NYCPHP Meetup

[Leam Hall]

On 01/24/2012 12:23 PM, Christopher R. Merlo wrote:

> Justin is, as usual, correct about all of this.  But as someone who's been
> involved in CS curriculum design at the associates level for going on 12
> years now, the problem -- at least for us at the community college level --
> is that we can only make our students take 66 credits, of physics and music
> and English and all the other stuff, along with CS and math.  I would love
> to offer our CS students a course on these software engineering topics,
> like source control and unit tests and how to do a code review, but not at
> the expense of assembly or linear algebra, and SUNY won't let us do it at
> the expense of sociology or art.  (That's not a complaint; I think the
> curriculum *should* be well-rounded.  We just don't have space.)
> -c

I won't argue, and I have a SUNY-Regent's College degree. However, I 
think this more points out that we need to move out of traditional 
"college" education and forward to something new or backward to 
apprenticeships or something else.

The cost of college no longer meets the "increased income" myth, if it 
ever did. In hiring discussions my degrees have meant much less than 
respected certifications and experience.

So Gary, I suggest you proceed with your book and dedicate a forum or 
other interactive website. Maybe use Moodle? Develop your plan, test it 
with others, and then charge a hundred or so bucks for the learning and 
access to the member's forum. I'd probably join.

Leam