About the Google Education Summit

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Mehran Sahami, Research Scientist</span><br /><br />Since the dot-com bust in 2000, many colleges and universities nationwide have seen a decline (oftentimes quite dramatic) in computer science program enrollments. Many factors have been cited as possible causes including economic troubles in the high-tech sector, job off-shoring, the perceived image of computer science, and the growing complexity of programming. Recently, there's been a more critical examination of this crisis in computing, and stakeholders have proposed many targeted programs and curriculum changes to help stem the tide of students choosing not to pursue computing as a discipline.<br /><br />In this vein, the National Science Foundation (NSF) has recently launched the CISE Pathways to Revitalized Undergraduate Computing Education (<a href="http://www.nsf.gov/cise/funding/cpath_faq.jsp" id="fb4b" title="CPATH">CPATH)</a><span style="text-decoration: underline;"> </span>program aimed at transforming undergraduate computing education. NSF has taken a multi-pronged approach, including what it describes as "community-building efforts that bring stakeholders together to discuss the challenges and opportunities inherent in transforming undergraduate computing education."<a href="http://www.nsf.gov/cise/funding/cpath_faq.jsp"></a><br /><br />After conversations with some of our colleagues at NSF, we organized the Google Education Summit this summer, held in conjunction with our annual <a href="http://www.google.com/events/facultysummit2007/agenda.html">Faculty Summit</a>. Its aim was to bring together a group of leaders in computer science education for presentations and discussions centering on how we can promote greater participation in computer science.<br /><br />The Google Education Summit was attended by representatives from academia, NSF, <a href="http://www.cra.org/">CRA</a> (Computing Research Association), and industry, including IBM, Intel, and Microsoft. This broad range of participants helped to foster a real discussion that showcased academic initiatives already in the works to address enrollment declines, as well as explore ways that industry and academia can work more cooperatively on the issue.<br /><br />Many attendees reported that they enjoyed having an open dialog -- and sometimes heated debate -- with a variety of stakeholders. To share some of the ideas more broadly, all our Education Summit presenters have agreed to distribute their presentations under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License. All of these files are in the PDF format.<br /><ul><li>Mehran Sahami (Google) — <a href="http://research.google.com/university/relations/eduSummit2007/MehranSahami.pdf">Welcome and Overview</a> </li></ul><span style="font-style: italic;">Panel: Addressing enrollment declines and increasing participation by underrepresented groups in CS</span><br /><ul><li>Hal Abelson (MIT) — <a href="http://research.google.com/university/relations/eduSummit2007/HalAbelson.pdf">MIT's curriculum revision in EE and CS</a><br /></li><li>Lenore Blum (CMU) — <a href="http://research.google.com/university/relations/eduSummit2007/LenoreBlum.pdf">The Crisis in Computer Science (Image and Education)</a></li><li>Judy Cushing (Evergreen) — <a href="http://research.google.com/university/relations/eduSummit2007/JudyCushing.pdf">Broadening CS at the entry level interdisciplinary science & CS</a></li><li>Ed Fox (Virginia Tech)— <a href="http://research.google.com/university/relations/eduSummit2007/EdFox.pdf">LIKES: Living In the KnowlEdge Society</a></li></ul><span style="font-style: italic;">Panel: How can academia and industry work together to address educational issues?</span><br /><ul><li>Lillian "Boots" Cassel (Villanova) — <a href="http://research.google.com/university/relations/eduSummit2007/BootsCassel.pdf">Industry and the Academy</a></li><li>Phokion Kolaitis (IBM) — <a href="http://research.google.com/university/relations/eduSummit2007/PhokionKolaitis.pdf">How can academia and industry work together to address educational issues?</a></li><li>Jane Prey (Microsoft) — <a href="http://research.google.com/university/relations/eduSummit2007/JanePrey.pdf">Academic & industry collaboration to improve education</a></li><li>Alan Eustace (Google) — Discussant <span style="font-style: italic;">(no formal presentation)</span></li></ul>We hope you find these presentations insightful, and we look forward to further exploration of how we can work more effectively with educators to help increase participation in computer science.

About the Google Education Summit

Posted by Mehran Sahami, Research Scientist Since the dot-com bust in 2000, many colleges and universities nationwide have seen a decline (o...

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Wildfire relief donations

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Prem Ramaswami, Google Checkout Team</span><br /><br />Nearly one million people have been displaced by the devastating <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/10/southern-california-fire-maps.html" id="mrwl" title="wildfires in Southern California">wildfires in Southern California</a>. The Red Cross and Salvation Army are actively helping the victims of this disaster. If you'd like to contribute to their efforts, you can make a donation via our "<a href="http://www.google.com/checkout/wildfires.html">Support Wildfire Relief</a>" page.

Wildfire relief donations

Posted by Prem Ramaswami, Google Checkout Team Nearly one million people have been displaced by the devastating wildfires in Southern Califo...

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One year mark for Google Apps Education Edition

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Jeff Keltner, Business Development Google Apps Education Edition</span><br /><br />It's been one year since we unveiled <a href="http://www.google.com/a/edu/?hl=en" id="invi" title="Google Apps Education Edition">Google Apps Education Edition</a> and we've seen great progress in that time. Thousands of educational institutions on six continents now use Google Apps, and we have hundreds of thousands of active users. We want to thank our customers for providing feedback and having an open dialogue with us. Based on feedback from lots of folks, we have rolled in more than 40 product and feature updates in this first year, including:<br /><ul><li> Increased <a href="http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2007/10/more-gmail-storage-coming-for-all.html">inbox </a><a href="http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2007/10/more-gmail-storage-coming-for-all.html" id="re0." title="storage">storage</a> </li><li> <a href="http://www.google.com/intl/en/press/annc/apps_migration.html" id="d54s" title="mail migration">Mail migration</a> and routing </li><li> New <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/06/more-organizing-tools.html" id="h-87" title="Google Docs">Google Docs</a><a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/06/more-organizing-tools.html"> UI </a><br /></li><li> Shared documents and <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/09/our-feature-presentation.html" id="da99" title="presentation features">presentation features</a> </li><li> Customizable <a href="https://www.google.com/a/help/intl/en/users/start_page.html" id="qodq" title="start pages">start pages</a> <span style="font-family:Arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> </span></span> </li><li> Shared <a href="http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2007/06/google-apps-update-email-migration.html" id="f2w0" title="address book">address book</a> </li><li> Web-based multi-user <a href="https://www.google.com/a/help/intl/en/users/talk.html">chat</a> </li><li> <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/10/free-imap-for-gmail.html" id="mb4w" title="IMAP for GMail">IMAP for Gmail</a> (coming soon) </li></ul>By keeping in touch with key customers, we can make the changes and additions necessary to truly meet your needs. Our <a href="http://www.google.com/intl/en/press/annc/google_at_school.html" id="mddg" title="Google@School">Google@School</a> event was a great success in connecting with our customers and gathering feedback last year, check out the video:<br /><br /><object height="355" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Oc2R053gi5o&rel=1"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Oc2R053gi5o&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="355" width="425"></embed></object><br /><br />And this year at the <a href="http://www.educause.edu/" id="nf-." title="Educause">Educause</a> conference in Seattle we're announcing the first Customer Advisory Board (CAB) for Google Apps Education Edition. They are:<br /><ul><li> <a href="http://www.acu.edu/" id="qg23" title="Abilene Christian University">Abilene Christian University</a> </li><li> <a href="http://www.asu.edu/" id="izj4" title="Arizona State University">Arizona State University</a> </li><li> <a href="http://www1.cpcc.edu/" id="b6we" title="Central Piedmont Community College">Central Piedmont Community College</a> </li><li> <a href="http://www.northwestern.edu/" id="b3-a" title="Northwestern University">Northwestern University</a> </li><li> <a href="http://www.uncg.edu/" id="vty5" title="University of North Carolina - Greensboro">University of North Carolina - Greensboro</a> </li><li> <a href="http://www.usc.edu/" id="tm6s" title="University of Southern California">University of Southern California</a> </li></ul> <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> These members represent a cross-section of the educational community as well as the range of institutions using Google Apps. We're meeting</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> for the first time this week to address the needs and demands of all types of educational institutions. </span>

One year mark for Google Apps Education Edition

Posted by Jeff Keltner, Business Development Google Apps Education Edition It's been one year since we unveiled Google Apps Education Ed...

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API, gadgets, and tabs, oh my!

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Matt Gundersen, Google Finance Engineer</span><br /><br />Today, we're pleased to let you know about two new updates from <a href="http://finance.google.com/">Google Finance</a>. First, we're releasing a <a href="http://tinyurl.com/yqgnqd">new Google Finance tab on iGoogle</a>. This new tab is a dashboard of financial gadgets which enable you to add, customize and share your Google Finance experience. But here's what's extra cool about these gadgets -- they now have communication skills and can "talk" to each other. When you make an update in one gadget, it automatically syncs with the other gadgets in the tab.<br /><br />Second, if you're a gadget developer, we've made it a lot easier to make a gadget with market data. We're releasing a <a href="http://www.google.com/apis/gadgets/finance.html">gadget API for market data</a> which provides a framework for developers to display stock market information from the American, Nasdaq and New York stock exchanges within a gadget on Google properties. We believe this is the first free gadget API for market data for developers and hope you have fun with it.<br /><br />Read more on the <a href="http://googlefinanceblog.blogspot.com/2007/10/api-gadgets-and-tabs-oh-my.html">Google Finance blog</a>.

API, gadgets, and tabs, oh my!

Posted by Matt Gundersen, Google Finance Engineer Today, we're pleased to let you know about two new updates from Google Finance . First...

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Google Tip of the Day gadget

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Bryan Horling and Misha Brukman, Software Engineers</span><br /><br />One of the great things about working at Google is the breadth and depth of ideas that people come up with. Our development process is primarily bottom-up and driven by the enthusiasm of those same people, so these ideas are frequently translated into new products, services and features. A side effect is that these improvements are sometimes launched at such a pace that even Googlers have a hard time keeping up, and some of the best aspects can be lost in the shuffle.<br /><br />We hate to see a good feature go unnoticed, so we have used some of our 20 percent time to create a new gadget to help you discover them. The <a href="http://www.google.com/ig/directory?url=google_tips.xml">Google Tip of the Day</a> gadget highlights some of the lesser-known or recently added members of the Google lineup, providing short, easily digested descriptions and examples. A new feature is covered each weekday, and you can catch up on what has been previously shown as well.<br /><br />Here's today's tip:<br /><br /><script src="http://gmodules.com/ig/ifr?url=http://www.google.com/ig/modules/google_tips.xml&synd=open&w=350&h=200&title=&lang=en&country=ALL&border=%23ffffff%7C3px%2C1px+solid+%23999999&output=js"></script><br /><br />You can <a href="http://www.google.com/ig/directory?url=google_tips.xml">add the gadget</a> to your iGoogle homepage, or generate code to embed it in your web page or blog.<br /><br />We know that many of you have tips and tricks of your own; soon we'll be adding functionality so you can submit your own tips that can be featured in the gadget. For now, if you have a tip you'd like to share, you can post it in our <a href="http://groups.google.com/group/google-tips">Google Group for Tips</a>.

Google Tip of the Day gadget

Posted by Bryan Horling and Misha Brukman, Software Engineers One of the great things about working at Google is the breadth and depth of id...

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Free IMAP for Gmail

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Germano Caronni, Software Engineer</span><br /><br />When I joined Google a little over a year ago, I'd been working in the same field for several years and I wanted to do "something different." It seems I got my wish: together with an excellent team, I helped develop IMAP for Gmail. And today, we're starting to roll it out on every device, for free.<br /><br />Plenty of devices you use every day can take advantage of <a href="http://www.imap.org/">IMAP</a>, a technology that lets you keep all your email in sync automatically as you read and sort it. Your smart phone most likely supports it, as does your PDA, laptop, desktop computer, etc. To learn more about IMAP, please have a look at the <a href="http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2007/10/sync-your-inbox-across-devices-with.html">Gmail Blog</a>, which describes it in more detail, or the <a href="http://mail.google.com/support/"> Gmail Help Center</a>, which explains exactly how to set it up. And if you have an iPhone, check out our "<a href="http://mail.google.com/mail/help/about_whatsnew.html">What's New</a>" page to learn how to start using IMAP in a matter of minutes. And remember, we're rolling out IMAP starting today, so if you don't see it in "Settings," don't worry, it will be there soon.

Free IMAP for Gmail

Posted by Germano Caronni, Software Engineer When I joined Google a little over a year ago, I'd been working in the same field for seve...

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Southern California fire maps

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Jess Lee, Product Manager, Google Maps</span><br /><br />The devastating <a href="http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&hs=hTB&um=1&ie=ISO-8859-1&resnum=1&ct=title&q=southern+california+fires&btnG=Search+News" id="rf_r" title="wildfires in Southern California">wildfires in Southern California</a> have burned more than 373,000 acres of land; 350,000 homes have been evacuated. Lots of people have pulled together to make maps with information about the fires, including the burn zones, evacuation alerts, evacuation centers, safe areas, and closed roads. Here's a list of some of the most widely-used fire maps that our Google Maps team is aware of. We hope everyone is safe and that relief comes soon.<br /><br /><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=114250687465160386813.00043d08ac31fe3357571" id="o8go">San Diego County Fires</a> - KPBS is updating this map every 5 to 15 minutes with the latest information on the spread of the fire. It appears to be one of the most up-to-date and includes lots of information about evacuation alerts and evacuation centers. It also shows burn zones drawn on the map.<br /><br /><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?uid=109103557032275200740&hl=en&gl=us&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=117631292961056724014.00043d21dedd02f5ae1f7" id="ef01" title="Los Angeles Times 10-23-07 Fires">Los Angeles Times 10-23-07 Fires</a> - Includes status updates on each of the fires, including the number of acres burned, percentage contained, the amount of property damage, injuries and evacuations. The LA Times is updating this quite frequently.<br /><br /><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=104490150066531762262.00043d07fd69c22f79aee" id="mr3f" title="Wildfires in Southern California">Wildfires in Southern California</a> - Fire status updates, closed roads, evacuation alerts, and photos by the <span style="font-style: italic;">Los Angeles Daily News</span>.<br /><br /><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=107592071260393044446.00043d12d7e7e7af51aaa" id="p81r" title="San Diego Under Siege: Witch Creek and Harris Fires info and maps">San Diego Under Siege: Witch Creek and Harris Fires info and maps</a> - This map is focused on the Witch Creek and Harris fires. It appears to have been created by someone who lives in the area who is updating the map as more news appears on TV.<br /><br /><div class="title"><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=110975786704419377282.00043d17488896182acd3" id="ofwn" title="Fire Updates and Road Closures">Fire Updates and Road Closures</a> - This map is specifically about the fires in Santa Clarita, including road closures, burn zones, property damage, and injures.<br /></div><div class="description"><br /></div><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=112610726935098716734.00043d08e814b2f38b93f" id="g._c" title="Witch Creek Fire">Witch Creek Fire</a> - This one is specifically about the Witch Creek fire. It doesn't seem to be getting updated as frequently now; apparently the creator had to leave.<br /><br /><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=107327873899641045650.00043d1c2702f027c6600" id="y-.7" title="The Orange County Register">The Orange County Register</a> - Updates from the <span style="font-style: italic;">Register</span> on each of the fires, including evacuated areas, start time, origin, property damage, etc.<br /><br /><a href="http://photos.signonsandiego.com/gallery1.5/view_album.php?set_albumName=sandiegocountywildfires" id="lcad" title="Wildfire Photos">Wildfire Photos</a> - Photos from the <span style="font-style: italic;">San Diego Union-Tribune</span>.<br /><br /><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=112674941830232417080.00043d308e052ee647000" id="uvj6" title="Wildfire Videos">Wildfire Videos</a> - Videos from the <span style="font-style: italic;">San Diego Union-Tribune</span>.<br /><br /><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=112674941830232417080.00043d199392855ccccc3" id="b1xf" title="2007 Wildfires">2007 Wildfires</a> - Burn zones and evacuation centers from the <span style="font-style: italic;">San Diego Union-Tribune.</span><br /><br /><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=117631292961056724014.00043d0e9ca465cefeeed" id="ez8w" title="Los Angeles Times 10-22-07 Fires">Los Angeles Times 10-22-07 Fires</a> - Fire news from yesterday by the <span style="font-style: italic;">Los Angeles Times</span>.<br /><br /><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=110445133727901355192.00043d057b853a9fa91c6" id="x_9v" title="Malibu Wildfire Info From blog.sudosu.net">Malibu Wildfire Info From blog.sudosu.net</a> - Specific information about the fires in Malibu. Updates are based on news from the TV and web.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Update</span>: There's now a Google Earth overlay. <a href="http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2007/10/southern-california-fire-imagery.html">Read more on the LatLong Blog.</a> (10/25)

Southern California fire maps

Posted by Jess Lee, Product Manager, Google Maps The devastating wildfires in Southern California have burned more than 373,000 acres of la...

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