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> Could you imagine sitting at your desk watching a powerpoint on the greatest programming language ever? I agree watching Powerpoint will be boring, but it is

> Could you imagine sitting at your desk watching a powerpoint on the greatest programming language ever? I agree watching Powerpoint will be boring, but it is simply a supplement to real learning in his proposed system--working on projects. Also, you can skip unedifying parts, unlike with live lectures. > His idea of the university is more like a degree mill than a place of higher education. Not really. The current system seems more like a degree mill than his. When you can get A's and B's in many courses just by reading a few nights before exam time, that is a waste of four years. If you need to work on challenging projects while learning theory to make them work, you'll definitely learn more than just taking exams and quizzes (with occasional exercises).

yardie 17y ago
I agree the low level courses aren't very interesting. But when you are teaching to a class of thousands there really isn't a better method. Project based work only works when the students are interested and can be engaged. This is what I was told the 100 levels were about anyway. Weeding out those that don't take the material serious from the ones that do. And it's very rare I've had a lecture that I couldn't skip. The professor posted the lecture online including pdfs and podcasts. Unedifying is highly subjective. A particular part of the material that might seem easy to you could be difficult for someone else. But cancelling the lecture all together won't be a solution. >> I assume this depends on the subject and the teacher. Courses that I thought were going to be easy (Intro to Art History for example) turned out to demanding than they let you believe. Maybe things have gotten worse since I was in college (even though SAT scores keep going up). When I left highschool projects and labs had to be dropped due to budget constraints. (School couldn't afford the glass nor the insurance from what I heard). When I arrived at uni, a technical uni, collaborative, project assignments were a major component. The midterm and final were used to pad out your grade. I.E. if you had strong project grades and 1 bad exam grade it couldn't be used against you. And I've heard of students only showing up for only the midterm and final, but I doubt you could get away with it for engineering or the sciences.

yardie 17y ago

I agree the low level courses aren't very interesting. But when you are teaching to a class of thousands there really isn't a better method. Project based work only works when the students are interested and can be engaged. This is what I was told the 100 levels were about anyway. Weeding out those that don't take the material serious from the ones that do. And it's very rare I've had a lecture that I couldn't skip. The professor posted the lecture online including pdfs and podcasts. Unedifying is highly subjective. A particular part of the material that might seem easy to you could be difficult for someone else. But cancelling the lecture all together won't be a solution. >> I assume this depends on the subject and the teacher. Courses that I thought were going to be easy (Intro to Art History for example) turned out to demanding than they let you believe. Maybe things have gotten worse since I was in college (even though SAT scores keep going up). When I left highschool projects and labs had to be dropped due to budget constraints. (School couldn't afford the glass nor the insurance from what I heard). When I arrived at uni, a technical uni, collaborative, project assignments were a major component. The midterm and final were used to pad out your grade. I.E. if you had strong project grades and 1 bad exam grade it couldn't be used against you. And I've heard of students only showing up for only the midterm and final, but I doubt you could get away with it for engineering or the sciences.