Keynote addresses are always special, but organizers of the final keynote of SXSW Interactive must have saved the best for last. Jennifer (Jen) Pahlka, founder of Code for America, a new and unusual non-profit, will give that address. Pahlka, who spent some of her childhood years in Austin, started out in the gaming media industry. Among […]
The most intriguing education panel during SXSWedu (which will also be presented during SXSW Interactive) in March 2012 just might be Supersizing the Classroom: 3000 Students & Beyond with Virginia Tech’s John Boyer and Katie Pritchard. For years Boyer’s highly popular Geography 1014 World Regions class kept outgrowing every classroom space due to student word-of-mouth recommendations. For […]
Mention computer programming and many intelligent and fairly computer-savvy college-bound youngsters and adults metaphorically throw up their hands, assuming it’s too hard and certainly way beyond them. As a result, relatively few study programming in college, a reality that caused enough concern for Microsoft, Intel Foundation, Google,Iomega, and the MIT Media Lab research consortia, not to mention the National Science […]