Harvard: Prospective CS50 AP Teachers Must cc:Microsoft On Training Applications

theodp writes: Did you know that Microsoft has supported Harvard in creating a new version [of its wildly-popular CS50 course] called CS50 AP, designed specifically for secondary school educators?" asks a Microsoft Born to Learn Blog post. "If you might like to teach CS50 AP (and, in turn, AP CS Principles) in your own classroom this year," Harvard informs prospective teachers, "you are cordially invited to join us at one of our teacher training workshops to be held in various locations around the country and the world!" But before applications can be successfully submitted, teachers are required to respond to the following statement, and Harvard won't take 'No' for an answer: "Our friends at Microsoft are helping us distribute the teacher support materials for this version of CS50 for secondary school teachers and students. By checking the box below, you acknowledge that we may share the data you submitted through this form with them as part of this planning process." Microsoft is certainly calling the K-12 CS education shots these days — heck, the White House even let Microsoft President Brad Smith brief reporters about plans to spend $4B in tax dollars on a new CS for All K-12 initiative before the President told taxpayers about it. By the way, the CS50 AP Wiki contains a CS50x/CS50 AP Authorization and Release form which, among other things, requires camera-shy CS50 AP students to agree to "sit in a 'no-film' zone" if they do not want photos or videos of themselves used by Harvard to promote the Microsoft-supported course." From the agreement: "I understand that my teacher will take reasonable steps, with my cooperation, to avoid including identifiable images of me in the Recordings. I understand that I am free to opt out of the Recordings in this way, and that doing so will not affect my grade or my ability to participate in course activities. Unless I opt out of the Recordings as described above and take the steps that will be outlined by the instructor to avoid being filmed, I authorize Harvard and its designees to use the Recordings. I understand and agree that the Recordings may include my image, name, and voice. I also understand and agree that, even if I opt out of the Recordings, my spoken name and voice may be picked up by microphones outside any "no-film" zone and may be included in the Recordings.

Comments

Why are we tolerating this?

[ShaunC]

Would people be okay with the idea of Exxon helping to design AP Environmental Science curriculum? Should criminal justice coursework be overseen by Smith and Wesson? Corporate sponsors don't belong in these roles but for some reason everyone throws caution to the wind when they hear "computer."

Re:Why are we tolerating this?

[Penguinisto]

Exactly. It used to be Apple who dictated what was taught in high school computer science courses, but it looks like they let Microsoft take over.

Umm, yes and no.

I did the teaching thing for a living (HS and Collegiate-level CS, no less), and here's how it really works:

Option A: Write your own curriculum, your own syllabus, your own tests, your own labs, select your own textbooks (within an approved list, from state-approved vendors), insure your classroom and your school both have the budget for it (doubly so if any of it relies on equipment such as desktops, servers, networking gear, etc), insure that it all tracks with state education standards for your subject matter and level of competence, get it all approved by the state office of education... And then maybe next year you can start teaching it, but note that you'll have to do it all over again as soon as newer information and technologies come out. Also note that anyone in the bureaucratic morass can (and sometimes often will) happily veto the whole thing with a long list of objections, causing you to spend countless hours and metric tons of paper in justifying it.

--or--

Option B: Have $megacorp arrive and provide all the syllabi, curricula, tests, labs, and in some cases even the textbooks - for free! Hell, they'll even give you a massive discount on the equipment. The state board of education (never known for their technical acumen) has already rubber-stamped approval for it, and as a bonus you, your managers, your principals/administrators... they're all salivating at the massive PR (and potential career) boost they'll get when they present it to the public with lots of pomp and circumstance. Oh, and the school board will just love you to death - maybe even give you a plaque for your wall at home, calling you an 'innovator' or suchlike.

Now... throw in the fact that most (not all, but disturbingly "most") teachers are career-oriented folks (to be too charitable about it), and they are inherently averse to either rocking the boat, or to doing more work than they already do.

So, in light of those facts, guess which option gets chosen the most? Note that I've done Option A, and I gotta tell you; it's not the class-side grunt work that's so intensive - it's the bureaucracy that sucks down all your time (and your soul, etc). But then, a labor of love is exactly that, so I don't regret it... however, way too may teachers out there, sadly, think differently on the subject.

Re:aren't we missing the real issue here ?

[lhowaf]

How can it be legally binding to have K-12 students sign an agreement that gives up their privacy?