Interesting Links 19 November 2012

I made some more changes to the blog this last week. I hope they are not too disruptive but I want to make the site more useable and interesting. The big changes are the addition of an easy option to subscribe via email and the list of popular posts. If you prefer to get new posts via email then please take advantage of the option on the right of the page. I don’t think I even get a list of subscribers so privacy should be maintained. The list of popular post is based on page views for the last 30 days. We’ll see how it works out over time. Now for some links:

Are you on the map? Take the pledge and post your CSEdWeek events. Computer science education week is coming soon. Plan something good and share it with the world. Let people know that CS education is important to your and your school.

Friends in higher education computer science will want to take a look at the CS2013 Ironman v0.8 draft which has been posted on the http://cs2013.org  website, and is available directly here http://ai.stanford.edu/users/sahami/CS2013//ironman-draft/cs2013-ironman-v0.8.pdf The committee is looking for exemplar courses and programs to include in the 1.0 release. Let me know if interested in contributing to that effort.

Goldie Blox is a new engineering toy for girls. I suspect som boys will like it to though I first read about it at Upworthy - Move Over, Barbie — You’re Obsolete.  Love the line that girls are "more than just a princess"

Computer Science Ed. Gets Boost From $6 Million NSF Grant via @educationweek highlights a major new program by Georgia Tech and UMass Amherst funded by the National Science Foundation. Looks to be pretty exciting since it builds on some work out of Georgia Tech that has been very effective in that state.

I added a CSTA member badge to my blog and web site to help promote an organization all CS teachers should join. If you are a CSTA member (and if you teach computer science you should be) why not add a badge to your web presence?

 

A couple of great posts from computer science teachers I respect a lot. Well worth reading and sharing.

• Why Computer Science? by Doug Bergman
• A small world view of CS education by Garth Flint

Are you interested in learning some Windows 8 Development? If there is a Microsoft Store near you check out this site for a list of stores hosting Windows 8 Development workshops. They’re free.

Speaking of Windows 8 development, friends of mine have posted recently about using the Bing Maps APIs with Windows 8 and using the Google Maps APIs with Windows 8. Adding mapping to an application can make it a lot more interesting and useful.

Recently I read about Little Miss Geek on the blog@CACM | Communications of the ACM. “Little Miss Geek is a book — and a wider campaign — by Belinda Parmar to shift women's role in technology from consumer to creator.”

Message-Oriented Programming is an interesting article about how using messages can make mixed language development a lot more useful and effective. A great conversation starter for CS students that will give them things to think about.