Dear Don,
I agree agree agree agree agree agree agree—
Jack Ox
> On Dec 17, 2017, at 3:08 PM, Don Norman <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> The University is dying. Hurrah.
>
> How do I not love you? Let me count the ways
>
> - It talks about teaching when it should be focussed upon learning
> - It has an outmoded view of education:
> - That lectures are effective for learning whereas in fact, they are
> simply the easiest thing to do for instructors, but the worst
> way to learn
> for students
> - It believes that it must teach students ALL the essentials they need,
> whereas students forget most of the material as soon as the examination is
> over. And if they ever do need it, they have to learn it all over again
> - Which implies that students should learn how to learn as opposed to
> whatever miscellaneous stuff the class has presented to them
> - Education should be life-long, not just while young
> - The division of courses into hour-long sessions, three times a week,
> taught in quarters or semesters of roughly 10 or 15 weeks has no
> educational benefits (but simply makes room scheduling easier).
> Different material requires different educational structures and time
> frames.
> - Problem-based education (which is how many design courses are taught)
> is not well supported. Moreover, these courses usually require a higher
> teacher/student ratio than universities can afford
> - The university is pricing itself out of existence, especially in the
> United States, but in all countries (except that the cost is often hidden
> because of state subsidies, free tuition, etc.)
> - The internet makes impossible to learn anything you want, any time you
> need it.
> - <amy professors do not know anything about modern learning theory or
> about how students learn. What they know is folk knowledge, usually based
> on how they were taught. But professors are obviously an elite: they are
> the ones that managed to get through school and are successful. They do not
> represent the vast majority of students.
> - Schools do a horrible job of preparing students for the world after
> school. This is, in part, because most professors have never had a job
> outside of the university. So professors think they know what skills are
> needed, but they are provably wrong.
>
> see
> https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/01/whats-college-good-for/546590/
>
> Why do we have research universities?
>
> The standard answer is because universities are excellent at studying, deep
> profound issues. That used to be true. Is it true today?
>
> - Research costs money, and funding agencies (Foundations and
> governments) are increasingly unable to or unwilling to pay.
> - The pressure for academic publications to get a job and then, to get
> promoted, has led to an outrageous increase in low-quality journals,
> conferences, and publications. Many conferences are now dominated by
> graduate students who need conference presentations and publications in
> order to get jobs. The quality of the conferences is, as a result, low.
> - Fake journals, fake data in prestigious, important journals,
> duplication of publication ... all are common.
> - Many academics are ill-trained. They do not understand the nature of
> an argument, of logical thinking, of the role of evidence. This weakens the
> quality of instruction, of research, of publications, and of reviewing.
> - So much is being published that it is impossible to keep up, to
> discover the important pieces from the crap.
> - The increase in specializations means that the work is becoming more
> and more abstract, more difficult for people outside of the specialized
> area to follow, and less able for colleagues to evaluate.
> - Universities still prize abstract, in-depth studies over applied work.
> Applications, putting together the findings of the many disciplines, are of
> critical importance, but they tend to be shunned or given extremely low
> status by the University.
>
> The entire system is broken: Education and Research
>
> In my humble opinion
>
> Don
>
> --
> Don Norman
> Prof. and Director, DesignLab, UC San Diego
> [log in to unmask] designlab.ucsd.edu/ www.jnd.org <http://www.jnd.org/>
>
>
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