New Jersey Institute of Technology’s Online Masters Degree in Computer Science | STEM Infographic | Computer Science Online NJIT

Posted on December 7, 2013 by jdioguardi

The United States has fallen from producing a quarter of the world’s global output to less than one fifth, while nations like China and India have rapidly caught up. While there are many reasons for this trend, one major factor is the lack of innovation in computer science, due to lesser numbers of computer science students.

The Future Of Computing

In the next ten years, a million and a half jobs will need to be filled in the computer science industry. These may come from within the United States, but more likely will be filled by foreign workers. Between programmers, engineers, and administrators, the job growth in the computing industry is anywhere from twelve to thirty percent.

Financial Factors

Computer science is currently the highest-paid college degree. At the same time, employers say that they cannot find employees who have the computer skills needed to succeed in their workplace. This trend is expected to only get worse, with three times as many job openings as there are qualified persons to fit them. The end result is half a billion dollars on the table per year in salary.

Only one in four students in high school can take a computing class. 6 At the university level, only one in ten schools have computer-programming courses. Less than one in forty students graduate with a degree in computer science at the same time that there is a crucial labor shortage.5

To learn more about the “Why the US STEM Initiative Shouldn’t Overlook Computer Science”, created by New Jersey Institute of Technology, take a look at the infographic below.

mscs-infographic-01

NJIT Online Master of Science in Computer Science
via New Jersey Institute of Technology’s Online Masters Degree in Computer Science | STEM Infographic | Computer Science Online NJIT.

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The Transition from Cursive to Coding – Getting Smart by Adam Renfro – coding, cursive, Estonia | Getting Smart

Posted on December 7, 2013 by jdioguardi

My son missed a day of school last week, and when he returned, his teacher gave him directions for his makeup work that were written in cursive. He returned to that teacher later in the day, and this exchange took place:

Son: Mrs. Soandso, excuse me, I‘m sorry, but I can’t read your writing.

He gave the note back to her. She smirked at him with a disapproving look. (His words.) Another student who didn’t learn to read or write cursive. She then looked at the note and was a bit puzzled. Something was wrong. Finally . . . .

via The Transition from Cursive to Coding – Getting Smart by Adam Renfro – coding, cursive, Estonia | Getting Smart.

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Mission – CodeNOW

Posted on December 7, 2013 by jdioguardi

Coding is the new literacy. It gives individuals the power to innovate and create. We need to empower our youth, especially those from underrepresented communities, to be tinkerers and to look under the hood of technology.

Because of a deficiency in early exposure to computer science, underrepresented youth are increasingly being marginalized from high-quality careers in the tech sector. For example, of all tech industry workers in the United States in 2012, only 22% were women, and African-Americans and Latinos each made up less than 5%. CodeNow believes this disparity is growing not from lack of interest but from a lack of access to computer programming.

CodeNow is a nonprofit that teaches foundational skills in computer programming to underserved high school students. We partner with community organizations to hold free, extra curricular, off campus trainings for high school students. Our program is essential because it lowers the barriers normally associated with technology by giving students exposure to programming at an early age when they are beginning to explore their options and opportunities. We are currently operating in New York City, Washington D.C., and San Francisco.

via Mission – CodeNOW.

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iPad Coding – STEM Curriculum Resources by Dr. Wesley Fryer

Posted on December 2, 2013 by jdioguardi

I have a cart of iPads in my classroom for student use, so I’m very interested in STEM-related iPad apps!

According to Sylvia Martinez and Gary Stager in “Invent to Learn,” “Three categories of [school computer] usage were outlined in Robert Taylor’s seminal book on the subject, The Computer in School: Tutor, Tool, Tutee (Taylor, 1980).” The first two computer uses predominate in schools. To use a computer as a “tutee,” however, students must PROGRAM or CODE the computer. While Scratch software (free) is my favorite programming environment to use with students, Scratch still relies on Adobe Flash so it doesn’t function completely on iOS devices like iPads. The following apps are designed specifically for coding on iPads.

via iPad Coding – STEM Curriculum Resources by Dr. Wesley Fryer.

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Espresso Coding – Computing made simple

Posted on December 1, 2013 by jdioguardi

Espresso Coding is a new service from Espresso Education that teaches pupils to code and make their own apps to share with their friends and parents. Its also FREE for an extended period until October 31st 2014.

Espresso Coding has everything you need to deliver the coding part of the curriculum for years 1 to 6 including:

  • a comprehensive Scheme of Work linked to Curriculum 2014
  • 70+ step-by step lessons and tablet-friendly activities for pupils to create apps
  • full lesson plans for each activity by December 2013
  • a bespoke website area where apps can be published and shared
  • an introduction to coding using elements of JavaScript (an industry standard)
  • short, helpful video guides
  • additional CPD training is available

Why do I need to teach Coding?  View our FAQs to see some of the reasons all schools will need to teach this new topic.

This is the only tool your school needs to teach and learn how to code.

via Espresso Coding – Computing made simple.

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The Media Computing Group : Arduino in a Nutshell

Posted on December 1, 2013 by jdioguardi

I’ve taught Arduino in class for a few years now, mostly to CS students, and just the other day introduced two friends to it again. Being on sabbatical and all, I couldn’t keep myself from just writing through the rest of that night and adding some Fritzing diagrams the next morning, and the result was a short little booklet introducing Arduino basics. I’ve since debugged it and added a bit more polish.

Yet another one, you say? Yes – the Arduino boards and IDE change so frequently that first-step tutorials and books are bound to become outdated after just a few months. I wanted something that got people started with the latest stable “beginner’s” board and IDE. I plan to update it as new boards and IDE versions come out, but I’ll keep older versions online too, so you can use them if you start out with an older board.

I’m forcing myself to keep it to one book page per experiment wherever possible – as I add information, I tighten up my writing to stay within that limit. Helps keep me from rambling on.

I also wanted to capture the fun of our hands-on learning session, with very little overhead. It’s written for people who’ve done a bit of programming at some point in their lives, but are new to electronics, and all experiments together can be completed in a long-ish night.

 

Finally, I wanted something that doesn’t take up your laptop screen while you’re working in the Arduino IDE, so it’s a PDF you can print, cut and bind into a 8×6″ booklet. That also happens to be the screen size of an iPad. 🙂

Feel free to use this for yourself, with your friends, or in your classes, and let me know how it goes! A request: instead of hosting a local copy of the PDF on your servers, simply link to http://hci.rwth-aachen.de/arduino. That way we can make sure everybody always gets the latest version, instead of old copies floating around. I’ll archive older versions here too. Thanks!

— Jan Borchers

via The Media Computing Group : Arduino in a Nutshell.

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primo.io

Posted on December 1, 2013 by jdioguardi

Primo is a physical programming interface designed to teach children age 4 to 7 basic programming logic without the need for literacy.

The goal of the game is to guide a smiling robot called cubetto to his destination by creating instruction sequences using colourful and intuitive instruction blocks.

By creating these simple algorithms children learn the logical foundations of programming, necessary for more advanced coding later on in life.

Primo is an intuitive and tactile product, designed with natural materials that hide all the electronic parts, providing children with a magical and playful learning experience

via primo.io.

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Python Programming Language – Official Website

Posted on December 1, 2013 by jdioguardi

Python is a programming language that lets you work more quickly and integrate your systems more effectively. You can learn to use Python and see almost immediate gains in productivity and lower maintenance costs.

Python runs on Windows, Linux/Unix, Mac OS X, and has been ported to the Java and .NET virtual machines.

Python is free to use, even for commercial products, because of its OSI-approved open source license.

via Python Programming Language – Official Website.

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About | Looking Glass

Posted on December 1, 2013 by jdioguardi

Looking Glass enables users to program 3D animated stories.

Looking uses a drag and drop programming interface to make coding easier to pick up and to reduce potential errors.

Using Looking Glass, novice programmers can pick up key programming concepts like parrallel actions, iterations, conditionals, and object-oriented code.

via About | Looking Glass.

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Kano: A computer anyone can make by Kano — Kickstarter

Posted on November 25, 2013 by jdioguardi

Kano is a toolkit for anyone to start coding right away. We think you learn faster and better when you have control and freedom, like in a good videogame. Then, when you can bend the rules, things get kung fu.We love visual programming languages, especially Scratch, and wanted to hook them up to our favorite games. We came up with Kano Blocks, inspired by Googles Blockly and many hours of button-mashing.

via Kano: A computer anyone can make by Kano — Kickstarter.

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