History's most successful mathematical prediction | Mathematics - Cosmos

This article appeared in Cosmos 79 - Winter 2018 under the headline "History's most successful mathematical prediction" 

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The power of physical theory drives us to know the world in ever-finer detail. Paul Davies, Regents' Professor and Director of the Beyond Centre for Fundamental Concepts in Science at Arizona State University explains.

American theoretical physicist Julian Schwinger.
Photo: Historical / Getty Images

When Sir James Jeans proclaimed “God is a pure mathematician!” he was referring to the fact that most basic processes of nature obey elegant mathematical relationships. Science is so successful because theorists can use mathematics to make predictions experimenters can test.

Mathematics has been used to predict the existence of the planet Neptune, radio waves, antimatter, neutrinos, black holes, gravitational waves and the Higgs boson, to give but a few examples.

Sometimes the predictions are breathtakingly precise. Probably the most successful example of the power of physical theory concerns the curious case of the spinning electron.

Long ago Michael Faraday found that moving electric charges generate magnetic fields; an electric current flowing around a coil of wire is the basis of the electric motor. Even a static electron has a magnetic field, on account of the fact that all electrons spin. Every electron has an identical quantity of spin, as it does of charge. This intrinsic rotation serves to turn the particle into a tiny magnet.

Naturally physicists want to know how strong a magnet it is. If the electron is treated as a miniscule rotating ball, the calculation is easy. But the answer is only half of what experimenters measure.

The discrepancy is explained by the intrinsic spin not behaving like an ordinary rotation. To illustrate the difference, imagine a cosmic magician turning the Earth upside down. A further 180-degree turn would restore normality. One 360- degree turn returns it to its initial state.
So far, so obvious. Trouble is, if you rotate an electron through 360 degrees it does not come back to its initial state. Instead you have to rotate it through 720 degrees. 

Experimental physicists can readily perform such a double rotation to check. Going round in circles thus takes on a whole new meaning for electrons. Because of its weird double-take on the surrounding world, the strength of an electron’s magnetism is likewise doubled...

Aristotle said that nature abhors a vacuum. He was right. Nature not only fills the vacuum of space with clouds of virtual particles; it embellishes the properties of electrons with minute adjustments that might forever have gone unnoticed were it not for physicists’ faith in the power of mathematics to describe the world in ever-finer detail. 
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Source: Cosmos 

The 17 best universities in the world to study math | Business Insider

Read the original article on Business Insider France. 
This post has been translated from French.

• When undertaking mathematics, the establishment you choose for your studies can have a considerable impact.
• To produce its Global Ranking of Mathematics 2018, ShanghaiRanking looked at factors including how many Field Medalists had studied at each institution.
• The ranking shows that the majority of the best universities for mathematics are in the US.

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"If you're hoping to study maths and one day hope to get a Fields Medal of your own, the establishment you select for your studies can make all the difference" summarizes Chisato Goya, Business Insider France.

Those wanting to achieve a prestigious degree in mathematics should head to the USA.
Photo: Oli Scarff/Getty Images

After looking at over 1600 universities across 83 countries, ShanghaiRanking's has produced its Global Ranking of Mathematics 2018 — to qualify, universities needed a minimum number of research publications between 2012 and 2016.

In order to produce the mathematics ranking, the number of former students and teachers who had received either a Nobel Prize or Fields Medal — a prize awarded to up to four mathematicians below 40 years of age at the International Congress of the International Mathematical Union (IMU) every four years — was counted, as well as the number of researchers most cited within their own fields and those whose work had been published in select scientific reviews.

Here are the 17 best universities to study math according to the ranking. 
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Source: Business Insider 

Historian and Philosopher Will Durant | Arts and Culture - Seton Hall University News & Events

"Will Durant was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and a Pulitzer Prize; he was both a faculty member and a student at Seton Hall" explains Michael Ricciardelli, Associate Director of Media Relations.
 

Photo: Seton Hall University News & Events

The author of 53 books during his lifetime, Durant is best known for The Story of Philosophy and the 11 volume set, The Story of Civilization, which he produced with his wife, Ariel. 

Written in a manner designed to make the subject matter accessible to everyday people or "the common man," the books were extremely popular. His first, The Story of Philosophy, sold 3,000,000 copies and made The New York Times best seller list. 

Published between 1935 and 1975, The Story of Civilization "sought to unify and humanize the great body of historical knowledge."

It was also a best-seller. As noted by The New York Times in Durant's 1981 obituary: "Rousseau and Revolution, which won the Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction in 1968 and was a Book-of-the-Month Club choice, was a best-seller, as were the 10 other volumes. This meant total sales of more than two million copies in nine languages, a readership enjoyed by few historians."...

At Seton Hall   
William Durant graduated from St. Peter's College in Jersey City and is said to have "devoured every book he could," becoming "a fixture at the Newark and Jersey City Public Libraries."

After St. Peter's, Durant took a job as a reporter with the New York Evening Journal. His parish priest and confidant, Monsignor James Mooney, had become rector of the seminary and President of Seton Hall. Soon thereafter, Durant came to live on campus, where he entered the seminary and taught Latin, French and geometry in the college while also serving as librarian – a position he relished given his unfettered, everyday access to "the stacks" and the pageant of great minds contained within their pages.
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Source: Seton Hall University News & Events

Want to study Computer Science? These UK Unis lead the field | Study International News

The UK’s tech sector is positively booming, inform Study International Staff.

As we speed through the high-tech digital age, computer science proves to be an invaluable specialisation. These UK unis lead the field.
Photo: Hitesh Choudhary/Unsplash

Currently contributing around £184 billion towards the British economy,its value has grown by £14 billion this past year alone, developing 2.6 times faster than the average industry rate of advancement, according to the latest Tech Nation report.

This is a sector in which demand far outstrips supply. Approximately 50 percent of UK businesses recognise a shortfall in qualified IT graduates, with a recent study from Computer Weekly forecasting that 800,000 professional IT roles in the UK will remain unfilled by 2020.

But this trend isn’t exclusive to the UK, and is in fact echoed across most global regions. In the US, for example, the difference between the huge number of computing job openings and the small number of people seeking these roles is exponential, while in China, the age of mobile internet and AI has sparked high demand for talent with IT knowledge – especially in the programming field.

Nevertheless, the UK is home to London; the world’s education capital and the most popular international student city on the globe. This, paired with the thriving nature of its tech economy, makes it the ultimate study destination for aspiring computing professionals.

Here are the Top 10 UK institutions for the pursuit of this discipline, based on data from The Complete University Guide – ranked according to graduate prospects, entry standards, research standards and student satisfaction.
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Source: Study International News

New research highlights the “Knowing” and “Doing” digital gap | Digital - Prolific North

"A new study has highlighted big differences between knowing how to be digitally effective versus how UK businesses are actually approaching digital development" notes Stephen Chapman, Reporter at Prolific North.

Photo: Prolific North

It was commissioned by Manchester’s Code Computerlove and showed that there is a gap between businesses knowing what drives digital effectiveness and current digital practices.

Some of the findings:

• 97% of the digital decision makers in UK businesses questioned believe that focusing on user needs leads to better outcomes
• 97% agree cross-disciplinary teams drive the best results
• 94% said that senior leadership support and buy-in is vital when creating digital products/experiences
• 96% agree team learning and reflection is a necessity for digital transformation
• 92% said long term versus short term goals are more likely to be more successful
• 88% agree Agile approaches are more likely to be successful than traditional ones (e.g. waterfall)

These answers didn’t necessarily match the same respondents’ digital practice.

While 97% believed that user-centricity leads to better outcomes, only 65%  said that they put user needs at the heart of their development.

Again, while the same percentage supported cross-disciplinary teams, in reality just over 70% said they were actually doing this.

On team learning and reflection, the 96% “knowing” compared to just half of respondents “doing”.

This was replicated across the survey.
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Source: Prolific North

Technology brings opportunity to learn, collaborate, communicate | mySA

While the presence of advanced technologies in the classroom can certainly make teaching easier on instructors, the central goal of school districts remains focused on making the learning experience for students more meaningful and impactful.

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Jennifer Kimrey, writer and copyeditor specializing in features, marketing and corporate communications observes, "Advancements in technology have proven to be powerful tools in learning, giving teachers, students and parents new opportunities to learn, collaborate, communicate and save both time and money."

Photo: Shutterstock

As technology has become more accessible and intuitive, its availability in the classroom has increased throughout many Houston-area school districts.

"Over time, our school district has slowly shifted from a shared classroom laptop-cart model to a model where each student has access to his or her own technology and resources that can be used both in and outside the classroom and at any time," said Adrian Acosta, director of Instructional Technology at Houston Independent School District. "This allows for a more personalized learning experience that is customized based on a student's needs, abilities and interests. As a result, we now find that classrooms are no longer tied to a single operating system, device or resource — rather, schools now can provide a combination of devices and materials that promote student learning in any environment."

For example, Acosta said, in Houston ISD high schools, the district's PowerUp program ensures that every high school student has a Windows laptop with which they can access textbooks, digital tools and a wide range of quality online resources. In elementary and middle schools, schools commonly use some combination of Chromebooks, iPads and Windows devices — all of which are tailored to students' needs and a school's budget. For students at all levels, new instructional materials are purchased in a digital format so that students can engage with them using any device and at any time.

And while the presence of advanced technologies in the classroom can certainly make teaching easier on instructors, the central goal of school districts remains focused on making the learning experience for students more meaningful and impactful.
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Source: mySA

L&D practitioners need to become digital learning marketers | Learning and Development - Human Resources Online

This article is brought to you by Elementrix.

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George Aveling, CEO of Elementrix, affirms that marketing principles are among the mindset and skill shifts that L&D practitioners will need in the new digital learning world.

Photo: George Aveling, CEO of Elementrix.

If you are a learning and development practitioner, and I told you that you need to develop marketing skills, would you believe me? I am serious! Read on to find out why.

Digital is everywhere! And with it, we are witnessing changes that will have an increasingly major impact on the world of learning and development (L&D). These will require some shifts in the mindset and skill-set of L&D professionals to succeed in this new world. And one of those skills is marketing.

Captive to capture Some of you may be experiencing how, in the new world of blended learning, the mobile phone is playing an increasingly important role. That said, we will not see the end of conventional classroom learning. Rather, we will see classroom learning decline, and virtual learning – primarily by mobile phone – increase significantly.

This shift presents challenges for L&D  departments: They will have to move from delivering to a ‘locked’ captive audience in a classroom, to capturing the attention of a busy audience that can choose not to partake in the mobile learning.
 
This is the reason why, in an environment where the audience can choose whether or not to consume, we need to develop marketing skills.

I believe that a big shift in mindset and skill-set that L&D professionals need to make is to develop marketing and analytical skills...

Lots to learn We’re only just beginning to learn how to navigate the exciting possibilities of digital learning. There are lots of new things – the human-centred design, the rich new language of digital learning, new learning ecosystem options, and much more.
 
I could go on, but there is not enough room in just one article! So, for now, I’ll leave with you with a modified quote from Marshall Goldsmith: “What got you here is not necessarily what will get you where you want to go.”

Enjoy the journey!
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Source: Human Resources Online  

5 tips on choosing an online course correctly: Check here | Education - India Today

Online courses are revolutionizing a formal kind of education which have opened a new genre of outreach on cultural and scientific topics, continues India Today.
 

How to choose best online courses correctly, check it here
 Photo: India Today

Students nowadays are facing a lot of issues in getting a proper education in traditional colleges and universities which includes higher tuition, budget cuts, and course shortages.  These problems have caused many of them to search for alternatives.

In such a scenario, online education has clearly become one of the most popular higher education alternatives. These days, online learning is being considered just as effective as face-to-face education.    

What are the online courses?  
Online courses are revolutionizing a formal kind of education which have opened a new genre of outreach on cultural and scientific topics.

These courses deliver a series of lessons to a web browser or mobile device which are conveniently accessible by the internet users at any time, anyplace.

From working professionals to recent high school graduates, find many of them have found the reasons to take all or some of their courses online.

However, in the web of courses on a digital platform, students get confused as to which course is better for their proper education.

Here we are listing 5 tips on how you can choose online courses in the correct manner:
Read more... 

Source: India Today

Shai Reshef: Online learning is the future of education | Interviews - Mediamax.am

Shai Reshef  
Photo: UoPeople

Shai Reshef is the President of University of the People (UoPeople) - the world’s first tuition-free, non-profit, U.S. accredited online academic institution which provides access to collegiate-level studies to qualified individuals regardless of geographic, financial or societal constraints.

An educational entrepreneur, Reshef has over 25 years of experience in the international education market.

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Mediamax had an exclusive interview with Shai Reshef, Founder & President at University of the People, during his visit to Armenia last week. The main purpose of his visit was participating in Nas Daily’s new episode and meeting with UoPeople Armenian students.

Narine Daneghyan talks to Shai Reshef

University of the People is operating for 9 years already. What impact did it have during these years on the global education system?

What we are doing more than anything else is building a model to show that quality education can be affordable and accessible to everyone. By now we have 15,000 students. Some of our students are coming from very difficult backgrounds and have no other opportunity for higher education. So the university makes a big difference in their lives. 

In some countries like the USA, education is still expensive. At the same time in other places there aren’t enough seats available for everyone. For example, in Nigeria every year 1.5 million people pass the university entrance exam which means they can study. But there are available seats for only 500,000. So 1 million students are left out every year. We are saying that there is an online solution to this problem. We want to show the world that  higher education can be for everyone. 

Do you think at this moment online universities have better performance than the traditional ones?

It depends. Some traditional universities are not very good and online can be much better. But online learning is not always the best solution for everyone because some students really need face-to-face interaction which they can’t get online. For others it’s comfortable to study online. So it really depends.

Take for example, refugees. Either they study with us or they don’t study at all. For all those people we are a great solution. 

We are a tuition-free university. All we ask the students is to pay only a USD 100 assessment fee at the end of each course (USD 200 in the MBA). One year of study (10 courses) costs USD 1,000, and a four-year bachelor’s degree is only USD 4,000. For students who have financial difficulties, the university offers a variety of scholarships, because our mission states that no qualified student will be left behind for financial reasons.

As we are in many cases better than traditional universities, people start to think why should they pay around USD 30,000 when they can pay USD 4000 and get education from professors coming from top universities in the world. 

The best traditional universities will always be there. Studying in Harvard now costs USD 300 000, including living expenses. But if Harvard one day decides to charge USD 1 mln a year, they will still have enough students. 
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Source: Mediamax.am

Educators come to Charlotte to learn more about digital learning | WBTV

"The School Superintendents Association held its three day Digital Consortium in Charlotte July 22-24" according to Dedrick Russell, Reporter at WBTV.  
 

Photo: Reuben Muiruri | WBTV

Around 45 educators came from around America to experience and learn more about innovation in schools, technology and blended learning. 

Attendees visited Charlotte-Mecklenburg School (CMS) Olympic High School to see how that school partners with local businesses including Siemens. Nick Polyak is a superintendent from Illinois. He says he has learned some lessons and was impressed.

"We got to meet with executives from local firms including Siemens about how they are working with the schools to provide apprenticeships and equipment to help prepare students," Leyden HS District #212 Superintendent Nick Polyak said.

Polyak thinks those connections made during the Consortium and skills learned in high school will make the difference for students.

"It opens up doors," Polyak said. "It teaches them about what the real world of work is and what's waiting for them so they can hit the ground running when they leave our schools."

Polyak says he is ready to take what he has learned in Charlotte back to Illinois. The educators also visited Levine Museum of the New South. They got a history lesson concerning issues of equity and race. One of the goals of the Consortium is to stress equity for all students in the classrooms. Reports show about five million school age students are without broadband internet in their homes.

"It is our responsibility when it comes to digital tools and resources," Polyak said. "We need to break down walls. We need to fill in the gaps so we can put all kids on an equal playing field, so that every student has the same chance to be successful."

Teachers also attended the Digital Consortium. They discussed ways technology can help their students make the grade.
Read more... 

Source: WBTV

Certificate of Higher Education in Computing & IT and Statistics | The Open University

Fulfil your potential by studying with The Open University. 
 

This is one of several subject combinations available in our Certificate of Higher Education in Computing & IT and a second subject (T13) – you’ll divide your time equally between the two subjects.

You will be introduced to probability and the most common methods of statistical data analysis, and you will explore the profound technological, economic, political and ethical change driven by digital technologies. With basic competence in statistics and computing skills, you will be prepared for further study to equip you to work in organisations that base decisions on statistical analysis or seek to interpret “big data”.

Key features of the course

• Explores the profound technological, economic, political and ethical change driven by digital advancement
• Learn how to use basic statistical tools and quantitative methods
• Enhances your employability
• Builds a solid foundation for further study

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Source: The Open University

Fall in Love with eLearning | White paper - Growth Engineering

Take a closer look at this white paper below.
Not all eLearning is created equal. Some is simply unlovable!

Download the white paper

Growth Engineering says, "Winston Churchill once said, “Personally I'm always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught.”  What  is it  about  traditional  teaching  that  makes people  dislike  learning  new  skills  and developing their knowledge?"

It’s an interesting phenomenon: knowledge is power, but getting that knowledge can sometimes seem like such a hard slog that you’d prefer to stay in the dark.

But  we  at  Growth  Engineering  think  that  even  the  process  of  learning – the  act  of  taking  in  new information,  practising  it,  applying  it  and  retaining  it – can  be  enjoyable.  People can love  their eLearning.

So what’s wrong with most eLearning?

Most eLearning today doesn’t have any impact, mainly because it’s stuck in the one-size-fits-all mentality of yesteryear. This white paper will show you how to create learning experiences that speak to each individual and get the results you need!

In it, you’ll find lots of handy tips and advice including:

• Theories of learning
• How to engage learners properly
• The importance clear learning pathways

Download the white paper

Source: Growth Engineering

We encourage kids to play sport, why don't we do the same with music? | Entertainment - Kidspot

Lah-Lah’s Big Live Band frontwoman Tina Harris, the talented star of Lah-Lah's Big Live Band! says we need to put music ahead of other activities.

Photo: Kidspot

It’s no secret that learning music is good for kids’ growing brains. Whilst there’s a lot of emphasis on learning sports at school which is great, I’m often baffled as to why learning music doesn’t have the same kind of emphasis.

Unfortunately, many schools in Australia don’t have a dedicated music teacher or curriculum. Often the only real exposure to music will be a class teacher trying vainly to teach kids the recorder – even though they themselves may have no idea what they’re doing!

And yet the benefits of learning an instrument are boundless. For one, a recent study by Sydney’s Macquarie University found that kids aged nine to 11 who were exposed to at least a year and a half of private music lessons had an edge when it came to detecting patterns as instrument training had made their brains better at statistical learning.

Music is like a language 
Music itself is a language just like English or computer code. There are great cognitive advantages in learning a language in terms of improving brain functionality and memory. In music there are rules (and fun ways to break them), vocabulary and idioms. Fluency in music is very similar to fluency with language. Additionally, singing or playing a musical instrument combines those language skills with complex hand-eye coordination, and gross and fine motor skills....

Music can help assist with STEM skills  
The structure of music is somewhat akin to mathematics and sequencing. When you examine octaves, quarter notes, vibration, resonance, and frequency, you’ll begin to see that numbers, formulae, patterns and sequences all help to make up musical phrasing. I always feel it’s almost like a STEM subject in itself! Like any STEM subject, learning music can be tricky to grasp, but that’s also what makes it so rewarding.
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Source: Kidspot

Smartphone camp: Poughkeepsie students learn to create at Vassar | Poughkeepsie Journal

Nina Schutzman, Reporter at Poughkeepsie Journal writes, "A camp that encourages young people to spend hours on their smartphones may seem unnecessary — after all, research shows teens already spend more than one-third of their days using the devices."

More than two dozen Poughkeepsie Middle School students are participating in Vassar’s Digital Literacy smartphone camp.
Photo: Courtesy/Kevin Arce

But on the Vassar College campus, Poughkeepsie Middle School students are learning to use smartphones for artistic creation, music and movie production, and more.

Vassar’s Digital Literacy smartphone camp, known as D-LIT, is a two-week summer program that helps youths maximize the potential of devices many of them carry everywhere. It's sponsored by Vassar’s Urban Education Initiative, in collaboration with the Poughkeepsie-based arts and media organization Art Effect...

A report from Common Sense Media in 2015 found that teens ages 13-18 consume an average of nine hours of entertainment media a day, while tweens (ages 8-12) typically used six hours of their days on entertainment media — not including time spent using media for school or homework.

But only 3 percent of the average teen's digital screen time is spent creating: writing, coding, or making digital art or music, according to Common Sense Media. Most of the time is devoted to watching, listening or reading, playing games and web browsing, or using social media.
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Source: Poughkeepsie Journal

What On Earth Is A MOOC-Based Degree Path? | Forbes Now

"MOOCs were promised to be a thunderclap of global education reform – making the best in higher education freely accessible to anyone, anywhere" says Derek Newton, writes about education including education technology (edtech) and higher education.

Sara da Silva works on two computer screens at once at Mass Bay Community College in a computer science course that is designed in conjunction with online learning from MIT, on March 12, 2013 in Wellesley Hills, Massachusetts. Students watch video lectures on their own through an edX MOOC, massive open online course, and then attend class at their community college where the professor helps them understand their homework. Online learning is a big trend in education. Da Silva hopes to transfer to UMass after saving money here.
Photo: Melanie Stetson Freeman/The Christian Science Monitor via Getty Images

MOOCs – the massive, open, online courses – were going to topple the ivory towers of academia by bypassing the guards who walled off learning.

But they have not. And it’s safe to say they will not.
Frankly, MOOCs aren’t adequate learning tools. A 2013 University of Pennsylvania study of a million MOOC users who participated in the school’s MOOCs found that only about half of the registrants viewed even a single online lecture and that the average completion rate was just 4%. 
Most people who sign up for MOOCs already have college degrees. 

Consequently, MOOCs had been presumed dead.

But MOOCs are enjoying a second life – a notably undead life in which they star as their own degrees. Or something. And that’s a problem.

Carolyn McIntyre, the Founder & CEO of MOOCLab, for example, is all in on the MOOC. “The rising costs of Higher Education are making the traditional degree increasingly inaccessible to many and we believe MOOCs … offer the perfect gateway to gaining the same level of knowledge that anyone enrolled in a university degree can gain but without the cost,” she said.

That sounds great. Except, of course, for the problem that the cost of higher education is not really rising. And that there’s not much evidence at all that a traditional degree is becoming increasingly inaccessible, due to cost or for any other reason. If anything, the opposite is true – college is more accessible than ever...

First, the MOOCLab Degree Path is exactly like a path to a degree except that this path in no way whatsoever leads to a degree.

Second, and more troubling, is that MOOCLab has no idea what, if anything, is being taught in the MOOCs they are bundling into these “degree equivalent” designations. They have no way to know what a participant may have learned – if anything whatsoever. When someone gets a certificate from a MOOC – something they almost always have to pay to get – MOOCLab can “safely assume they learned from the course,” according to McIntyre.  That assumption, it seems, is good enough.

Say what you’d like about a degree and its value – and it does remain the best lifetime investment anyone can make – when a degree is conferred, there’s an institution willing to place their name on the content of the degree and stand behind it. Many would argue that’s what you’re really earning with a degree – the conferred reputation of the issuer.

With “Degree Paths,” MOOCLabs is trying to pass along the reflected integrity of the providing institutions in ways they cannot have imagined and almost certainly do not sanction. “Although MoocLab’s degree paths are not themselves accredited, the individual courses are all provided by distinguished accredited universities,” McIntyre said.

Yes, it is true that the MoocLab’s “degree paths” are not accredited. They have no more academic weight than the McDonald’s dollar menu.
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Source: Forbes Now 

University of Pennsylvania’s School of Engineering launches online master’s in computer science | Penn: Office of University Communications

"The University of Pennsylvania’s School of Engineering and Applied Science today announced its first completely online master’s degree, a Master of Computer and Information Technology" inform Evan Lerner, Penn Engineering, Penn Today.

MCIT Online is designed to be affordable, at one-third the cost of an on-campus degree, and open to students with no previous background in computer science. Offered exclusively on Coursera, MCIT Online is ideal for students who wish to pursue a variety of high-potential career paths, ranging from software development to product management to data science, that require a strong technical foundation.

“Computer Science is now as fundamental to our future as math, reading or writing. And while we can’t predict the future, we can help people prepare for it by making a strong grounding in these fundamentals as easy to acquire as possible,” says Vijay Kumar, Nemirovsky Family Dean of Penn Engineering. “Our vision is for a high-impact program that is more accessible and more affordable for more students.”

MCIT Online confers the same degree as the on-campus MCIT, the only Ivy League Computer Science degree that has no computer science prerequisites. This design enables people with diverse academic backgrounds to pursue a career in technology. MCIT is a well-established program from a top 20 engineering school. The degree has more than 1,000 graduates who have gone on to work at top employers including Amazon, Facebook, and Google.

“This degree represents the democratization of computer science. It brings a world-class, Ivy League degree within reach of people of all backgrounds, from anywhere in the world,” said Jeff Maggioncalda, Coursera’s CEO. “MCIT Online is a game-changer for people who want to earn a Master of Computer Science but don't have a tech background or can't attend an on-campus program. We’re thrilled to deliver this degree from the University of Pennsylvania that shares our commitment to providing universal access to the world’s best education.”

The total cost of the MCIT Online degree is $26,300, roughly a third of the cost of the on-campus degree, due to its online delivery model, with the same level of academic rigor and excellence for which the University of Pennsylvania is known. The Coursera platform enables professors to build a variety of beginner to advanced programming assignments that combine auto, peer, and human grading done by on-campus teaching assistants and faculty. Students will also have the opportunity to participate regularly in live video office hours with the same faculty who teach on campus. 
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Source: Penn: Office of University Communications

How blended learning can help you stay competitive in the digital age | Innovation - AMEinfo

"The accelerating pace of technological, demographic and socio-economic change is transforming industries and business models" observes AMEinfo staff members, report business news and views.

In turn, this alters the skills that employers seek in employees. Under these conditions, all of us, therefore, risk letting our skills rapidly become irrelevant. And this possibility further increases in the light of the third industrial revolution led by new technologies.

With companies deploying newer and faster technologies and toolkits such as Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Robotics, Digital Product Management and more, how does this impact employees performing in these areas?

Man vs. machine?

Deep Thinking: Where Machine Intelligence
 Ends and Human Creativity Begins

First, while companies may automate mundane and repetitive tasks, this is not going to be the first time such a thing has happened. There have been many such occurrences in the past as well, and it has traditionally resulted in a positive outcome – that of humans moving on to higher quality work. Second, as Gary Kasparov has successfully highlighted in his book “Deep Thinking: Where Machine Intelligence Ends and Human Creativity Begin”, it is not a challenge of man versus machine, rather it is about humans complementing machines. And last but not least, as even Darwin might agree, humans have evolved to overcome much harder changes in the past.

The learning here is that the future is about evaluation and constant learning. For professionals to continue being relevant, it is imperative for them to upgrade their skill set continuously. For education providers, this means that content needs to be constantly upgraded, and not only its format but also in the way it is delivered.

One of the best ways for individuals to upskill is by enrolling in various courses, and in those that cater to roles which they aspire for. Unfortunately, recent studies show that most candidates abandon these courses halfway through. A good example of this is the Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), where the completion rate is approximately 6%. This points to the need for an educational platform that is both efficient and flexible.
Read more... 

Source: AMEinfo

Top 5 Deep Learning Architectures | Insights - Packt Hub

If you are a deep learning practitioner or someone who wants to get into the world of deep learning, you might be well acquainted with neural networks already, as Packt Hub reports. 

Neural networks, inspired by biological neural networks, are pretty useful when it comes to solving complex, multi-layered computational problems. Deep learning has stood out pretty well in several high-profile research fields – including facial and speech recognition, natural language processing, machine translation, and more.

In this article, we look at the top 5 popular and widely-used deep learning architectures you should know in order to advance your knowledge or deep learning research.
Convolutional Neural Networks Convolutional Neural Networks, or CNNs in short, are the popular choice of neural networks for different Computer Vision tasks such as image recognition. The name ‘convolution’ is derived from a mathematical operation involving the convolution of different functions.

There are 4 primary steps or stages in designing a CNN:
Read more... 

Source: Packt Hub

Tech Talk: Machine learning and AI deciphered | Computerworld

Getting your head around machine learning and artificial intelligence isn't easy. We're here to help you understand why one is real and the other remains a dream – for now, as Computerworld reports.
 

If artificial intelligence (AI) is the Holy Grail of software development, machine learning is its real-world, less-sexy cousin.

There's another difference between the two, which are often seen as two sides of the same coin: Machine learning is already in use as algorithms tackle everything from data security to financial transactions to app development, online search and even the directions you get from your smartphone. It can even suss out fake goods.

AI, by contrast, remains a, shall we say, "aspirational" dream. That's how Infoworld's Serdar Yegulalp explains it to PC World's Michael Simon and Computerworld's Ken Mingis in this episode of Tech Talk. Our tech trio dug down into the weeds on both topics, with Yegulalp leading the discussion.

In essense, think of machine learning as a set of algorithms designed to enhance the behavior of existing software. Plain and simple, it's a tool, Yegulalp says. And as such, it's already being used in a variety of industries – a trend likely to continue and accelerate over the next 5 to 10 years.
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Source: Computerworld