[ExI] mit's answer to the stanford ai class

[Adrian Tymes]

On Wed, Dec 21, 2011 at 9:50 AM, spike <spike66 at att.net> wrote:
> To the second point, some kinds of research can be done without physically
> gathering the participants, but it influences the kinds of research that is
> done.

Some kinds, yes.  I was talking about the kinds that can't.

> The first point is how to prove satisfactory mastery of the skillset on the
> part of the student.  I see this as a new and interesting challenge.

Interesting, yes.  New, only in degree.

As you mention, there are in-person-for-exam-only setups in certain fields,
such as PE licenses (or ham radio licenses).  However, there is no such
general equivalent for BSes/MSes/PhDs.  I suspect it is primarily a
marketing challenge: an alternative could be proposed and developed, but
how would you get most employers to accept it as equal in weight to the
existing degrees?

One possibility would be to have the universities run such a setup, and
grant the degree for those who pass the exams.  That still requires
people to physically travel to a facility under the university's (possibly
temporary/rented) control at some point, though.

There are also "all-virtual" degrees being offered, such as by the University
of Phoenix.  However, from what I've seen of the UoP's practices, only the
requirement for travel is removed: you have to attend lectures on the
professor's schedule (via teleconference), et cetera.  Further, there seems
to be less acceptance of said degrees as the equivalent of a well-known
you-were-here-for-X-years university.

And then there's the problem of applying this to non-technical fields,
where subjective answers - and, in many cases, the presentation of the
answer - are key things the student inherently must be graded on.
Storytelling - whether through film, books, video games, or whatever
media - is a skill that can be learned, and a career made from it; further,
it is somewhat different in each media form.  Or politics: "how to persuade
an audience" is a skill vital to anyone who wishes to be elected to
government office in any true democracy or republic, but (sadly) logic is
often only a small part of this, if any part at all.

> Given a choice of taking 30 online courses and spending 30 days in
> exams to prove one's skills, as opposed to spending four or five years on a
> campus, many might choose the month of exams.

This is true assuming one knows what field of study one wishes to pursue.
The opposite appears to be very common for students fresh out of high school.
(Granted, I must say "appears to be" since I would have done this, but the
data I've seen strongly suggests I was an exception in knowing what I wished
to do.)

> Of course, to create any analog to traditional college, we need to work out
> teledildonics.  But that is another area of discussion entirely.

I remember it being more about the beer than the sex, for most of my
classmates.  (Besides, with anonymity of students, Professional Seduction
Techniques could be a viable class: no embarrassment from your peers
knowing you're taking it, and no place for those who would promote moral
panics to stage protests outside of to drive away students.  Of course, this
is one of those classes where computer-driven judgement of non-technical
knowledge would be critical.)