selection — each chapter helps you identify and assess projects that match your skills Why this course? Most "get started with open source" guides stop at "find a project and submit a PR." This course goes deeper into the social and organizational aspects — understanding how communities work, how decisions are made, and how to communicate effectively as a newcomer. It was built collaboratively by