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Are they offering anything on the site for people who want CS education? From clicking around a bit it seemed like it was focused entirely on people teaching an

by xiaoma 10y ago

Are they offering anything on the site for people who want CS education? From clicking around a bit it seemed like it was focused entirely on people teaching and learning in physical classrooms. I was pretty excited at first, thinking this was something like a Google-sponsored version of EdX or OpenCourseware that was laser focused on CS.

Spare_account 10y ago
From the linked page there is a section titled "Learn Computer Science" which contains a section titled "Student Learning" which contains a variety of learning resources that can be experienced through the browser. https://www.google.com/edu/cs/learn/student.html https://www.google.com/edu/cs/learn/student.html
- m0nty 10y ago
  Looks great if you're Indian, Irish or female. Edit: Or AU/NZ, missed that one.
  - pbhjpbhj 10y ago
    There's also a middle-school program. For those who didn't look there is a very short list of programmes mentioned which discriminate on sex, age, ethnicity.
    - dotancohen 10y ago
      A "short list" which is four of the five listed programmes. Id est, 80% of the programmes on the list discriminate.
      - pbhjpbhj 10y ago
        Bad wording, my intention was to say they all discriminate, assuming "middle-school" is intended to refer to an age range. 5 is a short list, no. I assume it's the start of what may later become a directory of offerings. There are masses of MOOCs that aren't discriminating though.
  - dotancohen 10y ago
    I don't see why this rather insightful post is downvoted. The site specifically targets these groups by name. Why in the age of a _World_ Wide Web and "post-discrimination" are large companies such as Google deliberately targeting specific groups? What will be in the girls-only code program that might be inappropriate for boys?
    - GrantSolar 10y ago
      >Why in the age of a _World_ Wide Web and "post-discrimination" are large companies such as Google deliberately targeting specific groups? Because the gender ratio in STEM fields skews heavily towards men. >What will be in the girls-only code program that might be inappropriate for boys? I can't imagine there would be anything that was 'inappropriate', though there may be some boys less excited about making a dress light up. Google is using existing gender roles to introduce girls to code and get them excited about STEM, something that may be far more difficult once they grow older.
      - deleted 10y ago
        [deleted]
      - wolfgke 10y ago
        > Because the gender ratio in STEM fields skews heavily towards men. Girls are free to study what they want. If they don't want to study STEM fields - their problem, which I don't feel having to care for.
        dwaltrip 10y ago
        Apparently it's your problem as well, because you appear to be personally upset by a program that only helps them.
        wolfgke 10y ago
        I am always upset over discriminatory programs. If one would replace "women only" by "white people only", you would probably be upset, too.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
  - cardiffguy 10y ago
    I wonder if I'd qualify. I have dyslexia and dyspraxia but always feel like "learning difficulties" put you in the camp of "not disabled enough". I managed to get a first class degree in compsci and recieved the standard disability grant from the uni.
    - mcguire 10y ago
      You got a disability grant? Would that be considered reverse discrimination?
      - cardiffguy 10y ago
        In the UK it's fairly standard to get financial support in terms of technology to help with the disability
  - pliptvo 10y ago
    Problem: There's a massive gender imbalance in CS and amongst the coding community. There are loads of men and hardly any women. Most of half the population would never consider working for us or our partners. Solution: Make a website which specifically encourages young girls to see themselves as coders. Problem: We have invested loads of money into our Irish, Indian, Australian/NZ offices, but we could increase our pool of workers from those countries. Solution: Make a website which specifically encourages kids from those countries to start their journey into CS and tech. What is the problem?
    - beachbum8029 10y ago
      >What is the problem? It's very disingenuous to act like you're a company started by Mother Theresa that just wants to help make the world a Better Place when all you really care about is your bottom line.
    - Lawtonfogle 10y ago
      The problem? Because those actions are discrimination. Using discrimination to fight discrimination largely targets the under privileged members of the privileged groups. It's basically a call for equity instead of equality, except it is limited equity which automatically assume some do not need equitable help. It is also limited in how it's applied. Find the actual problems causing any modern day biases and fix those. Personally I work with some kids to help them love math. In my (admittingly anecdotal experience) there is a bias noticeable in middle school for all kids to not like math that evolves into a gender bias but to some extent hurts both genders' ability and desire to learn. Identifying and remedying the cause of this would do more to help both girls and boys than targeted aid in high-school or college.
    - reitanqild 10y ago
      No problem for you. And I have learned to live with it but as a young boy it was extremely frustrating to see girls getting advantages throughout the whole school system just for being girls. Now I am fully aware that I have certain advantages ("privileges") as well but as I said: when you are young this can be extremely frustrating.
  - hrodriguez 10y ago
    I too was very surprised by the limited options. I keep seeing American companies investing overseas instead of building a stronger base at home. It's frustrating. Now, don't get me wrong. I understand these are international firms and it's good to see CS education targeting other communities and certain imbalances in the system but... Their are large swaths of communities right here in the US that could use the support of American companies investing right here in their home-base. As a result, I see these efforts by US firms as a marketing gimmick to help them further their interests in entering new markets and appealing to certain political alliances.
  - protomyth 10y ago
    Apparently if your racial group is listed in the "Other" category of Google's diversity report they won't throw you a life line on education. You know, after they made sure Google Voice wouldn't service one of the tribal community colleges, they could at least do a little outreach.
- piyush_soni 10y ago
  The 'CS First' link on this page was not discriminatory though, and anyone anywhere can do that : https://www.cs-first.com/en/home https://www.cs-first.com/en/home
- xiaoma 10y ago
  The student link was the very first one I clicked on, but I must have missed something. I couldn't find anything on compilers, OS, Automata, or anything that looked remotely like a CS course. Did you find any CS material in the "learning resources that can be experienced through the browser" that you mentioned? If so, would you mind sharing a more specific link? I'd be particularly interested in a Systems and Networking course.
- averageweather 10y ago
  I had the same excitement ... then seemed to find nothing resembling a path to a CS degree.
sn9 10y ago
They have some courses on Udacity, but there are so many great resources available that it wouldn't make sense to reinvent the wheel. https://www.google.com/about/careers/students/guide-to-technical-development.html https://www.google.com/about/careers/students/guide-to-techn...

by xiaoma 10y ago

Spare_account 10y ago

From the linked page there is a section titled "Learn Computer Science" which contains a section titled "Student Learning" which contains a variety of learning resources that can be experienced through the browser. https://www.google.com/edu/cs/learn/student.html https://www.google.com/edu/cs/learn/student.html

m0nty 10y ago
Looks great if you're Indian, Irish or female. Edit: Or AU/NZ, missed that one.
- pbhjpbhj 10y ago
  There's also a middle-school program. For those who didn't look there is a very short list of programmes mentioned which discriminate on sex, age, ethnicity.
  - dotancohen 10y ago
    A "short list" which is four of the five listed programmes. Id est, 80% of the programmes on the list discriminate.
    - pbhjpbhj 10y ago
      Bad wording, my intention was to say they all discriminate, assuming "middle-school" is intended to refer to an age range. 5 is a short list, no. I assume it's the start of what may later become a directory of offerings. There are masses of MOOCs that aren't discriminating though.
- dotancohen 10y ago
  I don't see why this rather insightful post is downvoted. The site specifically targets these groups by name. Why in the age of a _World_ Wide Web and "post-discrimination" are large companies such as Google deliberately targeting specific groups? What will be in the girls-only code program that might be inappropriate for boys?
  - GrantSolar 10y ago
    >Why in the age of a _World_ Wide Web and "post-discrimination" are large companies such as Google deliberately targeting specific groups? Because the gender ratio in STEM fields skews heavily towards men. >What will be in the girls-only code program that might be inappropriate for boys? I can't imagine there would be anything that was 'inappropriate', though there may be some boys less excited about making a dress light up. Google is using existing gender roles to introduce girls to code and get them excited about STEM, something that may be far more difficult once they grow older.
    - deleted 10y ago
      [deleted]
    - wolfgke 10y ago
      > Because the gender ratio in STEM fields skews heavily towards men. Girls are free to study what they want. If they don't want to study STEM fields - their problem, which I don't feel having to care for.
      - dwaltrip 10y ago
        Apparently it's your problem as well, because you appear to be personally upset by a program that only helps them.
        wolfgke 10y ago
        I am always upset over discriminatory programs. If one would replace "women only" by "white people only", you would probably be upset, too.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- cardiffguy 10y ago
  I wonder if I'd qualify. I have dyslexia and dyspraxia but always feel like "learning difficulties" put you in the camp of "not disabled enough". I managed to get a first class degree in compsci and recieved the standard disability grant from the uni.
  - mcguire 10y ago
    You got a disability grant? Would that be considered reverse discrimination?
    - cardiffguy 10y ago
      In the UK it's fairly standard to get financial support in terms of technology to help with the disability
- pliptvo 10y ago
  Problem: There's a massive gender imbalance in CS and amongst the coding community. There are loads of men and hardly any women. Most of half the population would never consider working for us or our partners. Solution: Make a website which specifically encourages young girls to see themselves as coders. Problem: We have invested loads of money into our Irish, Indian, Australian/NZ offices, but we could increase our pool of workers from those countries. Solution: Make a website which specifically encourages kids from those countries to start their journey into CS and tech. What is the problem?
  - beachbum8029 10y ago
    >What is the problem? It's very disingenuous to act like you're a company started by Mother Theresa that just wants to help make the world a Better Place when all you really care about is your bottom line.
  - Lawtonfogle 10y ago
    The problem? Because those actions are discrimination. Using discrimination to fight discrimination largely targets the under privileged members of the privileged groups. It's basically a call for equity instead of equality, except it is limited equity which automatically assume some do not need equitable help. It is also limited in how it's applied. Find the actual problems causing any modern day biases and fix those. Personally I work with some kids to help them love math. In my (admittingly anecdotal experience) there is a bias noticeable in middle school for all kids to not like math that evolves into a gender bias but to some extent hurts both genders' ability and desire to learn. Identifying and remedying the cause of this would do more to help both girls and boys than targeted aid in high-school or college.
  - reitanqild 10y ago
    No problem for you. And I have learned to live with it but as a young boy it was extremely frustrating to see girls getting advantages throughout the whole school system just for being girls. Now I am fully aware that I have certain advantages ("privileges") as well but as I said: when you are young this can be extremely frustrating.
- hrodriguez 10y ago
  I too was very surprised by the limited options. I keep seeing American companies investing overseas instead of building a stronger base at home. It's frustrating. Now, don't get me wrong. I understand these are international firms and it's good to see CS education targeting other communities and certain imbalances in the system but... Their are large swaths of communities right here in the US that could use the support of American companies investing right here in their home-base. As a result, I see these efforts by US firms as a marketing gimmick to help them further their interests in entering new markets and appealing to certain political alliances.
- protomyth 10y ago
  Apparently if your racial group is listed in the "Other" category of Google's diversity report they won't throw you a life line on education. You know, after they made sure Google Voice wouldn't service one of the tribal community colleges, they could at least do a little outreach.
piyush_soni 10y ago
The 'CS First' link on this page was not discriminatory though, and anyone anywhere can do that : https://www.cs-first.com/en/home https://www.cs-first.com/en/home
xiaoma 10y ago
The student link was the very first one I clicked on, but I must have missed something. I couldn't find anything on compilers, OS, Automata, or anything that looked remotely like a CS course. Did you find any CS material in the "learning resources that can be experienced through the browser" that you mentioned? If so, would you mind sharing a more specific link? I'd be particularly interested in a Systems and Networking course.
averageweather 10y ago
I had the same excitement ... then seemed to find nothing resembling a path to a CS degree.

sn9 10y ago

They have some courses on Udacity, but there are so many great resources available that it wouldn't make sense to reinvent the wheel. https://www.google.com/about/careers/students/guide-to-technical-development.html https://www.google.com/about/careers/students/guide-to-techn...