Education

Leveraging cupcakes

What do you get when you combine two hard working women in computing and a 3D printer? Answer after the break...

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0 CommentsPosted 5 Mar 2010 by Matt Jadud

Jaron Lanier: open textbooks "appalling and preposterous"

Jaron Lanier is certainly getting his share of press lately.  His latest guest starring role: a rant in Monday's very special episode of L. Gordon Crozier's technology column for the Wall Street Journal.  Seems like Lanier is becoming a go-to guy when one is in need of a sound bite denouncing "free culture" in all of its radical and dangerous forms.
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13 CommentsPosted 3 Mar 2010 by Greg DeKoenigsberg (Red Hat)

Moodle: open source, closed doors.

It's the leading open source learning management system in the world. It provides 100s of 1000s (millions?) of students and teachers, learners and educators a means of collaborating, engaging content and organizing studies online. It's easy to tout the great things that Moodle has done for education in the dozen short years since it was created by Martin Dougiamas. It has certainly created and standardized the base-level of learning management systems available to schools throughout the world. » Read more

13 CommentsPosted 25 Feb 2010 by Joseph Thibault

Flat World Knowledge: Open College Textbooks

Today, everywhere in our nation, families – adults, and their children -- are facing a tragic loss of future possibility and personal fulfillment because of high textbook prices. Fact: the cost of traditional textbooks has become a major impediment to students completing a college education, and/or deciding to enter college. It’s important to point out the scale of this problem, and its impact on students, teachers, and our American society.
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3 CommentsPosted 23 Feb 2010 by Sanford Forte

Introducing hands-on computing in secondary education

On the teaching open source mailing list, the following question was recently posted: » Read more

8 CommentsPosted 22 Feb 2010 by Matt Jadud

Open source: dangerous to computing education?

Mark Guzdial, respected professor and Vice Chair of the ACM Education Board, has expressed some concerns about the impact that open source is having on computing education. Are these concerns legitimate?

He starts from an awfully dramatic position: » Read more

40 CommentsPosted 16 Feb 2010 by Greg DeKoenigsberg (Red Hat)

Telling our stories to the National Academy of Engineering

The great hope nurtured by many of us who spend our days in the open source software communities is that the fundamental principles upon which open source software is built -- The Open Source Way -- will permeate other industries and walks of life over time, allowing all sorts of new and exciting problems to be solved using methods that value transparency, collaboration, and a meritocracy of ideas. » Read more

1 CommentPosted 10 Feb 2010 by Mel Chua (Red Hat)

Open Source + Independent Studies

You have an open source project. You discover something that it would be really awesome to have added to your project, but you can't justify bumping it up the priority queue. It clearly has a bit of core CS theory in it, a bit of old-skool hacking, and the end product will add some real value to your project (and possibly the lives of thousands of people). How do you get a college student to take this on as an independent study project? » Read more

1 CommentPosted 8 Feb 2010 by Matt Jadud

Free Texts: Sources

There are a few interesting things to talk about surrounding free and open textbooks. Quality is one. Usability is another. Why to write one (and/or, why not) is certainly critical. But where can you find these disruptive, open texts? » Read more

3 CommentsPosted 5 Feb 2010 by Matt Jadud

Education and the iPad’s architecture of control

Like most of Jonathan Ive's work, the iPad is beautiful. Like most of Apple's work, it also makes me uneasy. I was planning to write about this feeling of unease, so imagine my delight when I discovered that Timothy B. Lee and others have already done the work for me. » Read more

18 CommentsPosted 4 Feb 2010 by Gunnar Hellekson (Red Hat)