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UBC Engineering removes online classes, obstacles for international students
- vinay427 5y agoMeta: I would suggest a title change on HN. Current HN title: "UBC Engineering removes online classes, obstacles for international students" Article title: "UBC Engineering removes all upper-year online classes as obstacles remain for returning international students" The shortened HN title, upon my first and second readings, implies that UBC removed obstacles for international students. In fact, the opposite is the case, as the article title clarifies.
- cowmix 5y ago+1
- ssivark 5y agoOr change the comma in the current title to a semicolon. It not a useless punctuation mark ;-)
- legerdemain 5y agoI'm afraid you have just demonstrated the only pragmatic use for semicolons outside the C family of languages.
- smnrchrds 5y agoHow do you separate lists of things that themselves have commas in them, if not with a semicolon? Example: San Francisco is home to law firms such as Campagnoli, Abelson & Campagnoli; Carlson, Calladine & Peterson; and Carter, Carter, Fries and Grunschlag.
- legerdemain 5y agoStyle guides for a number of other languages do it by treating organization names like titles or labels and enclosing them with quotation marks. Unambiguous!
- 8note 5y agoNested lists though x, y, and z; a, b, and c; and i, j, and k make common groups of variable names.
- jwmhjwmh 5y agoI use them fairly frequently; I find them useful for establishing a causative relationship between clauses.
- OJFord 5y agoAn attempt 'to verb' ('pun' or whatever you'd call it very much intended) 'obstacle' perhaps? They 'obstacled' the international students? Anyway, agree it's at best ambiguous.
- robertwt7 5y agoYeah lol this is so misleading.
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- belltaco 5y agoYour title is way too long for HN.
- bernardv 5y agoIn this day and age, this makes UBC look like a backward institution, and isn’t up to speed on mainstream technology.
- reilly3000 5y agoI don’t know exactly what a chemical engineering degree entails, but I feel safe to assume it involves a lot of labs with specialized equipment. That sort of thing, along with music ensembles, food prep, and many other courses of study just don’t bode well for effective remote learning. In due time I think that can change, but it would be a different solution for each field.
- dapids 5y agothis, the entire article is misleading as well anyways.
- polishdude20 5y agoIt looks like there are actually some professors who are offering not only online but in-person recorded lectures. So I'm not sure how this is true.
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- mercy_dude 5y agoThis looks a misleading title. The person mentioned in detail is not affected by online classes removal, they are affected because their visa was denied and they can’t come back to Canada to attend the physical classes. There are all sorts of reasons immigration can deny visa, but this has nothing to do with removing online classes. I for one am glad provinces are mandating in person classes again.
- inter_netuser 5y agowhy are you glad that online classes were removed? Seems like a great option.
- jackson1442 5y agoIn my experience, online classes were across the board _significantly_ worse than in person classes. Yes, you do have to haul your ass into class every day, but in person interaction is so much more natural than interaction over zoom. It’s natural to talk and collaborate with people around you in a physical classroom, but it feels so incredibly forced to interact with people in prescribed breakout rooms. Not to mention it’s been a year and almost no curriculums have actually been adapted to an online format. If we’re going to shove a curriculum based around in person attendance down everyone’s throats, you might as well have the students show up in person.
- admax88qqq 5y agoShould that really be mandated by the province though. Perhaps there is an incantation on online classes that will work now, but if in person is mandated we'll never find it.
- jbverschoor 5y agoSure.. but what does that really mean? That the tests / scores do not reflect the actual value or performance of someone. All I see is dinosaurs trying to fight in every possible way to try and keep their right to exist. Feels a lot like mp3 in the 90s. People who are there for the piece of paper generally don't give a rats ass about the rest. People who are really interested in their field have so many other ways to gather knowledge and experience.
- psim1 5y agoInternational study carries such risks. Unis should do what is best for their primary student population first.
- max-ibel 5y agoUniversities are funded to a large extent by international students. Scaring such students away will create a potentially large funding shortfall.
- omosubi 5y agoI think you underestimate how vast the interest is for spots at places like ubc. They don't call it university of billion Chinese for nothing
- rataata_jr 5y agoLarge part comes from taxes paid by the native citizens as well. I think priority should be given to the natives.
- 908B64B197 5y agoDepends which one. Some universities are addicted to foreign student money and could not survive long without it (not even the tuition premium: just having 40% of students from abroad). Some others are pretty much living off endowments. They could shut down international admissions and give full rides to everyone and still make profits.
- max-ibel 5y agoThey would of their own free will forgo funding opportunities ? Which planet are you from ?
- esalman 5y agoMajority of the research at universities is powered by graduate students, most of whom are in turn internationals. This makes a lot of sense- which US/Canadian citizens with bachelor degrees in their right mind would do graduate research for less than minimum wage (international grads are paid for max 20 hours of work in the US), when they can make double or more by flipping burgers at McDonald's? So yeah, do your best for "primary" student population, this is pretty much how you give up scientific leadership and technological supremacy (to China).
- sn41 5y agoEats, shoots, and leaves. What a violent, uncaring panda. /s
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- JCharante 5y ago> Engineering said that it would not be logistically feasible to offer a fully online option, citing a relatively small number of students in Hasan’s situation and the difficulty of recording separate online lectures. That's almost malicious and here's why. What happens if a student catches covid? They stay at home and just miss class for 2 weeks? What if a student is a close contact? Do they still go to class or do they stay at home? You're incentivizing students to go to class despite possible exposure. My school has mandatory vaccinations and is a small school but 1 week in there's already 68 positive cases. Thankfully everything is live streamed and stored for future viewing, and some classes will also host a zoom with a TA for live questions during lecture.
- josephcsible 5y ago> What happens if a student catches covid? Whatever they'd have done if they caught the flu in 2019.
- abdullahkhalids 5y agoIt's extremely common for students to miss classes - which is apparent when you are on the teacher side of things. For example, in Fall 2019 (before Covid), I had 60 students across my various courses. Three of them missed weeks of classes each because they had some significant medical issues. Others missed a week of classes because they were going to some extracurricular competition. Nothing bad happened to them. We just accommodated for their issues.
- aaron695 5y agoIf universities go online their value plummets. It's vital they keep their IP and brand offline to continue to have value. This is a tightrope walk atm with global travel restrictions and the money overseas students supply. You might want to smash the universities into the ground, but their logic is sound. A world with one university, like one Uber, is possible if you can sort out all the known issues with MOOCs. I would say it's not a better world. Sitting at home for most of an degree would benefit some people but would be a loss of an experience for most. And there is no between, once the race to the bottom happens, like Uber you just won't have the choice.
- tsjq 5y agohighly misleading title.