Is Information Technology and Computer Science deteriorating? (1 Viewer)

[poloktim]

It sounds like you have had fun lab tutoring for csci204

Oh, it's not 204. It's just a general observation on what I perceive as the quality of students deteriorating and the teaching staff caving into this lowering quality.

 

[chinesefireball]

My general feeling on this is that they have let people in that they would not normally let in because of funding. Hence they lower the standard.
If you just look at the people who would have gotten in at a higher standard, well they are probably more towards your standard

Hopefully the dean scholar's version of comp sci (being brought in next year i think) will have a much higher standard (similar to what it use to be) and then all the people for the bit of paper/funding can go into the straight comp sci

 

[poloktim]

My general feeling on this is that they have let people in that they would not normally let in because of funding. Hence they lower the standard.
If you just look at the people who would have gotten in at a higher standard, well they are probably more towards your standard

Hopefully the dean scholar's version of comp sci (being brought in next year i think) will have a much higher standard (similar to what it use to be) and then all the people for the bit of paper/funding can go into the straight comp sci

So perhaps this is a funding issue? If universities received adequate funding from governments, curricula wouldn't need to be raped in order to accommodate to those who choose the field without any intention of doing extracurricular activities, or at least learning the basics?

Could it be because some academic staff think that they're doing an awesome job when really they're fucking pathetic? Students are too afraid to complain because of the perceived impact it might have on their future marks at the university (the bureaucracy frightens).

It's reached a point where students have made out a petition requesting that something be done to actually academically enrich students, not spoon-feed them garbage. Is something happening? It's not a transparent bureaucracy so who knows?

Edit: I suppose I need to also bear some blame. After exhausting the list of interesting CSCI subjects, I am taking ITCS subjects because they're perceived as easy. That being said IACT201/ITCS206 were the only two subjects I've taken solely because they're easy. ITCS301 because I feel I would be a naive computer science graduate if I didn't understand solutions for eBusiness, and ITCS432 because I'm a complete nub at design. I have no aesthetic talent in me whatsoever, so would like to try to use this subject to pick up on that skill.
But still, because I've fallen part of the vicious cycle, I suppose I also take the blame. If I tried to deny this, I'd be a hypocrite.

 

[ogmzergrush]

The way I see it, you have three options

1) Talk big on the Internet and achieve results that way (?)
2) Write a letter to your local member
3) Kill yourself

 

[MaNiElla]

Edit: I suppose I need to also bear some blame. After exhausting the list of interesting CSCI subjects, I am taking ITCS subjects because they're perceived as easy. That being said IACT201/ITCS206 were the only two subjects I've taken solely because they're easy. ITCS301 because I feel I would be a naive computer science graduate if I didn't understand solutions for eBusiness, and ITCS432 because I'm a complete nub at design. I have no aesthetic talent in me whatsoever, so would like to try to use this subject to pick up on that skill.
But still, because I've fallen part of the vicious cycle, I suppose I also take the blame. If I tried to deny this, I'd be a hypocrite.

Theres nothing wrong with taking ITCS subjects. Im a computer science student, most of my electives were ITCS subjects (ECTE182, IACT201, IACT202, IACT301), and im choosing between IACT303 and IACT302, and i will take IACT304 for sure. The only CSCI elective i did was CSCI213 (java), I might take CSCI324 (HCI), and i really want to do CSCI315. Other then that i did a Business subject as an elective too.
IMO, taking ITCS subjects as electives is good, because i personally did learn lots of stuff from them. stuff i wont know if i only took CSCI subjects, especially that i was completely new to computers and programming and all, so if i didnt take those IACT electives i dont think that i would ever know some of the stuff i know now. Except IACT201, i only took it because its easy

 

[poloktim]

Theres nothing wrong with taking ITCS subjects. Im a computer science student, most of my electives were ITCS subjects (ECTE182, IACT201, IACT202, IACT301), and im choosing between IACT303 and IACT302, and i will take IACT304 for sure. The only CSCI elective i did was CSCI213 (java), I might take CSCI324 (HCI), and i really want to do CSCI315. Other then that i did a Business subject as an elective too.
IMO, taking ITCS subjects as electives is good, because i personally did learn lots of stuff from them. stuff i wont know if i only took CSCI subjects, especially that i was completely new to computers and programming and all, so if i didnt take those IACT electives i dont think that i would ever know some of the stuff i know now. Except IACT201, i only took it because its easy

There's nothing wrong with taking subjects you're interested in. I wasn't particularly interested in the ITCS subject I took last semester (IACT201 did prove to be interesting if a little basic, however, strangely enough). This semester's subjects are a case of wait and see. Anyway, if you've been interested and learnt a lot and put in the effort into your subjects, then good. That's what you're supposed to do. It's people who think they can get by on minimum work and leave knowing nothing that piss me off.

The following is for all IT/ICT/IST/CompSc students out there:

If you take subjects that you're not interested in but will only do them for the credit points because they're easy, then there is something wrong. I don't have a problem with people who follow their interests. HOWEVER if they are studying ICT/IT/IST/CompSc then they MUST know how to do things related to the field. I feel students in the above category really should experiment with different operating systems. We live in the VM era now, so there's no excuse... you create a virtual disk in Windows, install the OS into that virtual disk, then use it for uni.

USING QUINCY OR DEVC++ FOR C/C++ WORK AT UNI IS HORRIBLE. CYGWIN IS ADEQUATE. IF YOU'RE GOING TO USE WINDOWS TO DO YOUR ASSIGNMENTS FOR CSCI THAT ARE COMPILED IN CC/cc THEN USE SSH. An alternative to this is using Cygwin... if you want a nice GUI when coding (why?) you can install CDT in Eclipse or use Netbeans' CDT.

I'd like to think that when IT/IST/ICT/CSCI graduates get jobs after uni, if put in front of a OS X (ugh), Linux, BSD, Solaris etc workstation, would know at least how to navigate it and how to help themselves if in trouble (rtfm anybody?)

In class, before you go asking your tutor why the cp command works, or how to use je or vi/vim, maybe you should read the manual (using cp for example, to access the manual you type man cp in your terminal). If that fails, use Google. We're at uni, not in high school.

 

[ogmzergrush]

I'm glad a competent leader has emerged from the masses to save tertiary education before it's too late!

I'm not trying to be as derisive as that probably sounds, but I am a little perplexed as to where your demands are leading.

Elaborating, why should people who obviously haven't cared thus far change their mind about what they want to do in their time at uni, based on these sermons?

It would seem that they're already aware of the lack of value in their degree (given the lack of work which they put in), so your fears of it being devalued further aren't likely to hold water with them. Are they going to do it so you can sleep at night, after all this time, or do it so that an employer will look at your degree and recognise it as a guarantee of the highest possible standard of education (missed the boat on that by... a little)?

You say that people MUST know/do these things... but what happens if they don't? They obviously won't get a competitive job which hinges upon this knowledge, but I think they're probably more than aware of that already. I don't imagine that you seriously think everyone employed in a profitable position within the IT industry (and all its facets), is competent or even familiar with these things?

If they ignore the things you say they need to know, they'll come out of it with the piece of paper they bought, and in a bit will get a job in some form that they'll probably be just as unhappy with as everyone else. For your lot in stressing about things beyond your control, is there anything in all this aside from an aneurysm?

Anyway, long story short, I don't think an angry guy on BoS is going to change the world today, even if the knuckledraggers do happen to find these posts. The obvious exception here is if you're planning some sort of hostile takeover of the university, followed by the immediate ejection of many students, and the revocation of many degrees. On top of that, it's likely that we will need to deal with the government. If that's the case, just say the word and I'll start on the flags.