Category Archives: Computer Science

Teaching Introductory Programming: We’re Doing It Wrong (still)

I just read Mark Guzdial’s excellent post on some of what’s wrong with how we teach introductory programming courses. Question Everything: How We Teach Intro CS is Wrong The notion that we should be modeling expert behaviour when teaching programming is … Continue reading

Posted in Academia, Computer Science, Higher Education, Programming, Teaching & Learning | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

On Schools of CS using only “useful” laguages…

This is an older post I’ve been hanging on to, and since I have forgotten why I was hanging on to it, I no longer see any reason to keep it private. This stems from a post Mark Guzdial did … Continue reading

Posted in Academia, Computer Science, Private, Software Industry, Teaching & Learning | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Is Computer Science Dead?

Just heard on Mark Guzdial’s blog that “Georgia Tech’s College of Computing is now considering a proposal to remove Smalltalk from the required curriculum in favor of C++.” This is another nail in the coffin of CS. There is great … Continue reading

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Look out SMART Technologies – the writing may be on the wall, and it isn’t yours.

In Today’s MIT Tech Review: A Better, Cheaper Multitouch Interface A new pressure-sensitive pad could improve large and small touch screens. I’ve thought for some time that the SMART Technologies’ White Board which is marketed so vigorously to Alberta schools … Continue reading

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Rant about faculty webpages.

KEEP THEM CURRENT!!!! Sheesh. How can someone claim to be “with it” technologically when their webpages were last updated a YEAR ago? These are modern times. And your webpage is your public face. Do it right. First, if you are … Continue reading

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Corrosive Leadership

Although it is not new, I came across this today. Corrosive Leadership (Or Bullying by Another Name): A Corollary of the Corporatised Academy? by Margaret Thornton The literature reveals that the incidence of bullying is increasing in corporate workplaces everywhere. … Continue reading

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Chalk up another one for FaceBook

Thanks to the mini-feed from FaceBook, I saw this Blog from Mark Guzdial. It is a MUST READ for anyone concerned about the enrollment malaise the computer science departments continue to face. http://www.amazon.com/gp/blog/post/PLNKUURHQRKBJYSU Here’s an excerpt: “Colin Potts, a professor … Continue reading

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Visual-Syntactic Text Formatting

It’s been a long time since I’ve seen anything really new when it comes to presenting text, but this one looks like it has a lot of potential. Here is a link to the original article (the samples below come … Continue reading

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