Code.org deletes student emails; EdScoop, 7/25/16

Corinne Lestch, EdScoop; Code.org deletes student emails:

"The head of Code.org is taking an unusual step – by deleting student emails.

Hadi Partovi, founder of the education nonprofit, told EdScoop in an email that he was prompted by near-daily news reports about cyberattacks to stop storing student emails in Code.org's servers.

"The easiest way to protect sensitive data from hacking is to not have it stored in the first place," he wrote in the email. "In today's world, the more data you store, the more risk you bear."...

"We did this because the privacy and safety of student data is more important to us than the ability to contact our users," he wrote in the post."

Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, and Lately, Coding; New York Times, 5/10/14

Matt Richtel, New York Times; Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, and Lately, Coding:

"The spread of coding instruction, while still nascent, is “unprecedented — there’s never been a move this fast in education,” said Elliot Soloway, a professor of education and computer science at the University of Michigan. He sees it as very positive, potentially inspiring students to develop a new passion, perhaps the way that teaching frog dissection may inspire future surgeons and biologists.

But the momentum for early coding comes with caveats, too. It is not clear that teaching basic computer science in grade school will beget future jobs or foster broader creativity and logical thinking, as some champions of the movement are projecting. And particularly for younger children, Dr. Soloway said, the activity is more like a video game — better than simulated gunplay, but not likely to impart actual programming skills.

Some educators worry about the industry’s heavy role: Major tech companies and their founders, including Bill Gates and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, have put up about $10 million for Code.org. The organization pays to train high school teachers to offer more advanced curriculums, and, for younger students, it has developed a coding curriculum that marries basic instruction with video games involving Angry Birds and hungry zombies."