Re:Ask HN: If you get to open your own university, what woul...
by clusterhacks on Friday October 16, 2020 @03:53PM
(#24804393)
Make a significant number of courses much more self-study oriented with pass/fail exams to demonstrate basic understanding.
Move towards projects (mostly individually done, but at least 1-2 larger student-team efforts) that are heavily guided and curated by 2-3 professors/teachers with the goal of requiring real effort and a portfolio-worthy finished effort.
Most professors at my institution barely, if even then, pull this off for MS students. Most undergrads are lost in the noise . . .
We ask too little of students and I kind of feel like we insult them with "check-list" courses. Students who struggle seem very passive to me - when I chat with them individually, I sense most are ambitious, but not particularly vested in the practice required for success. But they mostly bloom if nudged into a "just get going and try hard" effort mode.
Move towards projects (mostly individually done, but at least 1-2 larger student-team efforts) that are heavily guided and curated by 2-3 professors/teachers with the goal of requiring real effort and a portfolio-worthy finished effort.
Most professors at my institution barely, if even then, pull this off for MS students. Most undergrads are lost in the noise . . .
We ask too little of students and I kind of feel like we insult them with "check-list" courses. Students who struggle seem very passive to me - when I chat with them individually, I sense most are ambitious, but not particularly vested in the practice required for success. But they mostly bloom if nudged into a "just get going and try hard" effort mode.