Until now, humans have had one significant advantage over computers and robots: We meatbags were the only ones who could teach them how to function. Now, researchers at Washington State University have created computers that can teach other computers. And they’re using Pac-Man to do it. Is nothing sacred?
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Have you ever been working on something, a special project or something outside the realm of normal day-to-day work stuff, and you find yourself totally stuck? As in, you have absolutely no idea what to do next? Google wants to help.
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The Wall Street Journal has raised an interesting question: when, exactly, is it OK to use technology in class?
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Udacity’s first partnership with an institution of higher learning might not have turned out as well as it hoped, but a setback at San Jose State University won’t cause the online learning portal to call it quits on college campuses. Quite the contrary, in fact. Today, Udacity announced the creation of the Open Education Alliance to “bridge the gap between the skills employers need and what traditional universities teach.” The alliance is comprised of both Silicon Valley heavyweights like Google, AT&T and NVIDIA and educators including Georgia Tech and Khan Academy. The OEA’s goal is to enlist the help of both companies and educators in building a new curriculum to help students learn what they need to choose and succeed in a modern career.
Here at TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2013, Udacity CEO Sebastian Thrun and California Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom discussed the need for a shift in our educational system, and consequently the OEA. “It’s important to be creative about this,” said Thrun, “we need to move away from an ‘industry of drones’ by enabling students to learn at their own speed.” Naturally, accomplishing this task requires a combination of Udacity’s online learning tools to give folks on-demand access to learning materials they need and a physical classroom environment to keep students on task. According to Newsom, “It’s not mass education anymore, it’s personalized.”
Source: Udacity blog, Open Education Alliance
Most of the Google Glass videos we’ve seen thus far don’t seem to tap this device’s enormous potential. Used as a miniaturized camera phone or just another vehicle for porn
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It’s a story that we hoped we’d never have to report. Neil Armstrong, the first man to set foot on Earth’s Moon, has died at the age of 82 after complications from heart surgery three weeks earlier. His greatest accomplishment very nearly speaks for itself — along with help from fellow NASA astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, he changed the landscape of space exploration through a set of footprints. It’s still important to stress his accomplishments both before and after the historic Apollo 11 flight, though. He was instrumental to the Gemini and X-series test programs in the years before Apollo, and followed his moonshot with roles in teaching aerospace engineering as well as investigating the Apollo 13 and Space Shuttle Challenger incidents. What more can we say? Although he only spent a very small portion of his life beyond Earth’s atmosphere, he’s still widely considered the greatest space hero in the US, if not the world, and inspired a whole generation of astronauts. We’ll miss him.
[Image credit: NASA Apollo Archive]
Filed under: Transportation, Science, Alt
Pioneering astronaut Neil Armstrong dies at 82 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 25 Aug 2012 15:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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