Google 101 Courses: From Hardcore to High Concept

Last week we reported that the University of Washington was offering an introductory course on Google programming developed by a Google employee who was dissatisfied with the quality of computer science learning arriving with the company's latest college recruits.

Now another big campus is getting into the act. Duke University announced it was offering a freshman seminar about Google, but this time the theme is more abstract: "Google: The Computer Science Within and Its Impact on Society," taught by Shivnath Babuam, an assistant professor of computer science at Duke. The course is a mixture of technology and ethnography: after several lectures on computer science, the students are pursuing topics such as the behavior of people searching the web, the founding of Google as a company, and Internet advertising.

Read more:
Duke University

About the Author

Paul McCloskey is contributing editor of Syllabus.

Featured

  • college student using a laptop alongside an AI robot and academic icons like a graduation cap, lightbulb, and upward arrow

    Nonprofit to Pilot Agentic AI Tool for Student Success Work

    Student success nonprofit InsideTrack has joined Salesforce Accelerator – Agents for Impact, a Salesforce initiative providing technology, funding, and expertise to help nonprofits build and customize AI agents and AI-powered tools to support and scale their missions.

  • server racks, a human head with a microchip, data pipes, cloud storage, and analytical symbols

    OpenAI, Oracle Expand AI Infrastructure Partnership

    OpenAI and Oracle have announced they will develop an additional 4.5 gigawatts of data center capacity, expanding their artificial intelligence infrastructure partnership as part of the Stargate Project, a joint venture among OpenAI, Oracle, and Japan's SoftBank Group that aims to deploy 10 gigawatts of computing capacity over four years.

  • geometric pattern features abstract icons of a dollar sign, graduation cap, and document

    Maricopa Community Colleges Adopts Platform to Combat Student Application Fraud

    In an effort to secure its admissions and financial processes, Maricopa Community Colleges has partnered with A.M. Simpkins and Associates (AMSA) to implement the company's S.A.F.E (Student Application Fraudulent Examination) across the district's 10 institutions.

  • human profile with a circuit-board brain next to an open book

    Georgia State U and Operation HOPE Program Fosters AI Literacy in Underserved Youth

    A pilot program co-led by Operation HOPE and Georgia State University is working to build technical, entrepreneurial, and financial-literacy skills in Atlanta-area youth to help them thrive in the AI-powered workforce.