Heptathlon 1
Seven notes on what's keeping me busy this week. One for each day.
- Computer science is a powerful subject, especially when combined with other fields. This school year, as a computer science teacher, I've combined it with activism and social justice through Your Voice is Power. Students create music using the Python programming language while learning to express their ideas through a song. There is still much to do to adapt this module to the Dutch context. Improving a bit each year. Suggestions are, of course, welcome!
- Recently, ChatGPT introduced its new version with GPT-4o. This makes AI increasingly better and more complete, especially for programming tasks. The custom GPT Grimoire is a notable example. It can automatically generate code and deploy it directly to a hosting service like Netlify. The developer of Grimoire, Nick Dobos, had a conversation with Dan Shipper from Every. Worth watching.
- There are not enough Computer science teachers. Schools sometimes cut it because no teachers are available, and it is excluded from shortage graphs because otherwise, the lines of other subjects wouldn't be visible. This is a cardinal sin in an increasingly digital world. Fortunately, solutions are being considered, one of which is the plan by Hogeschool Utrecht, Hogeschool van Amsterdam, and Fontys Hogeschool to develop a master's program in Computer Science Education (first degree). The plans are still in the early stages. Hopefully, it will be a success, and in a few years, we can make computer science visible in those graphs again.
- James Blunt is an artist you have to see live. Only then do you see how he always brings maximum emotion to his songs, showing no signs of having sung a song for the thousandth time. This was already the case with Goodbye My Lover, and more recently, I keep seeing versions of his song Monsters popping up. Two examples: with Iam Tongi on American Idol and on The Chris Evans Breakfast Show. Always intense, always captivating, and always good.
- (Dutch) POM.press is the publishing platform of Alexander Klöpping (ex-Blendle) and Ernst-Jan Pfauth (ex-De Correspondent). This duo recently released The Book Your Boss Doesn’t Want You to Read. It contains various HR-related tips from Roland Grootenboer (ex-Blendle, ex-Google) to help you become the best version of yourself at work and get paid accordingly. The book contains many interesting insights, with the concept of a personal manual resonating most with me. In your personal manual, you explain what is important to you at work and how colleagues can understand you better. I haven't written my personal manual yet, but it's definitely something I'll be working on in the coming weeks.
- The rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar is currently touring the Netherlands, and this show is so good that I have already seen it twice in the theater (tip: book Super Seats because that is the best way to experience this show). To convince you, I have two videos that give an idea of what you get when you spend your hard-earned money on this theater visit: the song Simon Zealotes performed at the Musical Awards Gala and the song Heaven On Their Minds performed on the TV show De Oranjezomer. If you're not hyped after this, you might want to get checked out.
- My personal website should show who I am, but at the same time, I shouldn't spend too much time maintaining it. Recently, I came across Bear, a minimalist blog platform. With Bear, you can have both static pages and blog posts on your website without fuss and complicated technical actions (for developers among us: you can easily customize the CSS of a number of predefined templates). If you want to create a personal website but haven't gotten around to it yet, I would definitely give Bear a try. I'm sold and have converted my website to this platform (it took me half an hour of work).