Ask Slashdot: How To Ask College To Change Intro To Computing? 337
First time accepted submitter taz346 writes "I got a Bachelor's degree 30 years ago, but I recently started back to college to get an Associate's degree. Most of the core courses are already covered by my B.A. but one that I didn't take way back when was Introduction to Computing. I am taking that now but have been very disappointed to find that it is really just Introduction to Microsoft Office 2010. That's actually the name of the (very expensive) textbook. It is mindless, boring and pretty useless for someone who's used PCs for about 20 years. But beyond that, why does it have to be all about MS Office and nothing else? Couldn't they just teach people to create documents, etc., and let them use any office software, like Libre Office? It seems to me that would be more useful; students would learn how to actually create things on their computers, not just follow step-by-step commands from a dumbed-down book about one piece of increasingly expensive software. I know doing it the way they do now is easy for the college, but it's not really teaching students much about what they can do with computers. So when the class is over, I plan to write a letter to the college asking them to change the course as I suggested above. I'm not real hopeful, but what the heck. Do folks out there have any good suggestions as to what might be the most persuasive arguments I can make?"
Prior learning assessment (Score:5, Informative)
My college has "Prior Learning Assessment". If you already know the stuff, they will test you and you can be exempted from taking the class.
Don't waste your time on a worthless class if you can avoid it.
Re:Get your head out of your ass (Score:2, Informative)
college is not a trade school. It should be doing more than train you for employment.
Re:When I was in high school (Score:5, Informative)
Re:When I was in high school (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Just pass the course and move on (Score:5, Informative)
Yes, it is less intense than a 4 year CS or Math degree, where you learn things like mathematical theory, and get exposed to much more advanced problems.
Submitter specifically mentioned an associate degree. I took classes in said associate degree not because I wanted the degree, but because I was interested in the cert training. (The school offered discounted cert testing as part of the course.)
The point was that those benchwarmer classes were leaps and bounds moe "technical" than "how to change the font to bold in MS Word."
Specifically, that AS degree was for a computer support role. That's why the intro to computing was more "wordprocessing", and less "computational theory", which would have been more sensible. (You know, things like "introduction to turing machines", and things like the difference between harvard and von-neuman architectures.)
I am pretty sure it was more on topic than your shit smearing attempt. --no offense intended.
Re:Just pass the course and move on (Score:4, Informative)
Yes, it is less intense than a 4 year CS or Math degree, where you learn things like mathematical theory, and get exposed to much more advanced problems.
Planning a network out can get pretty darn complicated, precisely because there isnt a single answer that will make all the numbers add up. Theres also a zillion unknowns, and generally incomplete requirements. Its all down to judgement, critical thinking, and how much of the theory you know.
Not a math major, so I cant speak to the issues they have to deal with, but I have a feeling its a different sort of "difficult".
Re:When I was in high school (Score:4, Informative)