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University has never really been about real world application. The professors and lecturers that i've encountered are really smart people on the cutting edge of

by robryan 18y ago

University has never really been about real world application. The professors and lecturers that i've encountered are really smart people on the cutting edge of thier fields, if they wanted to lecture about these technologies tey would have no issues. University is really about teaching you the principles which rarely change much, then depending on your course building up to more real world situations. Theres no point focusing a whole course around the newest technologies then having someone not have the flexability to adapt to new changes or work in an older area.

dkarl 18y ago
Sounds like common sense to me, but believe it or not, some people disagree. Check out some dissenting opinions from the article: "A class I took in 2007 taught how to create a website with tables. I found out this year that they are finally teaching table free websites. Being a few years behind is definitely not smart, especially when you're paying so much to learn this information." (If you think the point of paying tens of thousands of dollars per year for college is to acquire knowledge whose shelf life is shorter than the time you spend there, then it's no wonder you think it's a bad idea.) "[Students] don't know, yet, that they need to be constantly monitoring blogs and twitter for the latest information on the industry." (Methinks this person is confused about what "web development" is, thinking it means self-promotion and getting blog traffic rather than developing good web sites.) "I think I learned more on my co-op at the time on web development then I learned in the class room. Only the concepts were relevant in the classroom - the languages and the techniques weren't." (Silly colleges teaching concepts instead of specific technologies!) It's funny how so many web developers think that having the latest technology is absolutely required, instead of thinking about the costs and benefits of staying up to date. The only aspect of web development where fashion is a driver is UI design. Cutting-edge UI design sometimes (not always) requires cutting-edge UI implementation technologies. For the rest, hell, every site has its own needs, and your site's needs might have been technologically solved years ago. I think these kids could benefit from taking a calculus class and realizing that the concepts and the notation are older than their parents (hah, didn't know there was anything that old, did ya?)
- jhancock 18y ago
  Using universities for "vocational training" is a bad route. Its what many employers want and some students want. A solid general university education is valuable even if you cannot measure its value in terms of your first few jobs.
varaon 18y ago
I agree with robryan's point. I also wonder if teaching leaves professors too busy to keep up with the latest trends. Web _design_ might actually be a good course to be taught by a part-time professor who is also freelancing and staying current. Web _development_ is still tied to programming principles and practice. One of the point made in the article is that of the need to keep up with ever-changing technologies. Learning these technologies can often be done in your own time, and I'm not sure that university is the place for them. Last year's course on Django could be this year's course on Seaside. Developers with a good computer science background should be able to choose and learn the new technologies on their own (and they do). Same for designers - the principles of design are fairly static, while CSS tricks and trends are almost better left to Smashing Magazine and A List Apart.

by robryan 18y ago

dkarl 18y ago

Sounds like common sense to me, but believe it or not, some people disagree. Check out some dissenting opinions from the article: "A class I took in 2007 taught how to create a website with tables. I found out this year that they are finally teaching table free websites. Being a few years behind is definitely not smart, especially when you're paying so much to learn this information." (If you think the point of paying tens of thousands of dollars per year for college is to acquire knowledge whose shelf life is shorter than the time you spend there, then it's no wonder you think it's a bad idea.) "[Students] don't know, yet, that they need to be constantly monitoring blogs and twitter for the latest information on the industry." (Methinks this person is confused about what "web development" is, thinking it means self-promotion and getting blog traffic rather than developing good web sites.) "I think I learned more on my co-op at the time on web development then I learned in the class room. Only the concepts were relevant in the classroom - the languages and the techniques weren't." (Silly colleges teaching concepts instead of specific technologies!) It's funny how so many web developers think that having the latest technology is absolutely required, instead of thinking about the costs and benefits of staying up to date. The only aspect of web development where fashion is a driver is UI design. Cutting-edge UI design sometimes (not always) requires cutting-edge UI implementation technologies. For the rest, hell, every site has its own needs, and your site's needs might have been technologically solved years ago. I think these kids could benefit from taking a calculus class and realizing that the concepts and the notation are older than their parents (hah, didn't know there was anything that old, did ya?)

jhancock 18y ago
Using universities for "vocational training" is a bad route. Its what many employers want and some students want. A solid general university education is valuable even if you cannot measure its value in terms of your first few jobs.

varaon 18y ago

I agree with robryan's point. I also wonder if teaching leaves professors too busy to keep up with the latest trends. Web _design_ might actually be a good course to be taught by a part-time professor who is also freelancing and staying current. Web _development_ is still tied to programming principles and practice. One of the point made in the article is that of the need to keep up with ever-changing technologies. Learning these technologies can often be done in your own time, and I'm not sure that university is the place for them. Last year's course on Django could be this year's course on Seaside. Developers with a good computer science background should be able to choose and learn the new technologies on their own (and they do). Same for designers - the principles of design are fairly static, while CSS tricks and trends are almost better left to Smashing Magazine and A List Apart.