Presentation "From Course to OpenCourseWare"
06. Jul
Mr. David J. Malan will give a hybrid talk (in presence and via Zoom) on "From Course to OpenCourseWare" on July 06, 2022 at 4:15 pm. He was invited by Prof. Dr. Funk from the Institute of Information Systems.
David J. Malan is the Gordon McKay Professor of the Practice of Computer Science at Harvard University in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, as well as a member of the Faculty of Education at the Graduate School of Education and an Executive Fellow at Harvard Business School. He teaches Computer Science 50, also known as CS50, which is one of Harvard University's largest courses, one of Yale University's largest courses, and edX's largest MOOC with more than 3.7 million participants.
For this lecture, please register by e-mail at iis@leuphana.de by 05 July 2022. Please indicate whether you would like to attend in person or via Zoom.
Abstract
CS50 is Harvard University's introduction to the intellectual enterprises of computer science and the art of programming for majors and non-majors alike, a one-semester amalgam of courses generally known as CS1 and CS2. In 2007, we set out to alter the course's style and tone to resonate with students "less comfortable" and "more comfortable" alike, albeit without sacrificing the course's historical rigor. We maintained the course's underlying syllabus but revamped every problem set, providing students not only with more direction but context as well. And we augmented the course's support structure. As of 2022, CS50 is one of Harvard's largest courses, with over 700 students on campus, up from 132 in 2006, and those "less comfortable" now compose the course's largest demographic. CS50 is now offered in parallel at Yale University as well.
In 2007, we also made CS50 freely available as OpenCourseWare: anyone online is welcome to take the course on their own, and teachers welcome to adopt or adapt its curriculum for their own classrooms. CS50 now also exists as CS50 AP, an adaptation specifically for high schools. And CS50 exists, too, as CS50x, edX's largest MOOC (massive open online course), with more than 3.7 million registrants to date.
We present in this talk what we have done and why we have done it, curricularly, technologically, and philosophically.
