There is a new version of Small Basic out this week. More details about it on the Small Basic blog but briefly:
This release features:
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Addition of details about your published programs.
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Rating system for programs published online.
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Rich formatting based copy (useful for printing Small Basic programs)
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Keyword help in Intellisense plus code samples.
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Performance improvements in the Library APIs.
In addition, we have localized Small Basic in three new languages, Chinese Traditional, Japanese and Portuguese.
The coolest feature in this release is the Silverlight player for Small Basic programs. Now you can run Small Basic programs on your browser without having to install the IDE. You can even embed your programs/games on your blog! As a sample, check out Tetris below!
Now this looks like some great functionality!
OK so maybe you’re not using Windows 7 at school yet but I’ll bet a lot of your students are running it at home. Do they know it was well as they think they do? Maybe they’d like to find out just what they know. The certification game at www.areyoucertifiable.com has now been updated to include Windows 7. You may want to point a few in that direction. And if you are running Windows 7 at school, at home, at some other place test yourself as well. From the announcement:
New Windows 7 Track on Microsoft’s Certification Game!
Want to test your Window 7 savvy? Try the new Win 7 track on www.areyoucertifiable.com. Who knows…maybe you’ll learn something!
You may be a Tech Whiz…but ‘Are You Certifiable?’
Test your technical prowess against other IT Professionals and Developers from around the world. Show them who’s in command and fight for your right to stay in the coveted top spot on the leaderboard!
Don’t delay…hundreds of questions await you along with the new Windows 7 track! www.areyoucertifiable.com
Windows 7 Track launches on “Are You Certifiable?”
Pit your technology acumen against other IT Professionals & Developers from around the world in a battle for bragging rights and leader board domination! Don’t delay…new Windows 7 track just launched! Test your tech IQ and to find out: Are YOU Certifiable?!? www.areyoucertifiable.com
Well did you watch the Super Bowl? I confess that I did not. I’m just not that into football. Still I had a good weekend and as usual I have spent some time looking though my Twitter feed of the last week for interesting things to share. I hope some of you are finding this useful or interesting. It’s serving as a good way for me to track things and record useful (to me) information. And now this weeks list.
Details for this year’s CSIT Symposium details have been released. I’ll be in California this Saturday meeting with the rest of the planning committee as we work out still more details but you can register now. I hope you’ll come. It will be at Google HQ. I think they are an Internet advertising company of some sorts. Doug Peterson (@DougPete) who is one of my favorite people to follow on Twitter is also on the planning committee BTW. So Canada is represented. :-)
@TeachTec sent out this link to a Project Natal video that explains how yesterday’s STEM students are today’s creative wizards. It was created as part of the Connect A Million Minds project which is a Time Warner Cable effort in conjunction with FIRST Robotics and CSAS - The Coalition for Science After School.
Also from @TeachTec - Getting kids to tell their stories and the free teacher's guide to digital storytelling. Share this with a lot of other teachers you know. English/language arts, social studies, you name it.
The @innovativeteach Twitter account linked to a blog post on their site called AutoCollage - a simple workshop Included in the post is information on how teachers can get AutoCollage for free.
The CSTA Blog had an interesting post called Getting Students to Test Their Programs This seems to be a big problem with some students. They are either unwilling or find themselves unable to really test their programs. Do you see this problem? How do you deal with it?
The CACM blog also has some interesting posts last week. One in particular got to me School pupils' attitudes to programming: "what's that?" How many students stay away from programming because they don’t know what it is? How about students who decide to major in computer science while being clueless about programming? How can we fix that?
Alerted by @blogCACM on Twitter I found this Bruce Schneier & Marcus Ranum point/counterpoint: "Should we ban anonymity on the Internet?" They spent a little more time just debating if banning anonymity on the Internet is possible than on if it is the right thing to do. But both make interesting discussion topics. Dealing with ethics in computer science in your classroom? If so this may make a great item to talk about.
The @iRobotSPARK account alerted me to both the @roboweek account and to the First annual National Robotics Week which has been announced 4/10-4/18 Besides that article which lists some events already scheduled look up the National Robotics Week home page.
New Learning Resources on the Visual Basic Developer Center (thanks to Beth Massi on the Visual Basic Team Blog)
Today we revamped some of the Visual Basic Developer Center Learn pages with more content that allows you to pivot on more fine-grained topics and tasks related to Visual Basic programming. We’ve started with the Introductory Topics and Language Syntax pages. To get there, head to http://msdn.com/vbasic and then click the Learn tab. There you will see a set of general topic areas to explore.
The US Imagine Cup Twitter @imaginecupus retweeted a message by @LouisIngenthron with a link to a post that shows you how to create a simple endless ocean for an XNA C# game. Just one of the latest posts at Coding 4 Fun.
The Microsoft Corporation, NASA, the Texas Business & Education Coalition, and the State of Texas would like to invite you and your students to participate in the bliink web design competition exclusively for Texas High School students. Information at ww.bliinkcontest.com
· Participants must register by 11:59 pm February 24, 2010 and use the referral code TexasNASA.
· Every team member must register individually. Students who register are not obligated to submit a Web site; however, students who do not register by the above date cannot submit a Web site entry.
· Final submissions must be received by 11:59 pm PT on March 25, 2010.
Will you be at TCEA? Microsoft will be running an Expression Web Introduction session at 11 AM on Wednesday February 10th in Room 410 at the Hilton – The same Hilton as a lot of other TCEA sessions will be held.
You may also join us at TCEA for a three-hour hands-on workshop on Friday, February 12 from 8:00am until 11:00am
Registration required http://www.tcea.org/convention/2010 (This web site is down as I write this but should be up Monday the 8th once the TCEA server move is completed.)
SEE A DEMO AND ASK QUESTIONS about blink or Expression Web.
Get Expression Studio free-of-charge for your school in our live webcasts. Check the schedule at Http://expression.microsoft.com/education
For more information about Microsoft at TCEA please see my previous post Microsoft at TCEA. I really hope to see a lot of my Texas readers at TCEA. Please at least stop by and say hi. Or is that howdy?
No, really! Are you making your summer plans yet and do they include learning time? I have some ideas for you. First off is CS & IT run by CSTA. This is in my opinion the single best day of professional development of the year for computer science teachers. Great sessions. Great networking. Lots to learn. (BTW I am on the planning committee this year and will definitely be there.)
You’re invited to the 2010 Computer Science and Information Technology Symposium, an annual conference for Computer Science and Information Technology teachers sponsored by the Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA). The 2010 Computer Science and Information Technology Symposium will take place Tuesday, July 13, 2010, at Google Headquarters in Mountain View, CA.
This event will provide a full day of relevant, practical, classroom-focused professional development for computer science and information technology teachers. CS&IT is also an excellent opportunity to network with colleagues, earn eight professional development seat hours, attend interesting and relevant sessions, enjoy a relaxing lunch, clean-up on product giveaways, and tour the Google campus!
Take advantage of this great opportunity for professional development and REGISTER NOW for this outstanding event at:
http://www.csitsymposium.org
The cost of registration is $40.00.
Enrollment is limited, so please complete and submit your online registration no later than Monday June 28, 2010.
If you have any questions, please e-mail Barbara Conover at: bconover@purdue.edu
Mark Guzdial is giving some Media Computation workshops this summer:
Media Computation workshops are open primarily to University and College computing faculty, and First Courses workshops are open to all computer science teachers.
- May 26-28, 2009 Workshop on "Media Computation" at Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, CA sponsored by Mike Erlinger, Professor and Chair Computer Science
- June 1-2, 2009 Workshop on "Engaging First Courses" at Wayne State University in Detroit, MI, sponsored by Monica Brockmeyer, Associate Professor of Computer Science.
- July 29-31, 2009 Workshop on "Media Computation at Northwest Missouri University's Liberty Center in Liberty, MO sponsored by Professors Carol Spradling and Dean Sanders from Computer Science.
- August 3-4, 2009 Workshop on "Engaging First Courses" at Georgia Tech in Atlanta.
- August 5-7, 2009 Workshop on "Media Computation" at Georgia Tech in Atlanta.
To register for any of these workshops, please email Felicia Auzla fauzla@cc.gatech.edu<mailto:fauzla@cc.gatech.edu> with:
Engaging First Courses Workshop (sponsored by NSF BPC Program): A whirlwind introduction to FIVE new approaches for teaching introductory courses in computing that engage students and help to broaden participation in computing: (1) Introduction to Media Computation in Python, (2) and in Java, (3) Introduction to Data Structures with Media Computation in Java, (4) Introduction to Engineering Computing using MATLAB, and (5) Introduction to computing using robotics using Python<http://www.roboteducation.org/>.
All these workshops are free to faculty, with travel stipends ($200/person) and room and meals included, as well as a CD with all software. For more information please email Felicia Auzla
Barb Ericson will be teaching a CS AP A workshop at Georgia Tech June 22-26th. This will not be a College Board endorsed workshop but Barb is on the Development Committee and really knows her stuff.
[…] teaching using Alice and Media Computation examples and Alice 3.0. Alice is free software from CMU that allows students to use drag-and-drop programming to create 3D movies and games. Media Computation is teaching computing concepts by having the students write Java (or Python) programs that manipulate media: negate a picture, reverse a sound, and make a movie. Alice and Media Computation is using Alice to introduce computing concepts without the added burden of typing the syntax and then reinforcing the computing concepts in Java using Media Computation. Unlike some books that start with Alice and then switch to Java we go back and forth many times to help students transfer the knowledge. We also stay in the movie making context. For example we use Media Computation to merge live action and Alice characters in a movie. See http://home.cc.gatech.edu/TeaParty for more information on Alice and Media Computation. A book is coming out this summer and all attendees will get a book.
Interested in Alice? THe last Alice News letter had this:
Sneak Peek: Summer 2010 Alice Workshops
We will be holding free Alice workshops in Orlando and Chicago this summer. Dates will likely be:
Chicago: July 7-9
Orlando: July 19-21
We'll announce registration in the next e-newsletter. Note that since the Orlando Alice workshop will be held in a Disney resort, we are going to be requiring large deposits (which will be returned to participants at the end of the workshop).
TENTATIVE dates for additional Alice workshops at Carnegie Mellon are:
Alice Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh,
June 21- 25 Alice 2.2 (Teaching introductory programming concepts with Alice)
June 28 - July 2nd Alice 3 (Teaching with Alice 3 and transitioning to Java, for
AP Java course or CS1)
Alice workshop at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, July 6 - 10
(This is part of the ITEST project for high school teachers from PA, WV, OH, and MD)
Alice Workshop, Santa Clara, CA, July 26-30
Also we are likely to have Alice workshops for community college teachers as part of an NSF-ATE grant... these workshops will be held in Camden, NJ, and Dallas, TX, but are still to be scheduled.
Watch for registration information as the dates firm up!
Links
aliceprogramming.net
Helpful information on Teaching with Alice (course calendars, lectures, labs, assignments, exams, solutions, etc.)
alice.org
Download Alice, Alice community
visualization.sju.edu
The Center for Visualization website. Archive of past newsletters; listing of grants; useful information
for users
How about Scratch? Then Scratch@MIT maybe for you!
Scratch@MIT
August 11, 2010 – August 14, 2010
Come to Scratch@MIT and explore the ideas, applications, and joys of Scratch.
Since the first conference in July 2008, the Scratch community has continued to grow and evolve, bringing in new people, new places, and new practices. Join educators, researchers, developers, and other members of the worldwide Scratch community to reimagine, rethink, and remix ideas about learning and teaching with Scratch.
We will gather at the new Media Lab building on the campus of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to:
- share stories of how Scratch is being used in homes, classrooms, and community centers
- participate in hands-on workshops, to learn new Scratch techniques and strategies
- discuss research examining how and what kids learn with Scratch
- explore future directions for Scratch with members of the MIT Scratch Team
Everyone is invited to submit proposals for posters, demonstrations, presentations, panel discussions, and workshops. Deadline extended to February 15.
We are pleased to announce several exciting keynote speakers, including Sherry Turkle and Henry Jenkins.
Pre-conference workshops will be held on August 11, with the main conference events taking place August 12-14.
Conference registration opens on March 15. Early registration is $275. After May 15, registration is $375.
Any questions? Please contact the Scratch@MIT conference chairs at events@scratch.mit.edu
One of the things that came up from the panel I was on last week (that panel has prompted a bunch of blog and Twitter posts already) was that students like relevant projects. Someone, it was probably Michael Kolling, suggested Facebook projects might interest students. I mentioned that there were helpful resources from/for the Microsoft platform that could be used and said I would blog about them. Well I almost forgot but not quite. So here are a couple of links.
Facebook Developer Toolkit - facebooktoolkit.codeplex.com
From the help web site at http://facebook.claritycon.com/help/
This toolkit is provided as a Facebook Client Library similar to Facebook’s PHP Client Library or Facebook’s javascript library. The goal is to enable .NET developers to quickly and easily leverage the various features of the Facebook Platform. This toolkit has evolved over time with input from the community and from Microsoft. The latest release (v3.0) cleans up some architecture inconsistencies and provides an asynchronous interface to improve using the toolkit from Silverlight and from WPF.
Now if you are interested in developing a mobile application for smart phones to interact with Facebook you may be interested in Facebook Development with the .NET Compact Framework. From the article summary:
Facebook has become a huge phenomenon in social networking. The site exposes a developer API to support Web and desktop applications. In this article we will explore making use of this functionality from a smart device application. The source code to accompany this article demonstrates working with key aspects of the Facebook API and tightly integrating with Microsoft® Windows Mobile®–specific APIs.
The Facebook Development Toolkit, including the Facebook.Compact library and related samples, are located on CodePlex, Microsoft’s Shared Source hosting site, at http://www.codeplex.com/FacebookToolkit.
So if you have some students who are all excited about Facebook and what to be creative these tools may be just the places to point them. And let me know if your students (or you) do something interesting with them.
Have you ever been asked a question that you have been asked time and again but suddenly decided you have a different answer for? One of the questions I hear a lot is what programming language should be taught first and this question was asked of a panel I say on last week. Except for me it was an impressive panel. Don Slater of Carnegie Mellon and the Alice Project, Michael Kolling, University of Kent and creator of Greenfoot for teaching Java, and David Klappholz from Stevens Institute of Technology who got his PhD while I was still picking a major in college. So of course I asked to answer first because that was the only way I had a chance of adding value. Plus I had suddenly realized that I had a new answer – one that I had not tried out in public before. And I wanted to give it a go.
Normally of course I would have launched into a great explanation of why Visual Basic was the best and language wars would likely have erupted. But that just did not feel right. So I answered that it depended on a number of things such as the goals of the course, the type of student but most importantly it depended on what language the teacher was most comfortable with and had the most passion for. The first programming course is hugely important. It is during this course that many students will either be turned on to computer science or turned away from it. This is the first impression and it needs to be a good one. If the teacher knows the language, is comfortable with the language, can have fun with the language and really enjoys the language the students will have a better experience. Everyone wins
I remember teaching Java for the first time. It was not a good experience for me (I was not ready for it) and I am sure it was not a good experience for many of the students. I did then a disservice. In hind sight I should not have agreed to teach the course. But I did and I tried my best but it was not ideal. Teachers easily, and without thinking about it, transfer their feelings about material to their students. Recent reports say this is true of math for example. (Study finds female teachers' fear of math can be catching) I doubt the same is any less true for computer science education. This is why we need well trained and confident computer science teachers in our schools.
There are other considerations BTW. Michael Kolling pointed out that supporting tools are very important. Greenfoot and/or Alice for Java for example. I personally think the Visual Studio IDE makes learning Visual Basic and C# much easier than they would be using a command line and text editor. Plus the drag and drop editing of graphical user interfaces make creating real looking Windows program easy and fun. There are also curriculum materials available for some of the better tools. The Greenfoot site has some for that tool. Alice.org has some for Alice. The Scratch web site has many resources as well. The Microsoft Faculty Connection has curriculum resources for VB and C#. And there is the newly revamped beginning developer learning center. Python which is a language that has a lot of proponents (I like that it is dynamic) but not as much in the way of a support environment for teaching. Yet.
I know that a lot of curriculum is slaved to the AP CS curriculum these days but I really strongly believe that APCS is too much for a first course. Students need a gate way course that will introduce them to programming in a fun, exciting, dynamic and enthusiastic way. For that course it is best if the teacher uses a language and a platform that they love. Communicate the love not fear, the enthusiasm not the necessity of a specific language, and share passion not pain.
Last week I attended a workshop day at Stevens Institute of Technology where Michael Kolling, University of Kent and creator of Greenfoot was the keynote speaker. Some of the things he said really resonated with me. One of them was that students should be given projects that require a computer. I’ve heard that before and have long agreed that something that can easily be done in ones head or with a simple calculator really don’t communicate things to students well. But the thing he said that impressed me the most was that some really good projects inject a little surprise in the results.
He showed a program he had put together in Greenfoot that simulated any colonies foraging for food. It was a reasonable sized and fairly uncomplicated simulation of simple behaviors. But in the results there were surprises. For example clear paths showed up indicating the success of various finds of food. Add added benefit was that the simulation lent itself to tinkering – to “what happens if I change this” – and experimentation. These give students the opportunity to experiment.
I remember on my my first projects that interjected surprise for me. I was experimenting with graphical programs. This was back in the old drum plotter days before we had color monitors or even much in the way of affordable graphic capable monitors. In any case I wrote a simple program that drew geometric shapes, rotated and shrunk them and drew them again around the same center. As the first of these designs arrived from the plotter I discovered Moiré patterns. Cool. And it sparked an interest in learning more about this unexpected feature.
Conway’s Game of Life was another project that lent itself to all sorts of experimentation. Not only could you try different starting patterns but you could also try different algorithms for births and deaths. Tinkering was a natural.
Even relatively simple projects, for example Pong, lend themselves to tinkering and to asking one’s self - “what else could I do with these concepts/ideas/techniques. What happens if one paddle moves faster than the other? Could I use these same pieces of code to create a breakout style game?
I think it is important for students to develop a sense of wonder about many things. I think that they learn more when they learn by discovery – from tinkering a bit. That is why I really like the idea of open ended projects that offer the opportunity for surprise. What do you think? Do you have examples of projects that let students tinker, discover, and feel a little sense of wonder?
All sorts of good things last week. Tops among them was a visit to Stevens Institute of Technology for a workshop with a great group of high school computer science teachers. You’ll see more posts on the things I learned there during the course of the week. But here now some links that I hope you will find useful and interesting.
Tom Ziegmann (on twitter at @tomontech blogging at Tom On Tech) was a visitor to Microsoft’s Redmond HQ last week. While he was there he had a chance to interview members of the Microsoft Surface team. His video is posted at Microsoft Surface – What is it and how does it work?
Texas people heading to TCEA Please sign up for some of the Microsoft workshops Pretty please. They'll be good I promise.
The US Imagine Cup Twitter account (@imaginecupus) sent out a link to an article about learning the basic techniques for XNA 2D Basic Collision Detection. In to game development check this article out and let me know what you think. BTW if you are wondering about the educational value of having students create games this article on Science Daily (Learning the Art of Creating Computer Games Can Boot Student Skills) might be interesting to you. Apparently there are good things happening for students who create there own games.
Speaking of gaming the people behind the conference have a proposal to create an ACM special interest group called SIGGAME. If you’re a member of the ACM you may want to take a look and sign on your support if you think it is worthwhile.
Key Royal (@kenroyal) posted a link to National Science Competition Searches for America's Top Young Scientist for all your science geek students.
Clint Rutkas (on Twitter at @ClintRutkas) was a member of the academic team that I am on but has started doing some new and interesting things at Microsoft. His profile is now on Microspotting! - http://microsoftjobsblog.com/blog/clint-rutkas-microspotting/ Take a look and see what sort of interesting things are going on.
From the @iRobotSPARK Twitter account that is sponsored by iRobot I saw that Hawaii Gov. Lingle announced $2.8M for Robotics education.
Governor Linda Lingle announced today in her State of the State Address that she has authorized the use of $2,805,200 in federal stimulus funds to enhance robotics education programs in Hawai‘i’s schools.
That is serious money in a state the size of Hawai’i. I’ve seen a lot of good things come from robotics education programs so I think this sounds like a great idea. It gets kids creating things, getting creative, and learning all sorts of skills. Good for Hawai’i.
February 10-11 in Austin, Texas
Register Now:
Part 1 Registration
Wednesday, February 10 1 p.m.-5 p.m.
Part 2 Registration Thursday, February 11 8 a.m.-12 p.m.
Are you an educator responsible for providing technology training to colleagues? Do you frequently lead teachers with best practices on how to integrate technology in the classroom? Then this event is for you!
The Microsoft Institute now offers workshops dedicated for teachers and teacher leaders. The project-based workshop curriculum is designed for educators who are charged—either formally or informally—with leading technology professional development for classroom teachers.
The Teacher Leader Program was created for teacher trainers, curriculum integration specialists, master teachers, technology coaches and coordinators, department heads, and others. A workshop is now scheduled for your area.
What You’ll Receive:
- Free, hands-on training on project-based, student-centered activities for K-12 classrooms
- Microsoft Teacher Leader certificate
- Free access to professional development curriculum for your use in your school
- Support from the Microsoft Partners in Learning Network community
- Eligibility for clock or credits hours (*will vary by state)
- A “21st Century Classroom Pack for Students” upon completion of teacher training at your school*
What To Bring:
*Attendees are expected to:
- Attend a follow-up conference call with the workshop facilitator and other attendees to answer any questions
- Deliver at least one teacher professional development activity at your school or district based on this workshop
Contribute a teacher professional development best practice to the Microsoft Partners in Learning Network community
NPR did a story recently on the computer screens that we see in the movies. You know the ones with big read “Access Denied” messages that look nothing like anything you have ever seen in real life. The story was called Hollywood's Computers: Telling A Story In A Flash and it got me thinking. My first thought was that students would love creating that sort of thing. But of course many teachers believe, too often correctly, that students spend too much time creating graphical user interfaces and not enough time creating code as it is. On the other hand I wonder if we teach enough about good user interface. Perhaps we can (or should) avoid the effort on creating UIs during the first course but shouldn’t we start somewhere?
I was speaking to students recently and asked them “How many of you have used a computer program that your parents could never figure out how to use?” Lots of hands went up. (Note students will never admit in front of their peers that they can’t use some program.) My reply to the students was that we need to fix that problem and maybe they will be the ones to do it. Well I can hope but can they really if they don’t learn about user interface design? Which actually brings me back to the movie mock ups.
One of the comments on the NPR article by a designer is that the screens have to tell a story. That makes perfect sense in the context of a movie doesn’t it? But what about in working applications? The book “Made To Stick” talks about telling stories as a way to make ideas stick in people’s minds. Good teachers tell stories all the time and we know it works. So could our computer user interfaces tell a story? And if they did would they be easier to use? It’s an interesting idea I think.
So I wonder if students could spend some time creating mock up user interfaces and seeing if they can do a bit of creative story telling. I’m not exactly sure how it would work but Visual Studio and languages like Visual Basic and C# make it pretty easy to do. (You can use the free Visual Studio Express Editions, inexpensive MSDN AA membership or DreamSpark for students to get it) Could we challenge students to make user interfaces that are easy to use, that are expressive, and that just plain communicate better with users. We can follow it (or lead into it) with discussions about UIs that work well or work poorly, that are confusing or simple, that are easy or hard to remember. Can we take lessons from the movie mock ups to create user interfaces that work? Any one know if there is research on this? Does it sound logical to you? Talk it up with students, peers, and others and leave a comment or two here. I’d love to know what others think about this idea.
Well the latest batch of DigiGirlz Days are starting to get scheduled. What are DigiGirlz Days? They are fun, interesting and educational events, sort of like a cool field trip, that show girls what technology and technology careers are about. From the web site:
This one-day event, held at multiple Microsoft locations worldwide, is designed to provide high school girls with a better understanding of what a career in technology is all about.
During the event, students interact with Microsoft employees and managers to gain exposure to careers in business and technology and to get an inside look at what it's like to work at Microsoft. This exciting event provides girls with career planning assistance, information about technology and business roles, thought-provoking exercises, and interesting Microsoft product demonstrations. By participating in the Microsoft DigiGirlz Day, young women can find out about the variety of opportunities available in the high-tech industry and can explore future career paths.
I’ve helped out and one of these events and while men are there they generally have a supporting role rather than a leading role. There are some great women role models out there and Microsoft employees a lot of them. They and other women in professional technical roles really let girls see themselves in the field. Check out the DigiGirlz Day home page to find dates and locations near you. I suspect that more events will be showing up but I want to make sure you know about these early and often as they say. So if you don’t see something near you check back in a week or three and see if new ones have been added.
And if you can’t make it to a DigiGirlz Day there are also some online DigiGirlz Classes.
Experience a new world of fun by exploring our on-line DigiGirlz courses! These classes have been developed with you in mind and will expose you to some of the content that is taught during our DigiGirlz program. Have fun and show your friends and family how creative and innovative you can be.
Last week’s big news on Twitter? Bill Gates is now using it. Yes, @BillGates is now on Twitter. And he has a new website at www.thegatesnotes.com where he intends to highlight the things he is going and learning. Looks like it will be interesting. And there is lots more interesting links below. Please check them out!
Congratulations Patrick Godwin who has just been named a Microsoft Student Insider. He’s on Twitter @ximplosionx and blogged about his new role on his blog at Microsoft Student Insider - Programming He’s heading to Redmond next weekend. Hopefully he’ll blog about that trip. (Hint: Patrick if you are reading this. :-) )
Free books! Games! Programming! Fun! Interested in a free e-book about game programming with XNA? Go get yours!
Speaking of fun. Kodu community-based user blog and forums at www.kodux.com Do you Kodu?
On the security front, @JimMacMillan twittered “Hacked-passwords analysis: Most common was “123456,” followed by “12345,” “123456789" and “Password,” in that order.” Interesting and somewhat scary look at what people are using for passwords.
And @Safer_Online twittered a link to some great tips for managing your online reputation. And did you know that this Thursday, 1/28 is Data Privacy Day—observed in the U.S. & 28 other countries. Its aim—to raise awareness about data privacy protection.
Now personally I’m a huge fan of the web design course that Microsoft has made available for free using Microsoft Expression Web tools. But here is an interesting HS web design course using raw html. It may be worth looking at for supplemental resources as well as for itself.
Looking for the latest work on various Microsoft products? This list of Official Microsoft Team & Product blogs may be just the resource you are looking for.
The always interesting Mark Guzdial had an interesting observation last week (@guzdial) “Open Source Development is actually Country Club Development: Hard to get into, mostly white guys.” That was on top of his blog post Open source development needs to grow-up and become education-friendly. Regardless of your feelings about open source there is some interesting opinions and information to start a conversation on the subject there. Check it out.
Will you be at TCEA? HP, Intel and Microsoft will be offering a free teacher Digital Learning Event at TCEA (Austin). You can learn more about it and register here.
These unique interactive forums are one-day events held throughout the United States. Each Digital Learning Event is an immersive experience that provides K-12 decision-makers with state-of-the-art technology solutions delivered in hands-on learning environments.
More of these coming up - Las Vegas: Thursday, 2/25/10 ~ San Diego: Thursday, 3/11/10 ~ Atlanta: Friday, 3/19/10
Boston: Thursday, 4/8/10 ~ Washington, D.C.: Wednesday, 4/14/10 ~ Indianapolis: Tuesday, 4/20/10 ~ Denver: Thursday, 4/29/10 Minneapolis: Wednesday, 5/5/10 ~ Raleigh-Durham: Tuesday, 5/11/10
Are your students interested in getting some Microsoft certifications? Students can get a free second chance at Microsoft Certification exams.
Great post by @kenroyal about FETC, meeting people, etc. And bonus a picture of the two of us together. :-)
The other day in my interesting links post I included links to several articles/blog posts. One article was titled - IT hiring increases last month despite broader jobs decline and the other was DARPA feels that the geek shortage is a national security risk. It seems like I see those sorts of articles regularly. In the comments for those articles I usually see stories about IT professionals who are laid off and can’t find jobs. I hear them from friends as well. I also hear stories of college computer science professors who are getting lots of calls from companies who want to hire their graduates.
Mark Guzdial (from Georgia Tech) asks about The disconnect between the Geek shortage and the Geek layoffs on his blog. It’s a question that comes up often. Neither the statistics or the stories from out of work IT people tell the whole story. I wrote some comments as a reply to Mark’s blog but I wanted to expand on them a bit. First a story.
A little over 15 years ago I was laid off from my job in software development. I looked around and realized that the skills/knowledge that I had used to the previous 18 years were pretty much unnecessary. The world had moved from mini computers (my area) to PCs and had done so without out me. So I started rebuilding. I took a large step sideways (into teaching) and taught myself about PCs, new programming languages, and developed other skills. When I was ready for industry I found that industry was ready for me. I know other people who kept looking for the same types of jobs they had been doing for years. Some of them have spent a lot of time out of work. The people who are looking for continuing jobs as mainframe operators struggle – a lot. Those who went back to "school" figuratively if not literally have mostly had steady work.
Not all companies will retrain workers. Companies have a short term attitude and will train people only for short term needs. In computer fields it is largely up to the individual to retrain themselves. Right or wrong that is a fact of life. These days I keep more on top of things and do a much better job of staying current. It is not always easy and I suspect the young people in their 20s are having an easier time of it than I am. But I see not point in blaming them, the companies, or the job market for any of it.
In the long term I think that a formal education in computer science is a huge benefit. I can’t imagine the learning curve I would have had without my schooling. I had a deep base that I could draw upon. had I been completely self-taught I’m not sure I could have caught up with things. Oh some might but that does not strike me as the way to bet.
I do know self-taught people who have never been out of work. They keep teaching themselves new things. They use the same learning skills that got them started to keep themselves going. Other people seem to jump into the job market too quickly. They learn enough to get their first job and for a while they do very well. Then the needs of the job change and they lack the base of knowledge or the learning skills to keep up. They assume that they are so smart and so good at what they do that they will always be in demand. All too often they are wrong.
One of the things I tell students when I do career talks is that if they want a career where they can do the same thing for 30 years and then retire computer science and information technology are not for them. This is a career that requires life long learning as much as any field I can think of. While at times you may feel like you have to run as fast as you can to keep up you will also seldom be bored. After 34+ years in the field I keep learning new things, doing new things, and growing as a person. If that is what you want this is the field you want. Just my opinion.
From the time I wrote my first computer program about 38 years ago as a college student there has always been a bit of magic about the process. A bit of a super power sort of feeling if you will. Back in those days the average college/university had one computer, perhaps two, and they were kept locked away from normal people. It took special training and permissions to actually touch a computer let alone write a program for it. As a computer science student I was able to control those powerful computers and make them do things other people couldn’t. I felt empowered in a way I never felt before.
I was reminded a bit of that feeling when I read a recent blog post by Eugene Wallingford (@wallingf) titled “Programming, Literacy, and Superhuman Strength.”
It’s all a good post but I especially like this part:
All I know is, if we can put the power of programming into more people's hands and minds, then we can help more people to have the feeling that led Dan Meyer to write Put THAT On The Fridge:
... rather than grind the solution out over several hours of pointing, clicking, and transcribing, for the first time ever, I wrote twenty lines of code that solved the problem in several minutes.
I created something from nothing. And that something did something else, which is such a weird, superhuman feeling. I've got to chase this.
We have tools and ideas that make people feel superhuman. We have to share them!
There are people out there who Wallingford refers to as non-programmers. In Microsoft we call them “non-professional programmers.” These are people who write programs for fun, for personal satisfaction and to solve personal/business problems. We, our society, really needs to enable those people.
There are more programs that should be written than professional programmers can ever write. Most of these are small, manageable problems. They range from spreadsheet macros to some programs to analyze large data sets. And games. And programs to solve interesting little problems. And the list goes on.
One of the things I hear when I suggest that all students take a computer science or programming course is “these kids are not going to be [professional] computer programmers.” And that is true. But we don’t say “why teach English? These kids are not going to be professional novelists.” That would be ridiculous. We know that pretty much everyone needs to write well. Like wise we are getting to a point where many more people than ever before really should be able to write some computer code.
Right now people think of programming as some sort of “super power” and something that few can handle. Computer programming is a hugely empowering skill but it is more approachable than many realize. They just need training, tools and opportunity. We really owe it to our students to give them that.
This empowering of non-professional programmers is what the Beginning Developer Learning Center BTW. Young, old, student, experienced life-long learner? There is probably something there for you.
