Computer Science Curriculum

Teach Programming Instead of Computer Science

A basic problem with the Computer Science curriculum is that it does not teach students what they're interested in or what they need to know professionally.  Most students would probably prefer practical programming experience but they get CS degrees since that is all that is being offered at their college. The schools don't want to be a "trade school" so they instead require students to learn difficult and often unnecessary material. Besides making it more difficult for the students who do succeed, it ends up scaring off many people from a career in software development all together. Its time for more options to be offered and for some disruption in the education system:

Higher Education's Online Revolution (WSJ)

Software beats humans at teaching

How does blending learning compare to the traditional model? A new study finds that they can teach the same amount in less time:

In experiments at six public universities, students assigned randomly to statistics courses that relied heavily on “machine-guided learning” software -- with reduced face time with instructors -- did just as well, in less time, as their counterparts in traditional, instructor-centric versions of the courses...
“Our results indicate that hybrid-format students took about one-quarter less time to achieve essentially the same learning outcomes as traditional-format students,"

As elearning becomes more popular, I think it will continue to demonstrate its effectiveness, which will create a cyclic effect and cause further adoption. Its biggest challenges will be taking on the current monopolies in education, but I think in the long-term it will succeed.

Link: Report: Robots stack up to human professors in teaching Intro Stats | Inside Higher Ed.