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Nearly every single one. In college, I probably used close to a dozen different web applications for assignments. Math, chemistry, engineering, biology, Spanish
by bransonf 6y ago
Nearly every single one. In college, I probably used close to a dozen different web applications for assignments. Math, chemistry, engineering, biology, Spanish.
I can't remember the name of the web app for my calculus homework, but this was the only one I kind of liked, and ironically it was free. I think it might have been webwork. And in a CS class we used Perusal, which I liked as well, but the grading was an awful black box.
The others cost several hundred dollars, sometimes per semester. I remember the immense frustration of my Spanish professor, who sent an email to their support at least once a week. Their answer was always "We only support Firefox"
That did not stop dozens of students from using Chrome and Safari, myself included. I remember once getting frustrated with the homework, so I wrote a little JavaScript to brute force a question. The security was generally awful.
My fondest memory was using Github to submit assignments, and later as a TA to grade these assignments. Much less friction.
Obviously, I think college professors are looking for a way to reduce their burden of creating assignments and grading, but these education giants put out poor quality apps, knowing they'll generate revenue regardless.
Frankly, I think there needs to be a widespread effort to open source education. Both content and assignments. There is no justification to charge tens of thousands in tuition and top this off with a few more thousand in jank software.
- MattGaiser 6y agoOpen source is never going to be good enough for non-technicals in institutions. They want the support contracts, nice installers, and good UIs. They want an answered RFP which proves that it meets some 200 requirements. They want someone they can just pass a support issue off to.
- dylz 6y agomymathlab is the antithesis of good UI
- MattGaiser 6y agoYou have to compare it to GIMP.
- bransonf 6y agoYep, Pearson makes MySpanishLab as well. Generally one of the most awful UX I'v ever had in a web app.
- zozbot234 6y agoOpen source is not the same as DIY. You can definitely combine open source content and 3rd-party support, though lots of OER's (including e.g. Khan Academy) are sadly licensed under "non-commercial use only" terms that make this artificially difficult, and do not even provide commercial support themselves.
- MattGaiser 6y agoYou can, but the open-source types are usually quite fanatical about you not doing so.
- iratewizard 6y agoThey exist and thrive on what I'll call "frat bro networking." They're able to become gatekeepers to so many things by using their connections to pull strings. Once they establish themselves in a space, they use standard bullying tactics to stay the gatekeeper. That's how textbooks routinely become $1,000 paperweights each year. That's how brands like Varsity become synonymous with a sport's skill bracket. I've personally lost fights with the giants and know a textbook startup founder that was forced to do a 180 pivot by Pearson.
- WrtCdEvrydy 6y ago> how brands like Varsity become synonymous with a sport's skill bracket Is it bad I did not know that was a company's name?
- userbinator 6y agoTheir answer was always "We only support Firefox" These days, that's better than "only support Chrome", but I get your point --- being browser-agnostic seems to be something a lot of sites, not just learning-related ones, are unfortunately not doing lately.
- saagarjha 6y agoDepends how old it is. Some only support Internet Explorer.