When Stanford announced their online CS classes, most of the attention was on the large numbers that were enrolling. Eventually, some 200,000 people signed up, and about 32,000 completed the coursework. What is most interesting about the Stanford AI classes is that it was an exploration of new models of CS pedagogy. We need new models for CS pedagogy. We teach computer science in order to create great software developers, but there are lots of audiences - like high school teachers - for CS education that have nothing to do with being a great software developer. The article suggests that we need new models for CS pedagogy that take into account these different learning goals. The Khan Academy videos are a good way to convey some kinds of information but most people do not learn from watching videos. People learn from doing something, and getting feedback on what they did. While the Stanford online CS classes did use videos, they were interrupted by questions, mainly fill-in-the-blank or multiple-choice questions, for students to use as "exercises." It~s a small change from just watching a video, and is hardly a revolutionary educational technology advance. But just that small change from videos-only would make a dramatic improvement in learning for large numbers of students in computer science. Another innovative model in the Stanford online CS classes grew up around the Stanford classes. Educators used the Stanford classes to create a "flipped classroom." The students signed up for the Stanford course, but also signed up for a for-credit course at their home university. The professor at this university didn~t lecture; instead, when Fred met with his students, they discussed the lectures, built on them, played with the problems. The stuff that good students do outside of lecture, in order to really learn the material well, is what Fred did with his student during class time, which was still "outside of lecture." This model could lead to dramatically improved learning compared to just taking the Stanford online course. We need more experiments like these. America needs to figure out how to teach more people about computer science, better and at a lower cost.

Approximately 53% of IT workers are actively or passively searching for a new job right now, according to a Computerworld survey. At the same time, 46% of the respondents say it~s been five years or more since their last job search. For those who are new to job hunting in a world of social networking and LinkedIn, the hiring landscape has changed considerably. With employers advertising fewer open positions because they are deluged with resumes, job hunters must make themselves easy to find on social networking sites. After updating your resume and joining LinkedIn, the key is to build a robust network of contacts that can help you in your job search. The most important tool in your jobseeker~s toolkit should be LinkedIn. With more than 100 million registered users, LinkedIn is the most popular tool used by recruiters and job seekers alike. Nowadays, LinkedIn is essentially your first interview, and it happens without you. A hiring manager or recruiter takes a look at your background and makes a quick decision of whether or not you would make a good fit. IT job seekers can make full use of their LinkedIn profile by using new LinkedIn applications like SlideShare, Creative Portfolio Display and Year in Review. For job seekers who are targeting a specific company, LinkedIn has added a feature called Company Pages. By clicking the Statistics icon on a Company Page, or corporate profile, users can find out where departing employees found new jobs.

Google's daily brainteaser helps hone your search skills.

vikingpower writes "The Little Ice Age, lasting from the end of the Middle Age into the 17th century, may very likely have been caused by the combined effects of four major volcanic eruptions and increased sunlight reflection by increasing sea ice, the so-called Albedo effect. ... The University of Boulder has a press release with maps and photographs. Bette Otto-Bliesner, one of the scientists behind the 'volcano + sea ice' thesis, fields an earnest warning against drawing conclusions too quickly from this research: 'I think people might look at the Little Ice Age and think that all we need to save us from rising temperatures are some volcanic eruptions or the geo-engineering equivalent [...] But when you see what happened when global temperatures dropped by just one degree and you look at current predictions of six or seven degree increases for the future, you realize how precarious things are for life as we know it.'"

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Andy Hefner has a detailed blog post covering his quest to program an NES with the assistance of Common Lisp. He developed a new 6502 assembler, a mini-language for composing musical sequences, and a neat demo (rom image).

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redletterdave writes "In the weeks leading up to Facebook's massive $100 billion initial public offering, Mark Zuckerberg reportedly told JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and the other banks involved in the IPO to stop leaking information to the media. Zuckerberg was reportedly unhappy that the banks leaked details about his company's Wall Street debut, including the Feb. 1 date it chose to file its S-1 paperwork with the SEC. Facebook execs are also miffed about the subtle rivalry between Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, which were jockeying to become the lead underwriter for the IPO, the largest since Google's $1.7 billion offering in 2004. The banks are heeding Zuckerberg's warning, urging their employees to keep quiet about Facebook's filing, because disobeying Zuckerberg's wishes could mean getting dropped from one of the most lucrative IPOs in recent memory. The banks stand to make $40 million from their deals with Facebook."

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Reuters - Facebook's corporate governance rules, which give shareholders little say in how the social networking website would be run as a public company, are raising the hackles of one of the largest U.S. investors, the California State Teachers' Retirement System.

AP - Phone company Verizon Communications Inc. will challenge Netflix and start a video streaming service this year with Redbox and its DVD rental kiosks.

angry tapir writes with an excerpt from an article over at TechWorld: "A French laptop buyer has won a refund from Lenovo after a four-year legal battle over the cost of a Windows license he didn't want. The judgment could open the way for PC buyers elsewhere in Europe to obtain refunds for bundled software they don't want, according to French campaign group No More Racketware."

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AP - Coinstar's fourth-quarter earnings soared past analyst estimates as the company's Redbox kiosks for renting DVDs picked up customers who stopped getting their discs through Netflix's rival service.

Reuters - Amazon.com Inc is dipping its toes into the physical world as the largest online retailer offers more products in stores that may benefit from hands-on interaction with shoppers.

alphadogg writes "Google on Monday released a website and video regarding its Solve for X project, which the company says is 'a place where the curious can go to hear and discuss radical technology ideas for solving global problems.' It's got a TED-like think tank feel to it, but possibly with oodles of Google resources behind it. It appears related to Google's up-to-now largely secretive Google X research lab that the New York Times recently shed some light on."

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ContributorNetwork - COMMENTARY | According to Mike Tomkins of Imaging Resource, digital camera maker Canon is in a bit of a bind. Its high-end Single Lens Reflex (SLR) cameras are growing in popularity, but compact cameras -- the basic point-and-shoot variety -- are starting to tank except in "emerging markets." Which is code for third-world countries, where most people can't afford SLRs anyway.

Reuters - A year after network equipment maker Cisco Systems Inc unnerved investors with yet another weak quarterly outlook the company looks set to report a stable quarter buoyed in part by improving enterprise demand in the United States.

There was a time when APIs were just a way of building applications for a desktop operating system like Microsoft Windows. But in the age of the internet, they have the power to plug applications into, well, almost anything. They've already transformed websites like Google and Facebook and Twitter into services that talk to a world of other applications, across PCs as well as mobile phones. But that's small potatoes. They're also reinventing old-world operations, including mobile carriers like AT&T and even auto makers like GM.

New submitter albinobee writes "The Kinect for Xbox 360 isn't only about gaming; it can also be used to help compensate for impaired vision, as a team of Indian engineers is working to prove. A device called viSparsh, still in its nascent stage, is a motion sensing belt that can help alert the blind to obstacles that lie in their path."

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Yahoo! News - From e-tail to retail? If rumors are true, massive online marketplace Amazon is taking a risky step: opening a brick-and-mortar store of its own. Plans for the new store aren't entirely solid yet. Still, Amazon is supposedly looking into opening up …

crookedvulture writes "Intel continues to partner with third-party controller makers for high-end SSDs. Its new 520 Series drives pair the latest SandForce controller with Intel's own firmware and 25-nm NAND. HotHardware, Tech Report, and PC Perspective all have reviews of the drive, and the verdict is pretty consistent. While the Intel 520 Series offers slightly better performance than competing SandForce solutions, it also costs 30-40% more. That's a steep margin even considering the Intel SSD's five-year warranty."

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Yahoo! News - Welcome to Just Show Me on Tecca TV, where we show you tips and tricks for getting the most out of the gadgets in your life. In today's episode we'll show you three great to-do apps for your Android phone. To get started, download …

Hugh Pickens writes "Anna Leach reports that Siri support has been a contentious issue for owners of earlier iPhones, but a recent filing from Audience shows that Siri won't run on the iPhone 4 because the phone's chip can't handle it. Linley Gwennap of the Linley Group cracked one of the secrets of the new iPhone's A5 chip after working out that it packs some serious audio cleaning power not available on the iPhone 4's A4 chip. Audience has developed technology that removes most or all of the background noise when someone places a cell-phone call from a restaurant, airport, or other noisy location. The iPhone 4S integrates Audience's 'EarSmart' technology directly into the A5 processor, improving its technology to handle 'far-field speech,' which means holding the device at arm's length rather than directly in front of the mouth. Apple has also licensed the Audience technology for a 'new generation of processor IP,' which may mean that the forthcoming A6 processor will appear in the iPad 3 and iPhone 5. 'Why Apple has not simply purchased Audience is unclear. An acquisition would prevent Audience's other major customer, Samsung, from using the technology to compete with Apple,' says Gwennap. 'The company may be hedging its bets, as it could switch to Qualcomm's Fluence noise-reduction technology in the future.'"

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