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I've never looked into Lambda School but some bits from this stand out to me. > We have just north of 2,000 students and ~180 full-time staff members, the majo

I've never looked into Lambda School but some bits from this stand out to me. > We have just north of 2,000 students and ~180 full-time staff members, the majority of which are student-facing. 2000/180 = 12 students per staff member. This seems high and "student-facing" is padding the numbers. "Customer Success" people are technically student-facing but not instructors, and number of instructors per student is the most important number that matters for quality > This student’s frustration comes from a series of changes we made simultaneously Do not make changes to ongoing cohorts > Some students see it as one more thing distracting them from writing more code, and believe the only thing that will determine their career success is ability to write code Isn't this something a school would be able to educate on? Why not introduce group projects (maybe you already have them)?

austenallred 6y ago
> 2000/180 = 12 students per staff member. This seems high and "student-facing" is padding the numbers. It is very, very high. I’d have to dig to find the exact numbers but about 90 are directly involved in instruction, project management, etc. Not including student support. > Do not make changes to ongoing cohorts We really try to avoid doing so, but in some instances it is impossible. > Isn't this something a school would be able to educate on? Why not introduce group projects (maybe you already have them)? We do have group projects and do try to educate here. Students will come back a year after being hired and say, “Wow, I thought x was a waste of time but it was extraordinarily useful” all the time.
- borishn 6y ago
  > > Do not make changes to ongoing cohorts > We really try to avoid doing so, but in some instances it is impossible. You sold students something you can't implement. Apologize and offer a full refund.
  - austenallred 6y ago
    I suppose it depends on what “changes” means. We specifically tell students (and they even sign a document that says) that we will make changes to aspects of the the experience during their time as a student (e.g. schedule, specifics of curriculum). Students can be with Lambda for as long as 2+ years. Everything being frozen in time would be to their great detriment.
    - FemmeAndroid 6y ago
      Why not let them opt in to new things if they really are benefits?
      - austenallred 6y ago
        Generally speaking we do, and almost every change we made had an opt in/out option. The only times we can’t do that (and that’s happened maybe 1-2 times in the history of Lambda School) is when it’s a change to teams of students that run across multiple cohorts.
        FemmeAndroid 6y ago
        So in those rare circumstances, why not offer refunds to those who don't want to stay with Lambda School after the change?
        austenallred 6y ago
        I can imagine scenarios where a full refund would be make sense, but refund isn’t really appropriate when we’re talking about small changes in schedule, especially when everyone agreed such changes were possible.
        FemmeAndroid 6y ago
        Yeah, that's your prerogative. Personally, I'd eat some bad press by just making it a policy to always have opt-in changes across the board, or offer dissatisfied students refunds. And saying "everyone agreed such changes were possible" when you're essentially talking about the fine text of a contract only one side has the opportunity to define the terms of seems questionable. We aren't talking about two sides in a negotiation coming to a meeting of the minds. You created a contract with those terms, on top of an already questionably structured ISA. You can change the contract to make it more explicitly favorable to your students.

austenallred 6y ago

> 2000/180 = 12 students per staff member. This seems high and "student-facing" is padding the numbers. It is very, very high. I’d have to dig to find the exact numbers but about 90 are directly involved in instruction, project management, etc. Not including student support. > Do not make changes to ongoing cohorts We really try to avoid doing so, but in some instances it is impossible. > Isn't this something a school would be able to educate on? Why not introduce group projects (maybe you already have them)? We do have group projects and do try to educate here. Students will come back a year after being hired and say, “Wow, I thought x was a waste of time but it was extraordinarily useful” all the time.

borishn 6y ago
> > Do not make changes to ongoing cohorts > We really try to avoid doing so, but in some instances it is impossible. You sold students something you can't implement. Apologize and offer a full refund.
- austenallred 6y ago
  I suppose it depends on what “changes” means. We specifically tell students (and they even sign a document that says) that we will make changes to aspects of the the experience during their time as a student (e.g. schedule, specifics of curriculum). Students can be with Lambda for as long as 2+ years. Everything being frozen in time would be to their great detriment.
  - FemmeAndroid 6y ago
    Why not let them opt in to new things if they really are benefits?
    - austenallred 6y ago
      Generally speaking we do, and almost every change we made had an opt in/out option. The only times we can’t do that (and that’s happened maybe 1-2 times in the history of Lambda School) is when it’s a change to teams of students that run across multiple cohorts.
      - FemmeAndroid 6y ago
        So in those rare circumstances, why not offer refunds to those who don't want to stay with Lambda School after the change?
        austenallred 6y ago
        I can imagine scenarios where a full refund would be make sense, but refund isn’t really appropriate when we’re talking about small changes in schedule, especially when everyone agreed such changes were possible.
        FemmeAndroid 6y ago
        Yeah, that's your prerogative. Personally, I'd eat some bad press by just making it a policy to always have opt-in changes across the board, or offer dissatisfied students refunds. And saying "everyone agreed such changes were possible" when you're essentially talking about the fine text of a contract only one side has the opportunity to define the terms of seems questionable. We aren't talking about two sides in a negotiation coming to a meeting of the minds. You created a contract with those terms, on top of an already questionably structured ISA. You can change the contract to make it more explicitly favorable to your students.