Add as a preferred source on Google


U Michigan Prof Open Sources MOOC Teaching Materials

A professor at the University of Michigan has launched an introductory programming course that provides all of the learning materials to participants who may want to turn around and teach the subject themselves.

The course, Programming for Everybody, taught by Charles Severance (on the Coursera platform and at Dr. Chuck Online), introduces participants to Python programming and provides them with the tools to turn around and teach those concepts themselves — or simply to continue their own training in programming. All of the materials for the course are provided to students under a Creative Commons license via the Open Michigan site, including syllabus, lecture videos, software and the course textbook, Python for Informatics, authored by Severance himself.

"Teaching Programming for Everybody as a MOOC lets me interact with students in high school, college, and adults who want to come back to school and learn technology," Severance said in a prepared statement. "One of my concerns with [open] materials is that potential faculty adopters around the world often think of them as somehow 'not as good.' I want to use the MOOC to give teachers who experience the MOOC a reason to make use of the open materials in their own classes."

The course launched about two weeks ago and has since seen registrations upward of 26,000 students.

About the Author

David Nagel is the former editorial director of 1105 Media's Education Group and editor-in-chief of THE Journal, STEAM Universe, and Spaces4Learning. A 30-year publishing veteran, Nagel has led or contributed to dozens of technology, art, marketing, media, and business publications.

He can be reached at [email protected]. You can also connect with him on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidrnagel/ .


Featured

  • Analyst or Scientist uses a computer and dashboard for analysis of information on complex data sets on computer.

    Anthropic Study Tracks AI Adoption Across Countries, Industries

    Adoption of AI tools is growing quickly but remains uneven across countries and industries, with higher-income economies using them far more per person and companies favoring automated deployments over collaborative ones, according to a recent study released by Anthropic.

  • magnifying glass highlighting a human profile silhouette, set over a collage of framed icons including landscapes, charts, and education symbols

    AWS, DeepBrain AI Launch AI-Generated Multimedia Content Detector

    Amazon Web Services (AWS) and DeepBrain AI have introduced AI Detector, an enterprise-grade solution designed to identify and manage AI-generated content across multiple media types. The collaboration targets organizations in government, finance, media, law, and education sectors that need to validate content authenticity at scale.

  • Digital clouds with data points and network connections

    Microsoft Makes Windows 365 Cloud Apps Available for Public Preview

    Microsoft has announced that Windows 365 Cloud Apps are now available for public preview. This allows IT administrators to stream individual Windows applications from the cloud, removing the need to assign Cloud PCs to every user.

  • cloud with binary code and technology imagery

    Report: Hybrid and AI Expansion Outpacing Cloud Security

    A new survey from the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) and Tenable finds that rapid adoption of hybrid, multi-cloud and AI systems is outpacing the security measures meant to protect them, leaving organizations exposed to preventable breaches and identity-related risks.