What do I do with a good idea?

Maybe start making a prototype (Balsamiq/Prototype of Paper rather than code based).

As to keep it hush-hush:

"An idea for a startup, however, is only a beginning. A lot of would-be startup founders think the key to the whole process is the initial idea, and from that point all you have to do is execute. Venture capitalists know better. If you go to VC firms with a brilliant idea that you'll tell them about if they sign a nondisclosure agreement, most will tell you to get lost. That shows how much a mere idea is worth. The market price is less than the inconvenience of signing an NDA."

http://www.paulgraham.com/start.html

Just start. Good luck!

Whilst the Head First series definitely has a childish tone the content provides a solid foundation for the various subjects in the series.

Head First Design Patterns is hands down the most approachable book. It makes the GoF look like a Latin textbook.

1. Post a project on Elance or Guru or other freelance sites where you specifically ask them for their Github and stackoverflow profile. I believe every good programmers do not maintain regular Github profile. But most of them do and from their Github profile you can have an idea on quality of code they can deliver.

I found a programmer from Russia who had a very high reputation score on Stackoverflow and arguable he came out as a proficient one. But convincing a programmer to work on your project is another challenge. They have enough projects under their belt. So your projects need to challenge/thrill them to work on. Else they will not stick for long.

Without wanting to put you off, most people will say that its a good idea if the service is free. It's a different story if they have to pay for it.

Are the professors your target market? If not, find your target market and validate with them.

Its so important that you validate the idea before spending all your time, energy and money on it.

Good luck with this, sounds like you're passionate which is a great start.