On 26/11/21 2:08 pm, Stephen Loosley wrote:
... Tim Biggs November 23, 2021
https://www.theage.com.au/technology/holberton-shakes-up-tech-education-with-melbourne-campus-20211122-p59aup.html
Silicon Valley’s Holberton School ... Focusing on collaboration and hands-on
learning rather than lectures or rapid boot camps, the project-focused
university offers a nine-month full-time course, synchronised with its
facilities around the world in an online environment. ...
This is an appealing model. I help with ANU's Techaluncher program,
where computing students have to work in a team on a project for a real
client. The emphasis is on people and project skills. For any extra
technical skills the students need, they are pointed to short online
courses. ANU engineering students do a similar program (originally
computing and engineering students were mixed in the same teams).
However, this project towards the end of the students degree, alongside,
and after, conventional courses. https://cs.anu.edu.au/TechLauncher/
It is not a new idea, with project based work being traditional for
students of hands on vocations, the creative arts, as well as
architecture. In 2002 I was invited to give a seminar to architecture
students of the German new Bauhaus. The original school opened in 1919
and showcased an approach of students working on projects.
... students must pass a rigorous entry test ...
One way such a program can show good results quickly is to be very
selective. However, there are some equity issues with that.
There are no formal teachers or instructors, with lessons delivered by software
and projects led by the students themselves ...
This requires having *some* staff very skilled in education, technology
and educational technology. It can all go very wrong, very quickly, due
to people issues, amplified by tech glitches. In effect what the
Holberton School have done is replace the tutors, who usually do the
bulk of the teaching.
“What we’ve been doing, especially on the TAFE side, has been failing. ...
Traditional VET techniques used at TAFE have student apprentices who
mostly work on the job, and only a few formal classes. However, this
requires employers willing to take on apprentices. Notably the
Australian Public Service has IT apprentices and cadets (the apprentices
attend TAFE, while the cadets attend university). The program has been
running in the APS for decades, under different names.
https://www.digitalprofession.gov.au/digital-apprenticeship-program
Unfortunately private enterprise employers are less willing to take on
apprentices. It should be noted that traditionally an apprentice had to
pay the master for their training. Holberton School could be seen as a
return to that approach.
--
Tom Worthington http://www.tomw.net.au
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