The Information Professionals Social Club (IPSC) Meet-Up held Monday August 29, 2011 at Cafe Flore was a delightful success. Thanks to everyone who attended!
Hosted by Cyndi Varady and Stephanie Roach (LIS Lady), twelve or so library and information professionals and students enjoyed the pint beer specials and delicious food at Cafe Flore.
With the start of school in August, and several students in attendance, much of the focus was on new classes at San Jose State University’s School of Library and Information Science. However, the Bay Area has other LIS education opportunities, which were a hot topic at the August Meet-Up.
Coming soon (October-December 2011) is Stanford University’s experiment in distributed education, featuring free courses in computer science such as “Introduction to Databases,” “Machine Learning” and “Introduction to Artificial Intelligence.” The school is offering these courses free as online versions of their on-campus counterparts. It is such a neat opportunity, and it seems that, at least for some topics, this type of free course could break down economic barriers to higher education today. More than 45,000 students have signed up for each course so far. The courses are available to students “worldwide.” However, there is always the digital divide to consider, as not everyone has ready access to computers and other necessary technology to participate in this type of experiment in distributed education. Nonetheless, I am very interested in this opportunity and can’t wait to hear more about it.
Watch for details about the next IPSC Meet-Up on the LIS Lady Blog.
LIS Lady 