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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.
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."
Thanks to the War on Drugs, it's easier to buy meth than it is to buy cold medicine!
Really? When is this silliness going to end?
They aren't there to teach you, they are there to take your money and make a profit.
Stop pretending this organizations are about education and you'll stop looking stupid when you talk about them. American Universities are profit centers, not educational facilities. I can't speak for the rest of the world, but in America, thats the case.
Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
What are you, twelve years old? Harvard is a private institution that can do what it wants. And trust me, the student body and faculty are MORE than capable of fighting back against policies they don't like.
Harvard can't make money because its education quality is falling through the floor, thus they have to rely upon partnering with large corporations.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
CS50 starts students off with C, but by the end you've moved on to PHP, SQL, JavaScript, and HTML. It's nice that people care so much about CS50 that they're now just arguing about how it's being implemented. But for what it's worth, everyone can also take the course free online at EdX, the Harvard-MIT partnership. (That's what I did.) They'll even give you a (free) certificate of completion.
microsoft certrified AP: I was trained in a microsoft approved and endorsed course sponsored by a carte blanc effort by taxpayers to learn to code or die trying. I couldnt tell a router from a switch, but so long as its in visual basic im good to code!
anyone else: I couldnt afford harvard, couldnt afford community college, but spent my nights and weekends playing doom and hacking underhanded C. I wrote my own autoresponder in perl. I interfaced my coffeemaker in python with an arduino. ive been "suspended" from school for a combination of wearing too much black, not attending enough pep functions, and knowing more about computers than the teacher. I will be hired for 1/3rd the salary of the AP grad, but be charged with fixing or replacing nearly everything he did. but dont worry about all that...just fixate on the fact that im a girl, and girls + code == important.
US President->Next() learn to code! future! grlz in coding! programming is fun! everyone must code! code is future! all glory to the hypnocode!
Good people go to bed earlier.
I don't think the experts in the CS field come from Harvard, no matter which billionaire dropped out of there.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
How can it be legally binding to have K-12 students sign an agreement that gives up their privacy?
Take the cost out of what MS owes in taxes.
So if the experts in a given field shouldn't be designing courses, then who the fuck should be?!
Setting aside your false implication that a software tool vendor (aka Office) is an "expert" in educational curriculum development, it should be done by people, preferably experts, who do so without abrogating their rights to a third party corporate entity. Since the MAJORITY of funding comes from the tax payer, I propose a random professor from the field, from each public university submits a draft. The widely agreed parts can be approved by consensus and variations of the themes from more contentious portions can be consolidated "supply vs demand siders", for an economics example.
Are you saying that you want courses designed by people who don't know what the fuck they're talking about?
No. Are you saying you want to be reamed by a horse? Because I didn't see anyone suggest your tangential diatribe. Is this the part where the in-eloquent AC rages impotently about SJW, "the blacks" or whatever thing they don't understand but blame for an unrelated matter? If so, have a good day fellow AC, I hope those penis pills you ordered work this time. If not, consider your impotence may be the product of your rage. Try exercising with a slow waddle around the couch. Be sure to catch your breath after every step. It might take the EMS guys a while to cut open a hole in the wall wide enough to crane you out of the basement.
We already have that! They're called the "social sciences", and they're a total disaster!
Ah, so it is the part where you attack unrelated things that you don't understand. Sure, there's some iffy stuff swept under the social science label. It's hardly a disaster though, much less a total one. I'm pretty sure you have to opt in to those majors. Unlike this "all your image are belong to MS" policy. Or should I write "M$" to fit in your meme space? And just like that we are back on topic.
It's not, and they don't. This is purely for the teachers interested in presenting CS50 AP to their students - that is all.
I wouldn't read too much into the "no film zone". All Harvard classes that are recorded have that clause, and have had it for at least 10 years. Maybe longer, but I can't remember that far back.
}#q NO CARRIER
This is purely for the teachers interested in presenting CS50 AP to their students - that is all.
From TFS:
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.
Also, the form (complete with legalese) linked from the summary has a signature block for the Student (or Parent/Guardian). I guess it's Ok as long as they don't steal the kids' candy.