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News Release

Jan. 11, 2019

GitHub partnership enhances student learning, project sharing


Northwest Missouri State University is now a GitHub partner institution, and equipping faculty and students with resources and training materials that allow them to learn and maximize the powerful tool.

Recently acquired by Microsoft, GitHub is a popular professional tool for software hosting and collaborative development. It is a cloud-based host for a version control system called Git and used widely by the world’s largest tech companies.

“Almost every employer that hires technical employees uses some form of version control to coordinate the effort of their developers and organize their software development process,” Dr. Nathan Eloe, an assistant professor of computer science and information systems, said. “Experience with version control is attractive to employers, but formalized training in these tools is often lacking because they are relatively new. Students’ feedback has indicated that using these tools in the classroom has benefitted them greatly in their internships and careers, so being a GitHub partner institution is a valuable tool in Northwest Missouri State University’s commitment to profession-based learning.”

Students in Eloe’s courses last fall used GitHub to distribute assignments and projects during class sessions. Students said they enjoyed using a tool that so many companies in the computer science field are using, and it’s exciting way to learn, create and collaborate on software projects.”

“Talking to employers about version control, it is clear that is a huge part about big industry development,” Nicholas Morrow, a senior computer science major from Lee’s Summit, Missouri, said. “I felt prepared with a great understanding of Git to discuss proper version control with prospective employers. This experience and knowledge would not have been possible without Dr. Eloe’s diligence to teaching us the key concepts of using Git and general version control. Going forward, I feel I have the knowledge to build upon and continue to use Git as the main method for my version control and personal projects.”

Northwest faculty who are interested in using GitHub should contact Eloe at nathane@nwmissouri.edu.



Contact

Dr. Mark Hornickel
Administration Building
Room 215
660.562.1704
mhorn@nwmissouri.edu