Cornell Just Got $133 Million To Open This Massive New Tech School On An Island In New York City

via businessinsider.com

Cornell's new graduate school of applied sciences is expected to fuel major growth in the New York City tech sector.

To help fuel that growth, Qualcomm founder Irwin Jacobs and his wife just donated $133 million to the school, Ariel Kaminer of The New York Times reports.

The new school, Cornell NYC Tech, is the result of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's contest to a create a new science school. It beat out top-notch schools like Columbia, NYU, Carnegie Mellon, and Stanford to open up a new graduate school focused on computer science.

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From Novice to Expert in 10 Photography Resources

via designbeep.com

When you unbox your very first digital SLR camera you can’t wait to begin snapping away, which unfortunately results in many auto settings being used at first.

It’s not to say that auto is the devil because manufacturers like Canon and Nikon have adapted their bodies over the years to achieve good results, however, there is plenty that auto can’t do which requires an educated eye.

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7 Design Related Books you Should Check Out

via webdesignledger.com

Back in November we showcased here a list with 8 Books Every Designer Should Read, and to the present day, five months later we keep receiving emails from readers thanking us for the list and asking for a new round of recommendations. Based on that, I decided to gather a few more books for you to check out. Since I’m not a designer, I had to ask my friends who are designers and developers to help me out with some recommendations, and here is a new round of books we believe may interest you. Feel free to also give your recommendations in the comments.

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Formal degree vs. self taught

via webdesignerdepot.com

For many web design professionals, there was no option but to be self taught. Years ago, the academic qualifications simply didn’t exist. Sure, you could study design, but you’d be left to learn the technology by yourself. You could take an I.T. course, but you’d be lacking design skills.

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Best apps for teachers and educators

via digitaltrends.com

There are lots of advantages to be had by employing tablets in the classroom at various levels of education. You can encourage greater student engagement and an expansion of the learning environment beyond school hours. Hardware is only part of the jigsaw, though. You also need the right software to help engage those eager young minds. If you’re using tablets with your students then you’ll appreciate great educational apps.

We’ve already looked at the best back to school apps for students to help them keep organized, but what about teachers? How about a communication network built with teacher-student relations in mind? Apps for scheduling and recording attendance could prove handy. There are also some great options for creating tutorials and accessing information on different subjects. Let’s take a look at the best apps for teachers and educators.

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How Code.org’s ‘Learn To Code’ Video Starring Zuck And Gates Surpassed 12M Views In 2 Weeks

via techcrunch.com

You probably wouldn’t exactly expect a short film about computer programming to be a blockbuster hit, but that’s exactly what’s happened with the ‘Learn To Code’ short film that computer science non-profit Code.org debuted last month.

The film, which is in both five minute and nine minute versions and was directed by famed documentary producer Lesley Chilcott, features Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Jack Dorsey, Drew Houston, Tony Hsieh, Miami Heat player Chris Bosh, and others talking about how knowing to code has brought them the success they have today.

According to numbers released today, Code.org’s film has been viewed well over 12 million times in the two weeks since it was released. And the response was incredible particularly in the first several days, noted investor and Code.org co-founder Hadi Partovi tells me. Within the first four days of the film’s debut, the video had exceeded 10 million views — and that does not include views that occurred on Facebook, some of which can’t be tracked. It’s fair to estimate that the actual number of times the film has been viewed as of today could be in excess of 20 million.

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Does Gamification Help Classroom Learning?

via mashable.com

As a mom of three boys, I see first-hand how making activities into a game suddenly turns stubborn stand-offs into engaging fun.

My boys were fascinated with baseball statistics and learned percentages and fractions by following the exploits of their favorite players. They insisted on being the banker in monopoly, only to be disappointed when they later learned all U.S. currency is just plain green and not all the colors of the rainbow they were used to. Today, there are gadgets like ibitz which turn walking and exercising into a fun, rewarding game-like experience.

Some people refer to this as “gamification” which means applying game thinking or even game mechanics into a non-game context. As an example, I have no problem if my boys prefer to use a Math Baseball iPad app to practice math facts instead of a printed worksheet. When I see my kids’ teachers incorporating games into learning, I say “Bravo”. Anything that inspires them to learn by making it fun is okay by me.

With new games like SimCityEDU — which teaches students STEM subjects in a virtual environment — I wondered if bringing games into the classroom would support or distract from learning. Here's what I found out.

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Is Teaching Media Literacy Important?

via mashable.com

The public Internet now houses over 630 million sites, a number that is growing each month. And each of those sites can have thousands or millions of individual pages (CNN.com, for example, has over 47 million pages indexed on Google, and adds thousands each day).

Free access to all that information is, on the whole, a very good thing for society. More people can stay informed, more voices can reach an audience. Writers aren't constrained by column inches or page counts or the cost of ink, meaning stories can be reported with greater depth, with more multimedia or with previously unimaginable interactivity.

But all that flowing information can also present problems when people are unequipped with the tools and skills necessary to make sense of it.

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9 Apps That'll Make You Smarter

via businessinsider.com

Feeling a little bit of the winter slump?

Not as sharp as you'd like to be?

Take refuge in your mobile device – there are a number of apps ready to help you shake the dust out of your head.

Whether you use an iPhone or an Android phone, there's something here for you.

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4 Tech Trends That Will Make Colleges and Universities Better Teachers

via readwrite.com

These are dark days for many colleges and universities. Sharp decreases in government funding and private-giving have forced academic cutbacks. That, along with soaring tuition and disappointing postgraduate employment, has earned the United States the dubious distinction of being number one in college dropouts.

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Why Writing With Our Hands Is Still Important

via readwrite.com

I first noticed something was off when I went to pay my rent one month. The window for a timely online transfer of funds was closing, so to get the money to my landlord in time, I'd have to do something unusual. I took out my checkbook, grabbed a pen and started writing the date.

It felt weird. My hand cramped a little, churning out numbers and letters with the slightest - but still noticeable - discomfort. My handwriting sucked. It suddenly occurred to me that I hadn't actually written anything by hand in a long, long time. Just a few years earlier, I kept a paper journal by my bed and would buy three-packs of Moleskin notebooks for brainstorming, sketching and jotting things down. What happened?

Over the course of the last four or five years, myriads of little computers found their way into my life. Bit by bit, my professional and creative existence made the transition to an entirely digital universe. At my old job managing digital publishing for a newspaper, the iPad soon replaced my spiral notebook in meetings. Then I left the print world to work on the Internet full-time. I could even sign my freelance contracts with my finger on an iPad.

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8 Points To Educate Web Design Clients

via underworldmagazines.com

In the web-designing world, clients are considered as the heart and soul of the business. The clients that a designer serves may have varying views about the work and about the designer. It’s not easy to develop healthy relations with clients so that they come again and again. Web designers need to educate their clients in order to reach at a point where both parties are satisfied.

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Creativity and Education: Why it Matters - Infographic by Adobe

via dexigner.com

Adobe has released Creativity and Education: Why it Matters, a new study that sheds light on the role of creativity in career success and the growing belief that creativity is not just a personality trait, but a learned skill.

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14 Podcasts for Designers and Developers

via blog.wezile.com

Being a designer or a developer isn’t your average work as it is constantly developing, giving you new tools to either become more dynamic or to simply create better work. Podcasts is an engaging way of learning new techniques or staying up to date with what other designers. We often read books, refresh our skills with tutorials, subscribe to blogs and even attend conferences but we most of us still overlook one medium It is an engaging standard that is available in both audio and video formats. Podcasts often refer to audio casts, but now with iPods and other media players being able to play video, video casts are just as popular. A handful of web design podcasters convey both audio and video formats.

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10 Amazing Bookstores Around the World

via thecoolist.com

There will always be something magical about the printed word. Even as iPads and e-readers become the norm, nothing will ever compete with a good old-fashioned book. Beyond the shrinking book store franchises and “new media” libraries, there are special places around the world that celebrate the mystique of books in print. Join us to explore 10 amazing book stores and libraries around the world that make reading a truly artful experience.

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How technology is creating a reading revolution

via extremetech.com

Reading has truly seen a big change in the last few years. With high-definition video, hyper-real video games, and high-quality audio so readily available, it is a little counter-intuitive that boring old books, and the technology behind them, are still going from strength to strength. Really, there has never been a better moment in history if you like reading books.

The technology of reading can’t be discussed without bringing up electronic paper. The technology that drives the Kindle and the Pebble has made low-power and long-lasting dynamic reading devices possible. Not only can electronic paper (e-ink) devices be used in direct sunlight without having glare issues, it also has the benefit of only needing to draw power when the display updates. Just like its printed counterpart, an e-ink page draws no power, so it can be left on all of the time.

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Stop Stealing Dreams: Seth Godin on Education & School

The older I get the more I take to heart the old Mark Twain chestnut: “I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.” In March of this year I created a post entitled Videos to help you rethink education, learning, & school. That list of videos included a provocative interview with Seth Godin. This month Seth put those same thoughts together in a new short-form presentation which he delivered at TEDxYouth@BFS. I heard Seth say many of the same things before. Yes, I can quibble about a few of his strongly asserted points, but for the most part I think he is spot on. Of course there are great teachers doing good work around the world, and there are even some outstanding schools. But it's also true that the very system of mass schooling needs to be questioned.

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The Cost to Educate a President - Infographic

via degreejungle.com

As Election Day looms, voters across the country are deciding which of the two candidates will get their vote. The political views of Mitt Romney and Barack Obama have been evaluated and dissected by hundreds of websites and countless political pundits. We’ve seen the two candidates debate on TV and approve countless commercial messages. We’ve heard their talking points and read their plans. However, we wanted to know how they got so smart.

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5 Things Entrepreneurs Can Learn From Art Students

via blog.crowdspring.com

My younger son is a high school senior this year and I find myself in awe of his ability to manage an wildly complex and demanding existence. First semester of senior year is an overwhelming time – college visits and applications to schedule and manage, final rounds of SATs and ACTs to prepare for, a full load of honors and AP classes to cope with, and an incredibly active social life to conduct. On top of all of that, he is a musician and a serious visual artist.

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New California laws provide free digital textbooks to college students

via digitaltrends.com

Detailed in the L.A. Times recently, California governor Jerry Brown signed two laws last week that will help new college students save money at the bookstore during their first semesters. Covered within two bills, the legislation will create a system where students at California’s universities will be able to download digital copies of textbooks for free. The first bill provides the resources to fund the creation of fifty digital textbooks, all open-source and specifically targeted for basic college courses. The second bill establishes the California Digital Open Source Library to host the books and offer students a single place to download copies of each textbook.

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