A look at the problems of higher IT education from the teacher
Often I meet articles on Habré in which students express their dissatisfaction with the system of higher education, poor preparation of teachers, and sometimes even prove the futility of IT education as such.
Since I was going to write an article a long time ago, I’ll use the bustle of September and in between the peaks of angry and incriminating articles (falling during the sessions) I will share my view on the problems of higher IT education from the point of view of a still young teacher. I often communicate with the same teachers, so the conclusions are based not only on my experience.
In this article I do not want to complain about the students or my teaching fate, but to describe the claims (some even quote) that students present to teachers, and the difficulties that teachers have with students.
Yes, I do not have twenty years of teaching experience and will not particularly philosophize, but since I still remember myself as a student very well and have worked as a teacher for several years, I understand both teachers and students well.
I started teaching as a graduate student (the first lesson began with the question addressed to me by the student headman: “Which group are you from?”), And after defending her candidate’s degree I decided not to give up teaching at the university.
I have been teaching for the fifth year at St. Petersburg State Electrotechnical University "LETI" (this is where Popov long ago collected radio). From the very beginning of teaching, I chose the discipline ("Database Technology"), in which I was better grounded and which was most interesting to me. I conduct practical classes, course projects there, that's all.
I will not protect and justify all teachers in everything. Teachers are also people - sometimes there are bad and inadequate. But in any case, it would be useful even for such teachers to give feedback, i.e. not to scold or throw mud at each other, but to write some post with constructive criticism on the website of the university or on the university's page on the social network.
Nevertheless, many claims of students to teachers are biased or untenable.
I will try to briefly explain the essence of these claims, as well as describe thelife and customs of the teachers' point of view.
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I think everyone knows about the staffing problem of universities: technical specialists are currently working, mainly, either teachers of retirement age or graduate students.
But usually the older generation of teachers lead only lectures - a theory that has remained relevant for decades and which forms the basis or foundation for all practical knowledge. Graduate students and defended young teachers usually conduct practical exercises, in which they share completely relevant knowledge and, if not very large, but still real practical experience. Many graduate students and teachers of the younger generation teaching is part-time work, so there is also some practical experience from the main work.
Typical student opinion :
The problem of unskilled teachers, I think a bit exaggerated. Of course, because of all the same personnel problems, it may happen that the teacher was temporarily given some subject that might not be very interesting to him or in which he doesn’t feel very confident. But this does not happen very often, and if a teacher has been teaching a subject for several years, this means that he has enough qualifications.
And the fact that some students write that in this subject they are “head and shoulders above” the teacher and can easily “put him in his belt”, it seems to me that this is just too much self-esteem, often not supported by anything at all. I meet students who in some areas know more than me, and it is often very interesting to work with such, but now that someone from the students knows my course better than me (and even “on the head”) - for 5 years I have these students have not met.
Indeed, over time, the enthusiasm somehow no longer becomes. Without taking into account other problems, basically, the teacher’s indifference or indifference is due to the fact that most students are too lazy to do something or they don’t need it at all.
Teachers do not see the point of giving all the best without any return and are usually ready to teach only those who are interested and want to learn something.
The attitude of teachers is also affected by the attitude of higher authorities (the bureaucracy for teachers is not less than for students) and the state as a whole, for example, when a teacher is forced to go to the police, to stand in line and order a certificate of no criminal record. And then the same thing to pick it up. Previously, these certificates were somehow dealt with without touching the teachers. But in our time of reforms and innovations, someone “at the top” decided that teachers can run around inquiries themselves to prove their safety and their desire to teach.
Because of part-time work, another problem arises: not all teachers can conduct classes in the middle of the day and have to endure the time of classes in the morning, in the evening or on Saturday. Students are not very happy and strongly resist. When I told one group that I could conduct their classes only on Saturday, I was indignantly declared: “On Saturday ?! We also have a personal life! ”.
Another misconception:
There is no problem with the salary, if you forget about it at all. Or vice versa, the problem is that the salary cannot be taken seriously. I treat teaching as a hobby. Since the rate of Ph.D. as an assistant (my case) is about 12,000 rubles a month, then in half a year, at a quarter rate with additional bonuses (for participating in small projects at the department) I have accumulated about 24 thousand rubles on the card. With this money I bought an iPhone.
Because of the problems listed above, it becomes clear that neither in material terms, nor in terms of status or image, there are any advantages to working as a teacher.
Why then do they still teach?
I can only say here about myself. I like sharing experiences. In the process of teaching and systematization of their knowledge. For a clear explanation of some knowledge, this knowledge is often not enough, and it is necessary (and it is developed) to explain complex things in simple language.
Well, I also like the feeling that you are doing something useful and necessary. (And the fact that students are sitting and learning at this moment, and not taking drugs and not engaging in robbery.)
The teacher is not well versed in the subject? Bad explains?
Unfortunately, this can happen. Try to get at least some experience and learn something anyway. Even Sergey Brin on Google interview tries to learn something in 5 minutes from the interviewee.
After the second or third year, students get used to the fact that “they are working for them,” that they will be given “satisfactory” in any case, and if they still try a little bit, then everything will be set up automatically.
There are students who do not want to go to the army, just wait to receive a diploma and for whom nothing special is interesting. With such students, most teachers do not want to get involved and spend their time on them. Usually they are placed in a troika, just to not see them anymore. But there are principled teachers who do not indulge.
Well, there are very few students who really want to learn something or who simply don’t resist teaching them anything. With such a pleasure to work.
For many students, work becomes much more important than studying and because of this there is no opportunity to go on pairs. It’s hard to do something about it, but it seems to me that it is better to warn the teacher in advance about the impossibility of attending classes and even ask for some individual task than to see the teacher for the first time during the test or exam and talk about his difficult fate.
I spend couples on Saturday or at 8 am on weekdays, but still some of the students are justified that they do not go because of their work. Although I do not really understand where programmers and other IT people are forced to work from 8 am, and even on Saturdays.
And yes, all my attempts to meet such hardworking students are ignored.
Misconception:
I will say from my own experience: I accept students in PDP and homework by email. I do not print the reports, I do not force the reports, I do not force any proprietary office packages, and even put extra points for using LaTeX before, but the students' desire to understand something almost didn’t depend on it.
Often, students complain about teachers, who give a lot of material for self-study, do not conduct all classes and require some kind of reporting only by the end of the semester. Here I agree with the students and I think that it is necessary to require more active participation from the teacher.
Therefore, I spend every pair, and still assign homework for every pair, arrange tests and checklists. But students in this case are unhappy and they are very upset about it.
Do you think that many people visited the online course of a similar subject from Stanford offered by me as self-education? Or watched lectures in Lectorium? Or solved puzzles on sql-ex.ru? A couple of about 60 people.
A little more tediousness. Our teachers, who still had the opportunity to find punch cards, said that in comparison with them we had much more opportunities in learning and receiving information, we had home computers and the Internet, which they did not have.
Now I also envy new generations of students in terms of fast Internet, a lot of software, open source, development tools, video lectures, websites with interactive tasks, etc. All this was not some 6-8 years ago.
If desired, knowledge and experience, which took a couple years to master, can now be obtained in a few months. For the previous generation, it is good that, in addition to technical progress, laziness among new generations is progressing.
Since I was going to write an article a long time ago, I’ll use the bustle of September and in between the peaks of angry and incriminating articles (falling during the sessions) I will share my view on the problems of higher IT education from the point of view of a still young teacher. I often communicate with the same teachers, so the conclusions are based not only on my experience.
In this article I do not want to complain about the students or my teaching fate, but to describe the claims (some even quote) that students present to teachers, and the difficulties that teachers have with students.
Yes, I do not have twenty years of teaching experience and will not particularly philosophize, but since I still remember myself as a student very well and have worked as a teacher for several years, I understand both teachers and students well.
Briefly how I became a teacher
I started teaching as a graduate student (the first lesson began with the question addressed to me by the student headman: “Which group are you from?”), And after defending her candidate’s degree I decided not to give up teaching at the university.
I have been teaching for the fifth year at St. Petersburg State Electrotechnical University "LETI" (this is where Popov long ago collected radio). From the very beginning of teaching, I chose the discipline ("Database Technology"), in which I was better grounded and which was most interesting to me. I conduct practical classes, course projects there, that's all.
Teachers
I will not protect and justify all teachers in everything. Teachers are also people - sometimes there are bad and inadequate. But in any case, it would be useful even for such teachers to give feedback, i.e. not to scold or throw mud at each other, but to write some post with constructive criticism on the website of the university or on the university's page on the social network.
Nevertheless, many claims of students to teachers are biased or untenable.
I will try to briefly explain the essence of these claims, as well as describe the
')
Frames
I think everyone knows about the staffing problem of universities: technical specialists are currently working, mainly, either teachers of retirement age or graduate students.
But usually the older generation of teachers lead only lectures - a theory that has remained relevant for decades and which forms the basis or foundation for all practical knowledge. Graduate students and defended young teachers usually conduct practical exercises, in which they share completely relevant knowledge and, if not very large, but still real practical experience. Many graduate students and teachers of the younger generation teaching is part-time work, so there is also some practical experience from the main work.
Typical student opinion :
“I was in a situation where the teacher himself doesn’t know anything, doesn’t explain anything, but shows off and DEMANDS”
agent0
The problem of unskilled teachers, I think a bit exaggerated. Of course, because of all the same personnel problems, it may happen that the teacher was temporarily given some subject that might not be very interesting to him or in which he doesn’t feel very confident. But this does not happen very often, and if a teacher has been teaching a subject for several years, this means that he has enough qualifications.
And the fact that some students write that in this subject they are “head and shoulders above” the teacher and can easily “put him in his belt”, it seems to me that this is just too much self-esteem, often not supported by anything at all. I meet students who in some areas know more than me, and it is often very interesting to work with such, but now that someone from the students knows my course better than me (and even “on the head”) - for 5 years I have these students have not met.
The lack of enthusiasm among teachers
Indeed, over time, the enthusiasm somehow no longer becomes. Without taking into account other problems, basically, the teacher’s indifference or indifference is due to the fact that most students are too lazy to do something or they don’t need it at all.
Teachers do not see the point of giving all the best without any return and are usually ready to teach only those who are interested and want to learn something.
The attitude of teachers is also affected by the attitude of higher authorities (the bureaucracy for teachers is not less than for students) and the state as a whole, for example, when a teacher is forced to go to the police, to stand in line and order a certificate of no criminal record. And then the same thing to pick it up. Previously, these certificates were somehow dealt with without touching the teachers. But in our time of reforms and innovations, someone “at the top” decided that teachers can run around inquiries themselves to prove their safety and their desire to teach.
schedule
Because of part-time work, another problem arises: not all teachers can conduct classes in the middle of the day and have to endure the time of classes in the morning, in the evening or on Saturday. Students are not very happy and strongly resist. When I told one group that I could conduct their classes only on Saturday, I was indignantly declared: “On Saturday ?! We also have a personal life! ”.
Salaries
Another misconception:
"It makes no sense to be offended by teachers, they are often just well settled in their places and everything."
Vbkesha
There is no problem with the salary, if you forget about it at all. Or vice versa, the problem is that the salary cannot be taken seriously. I treat teaching as a hobby. Since the rate of Ph.D. as an assistant (my case) is about 12,000 rubles a month, then in half a year, at a quarter rate with additional bonuses (for participating in small projects at the department) I have accumulated about 24 thousand rubles on the card. With this money I bought an iPhone.
Because of the problems listed above, it becomes clear that neither in material terms, nor in terms of status or image, there are any advantages to working as a teacher.
Why then do they still teach?
I can only say here about myself. I like sharing experiences. In the process of teaching and systematization of their knowledge. For a clear explanation of some knowledge, this knowledge is often not enough, and it is necessary (and it is developed) to explain complex things in simple language.
Well, I also like the feeling that you are doing something useful and necessary. (And the fact that students are sitting and learning at this moment, and not taking drugs and not engaging in robbery.)
Students
The teacher is not well versed in the subject? Bad explains?
Unfortunately, this can happen. Try to get at least some experience and learn something anyway. Even Sergey Brin on Google interview tries to learn something in 5 minutes from the interviewee.
Habit for freebies
After the second or third year, students get used to the fact that “they are working for them,” that they will be given “satisfactory” in any case, and if they still try a little bit, then everything will be set up automatically.
There are students who do not want to go to the army, just wait to receive a diploma and for whom nothing special is interesting. With such students, most teachers do not want to get involved and spend their time on them. Usually they are placed in a troika, just to not see them anymore. But there are principled teachers who do not indulge.
Well, there are very few students who really want to learn something or who simply don’t resist teaching them anything. With such a pleasure to work.
Employment
For many students, work becomes much more important than studying and because of this there is no opportunity to go on pairs. It’s hard to do something about it, but it seems to me that it is better to warn the teacher in advance about the impossibility of attending classes and even ask for some individual task than to see the teacher for the first time during the test or exam and talk about his difficult fate.
I spend couples on Saturday or at 8 am on weekdays, but still some of the students are justified that they do not go because of their work. Although I do not really understand where programmers and other IT people are forced to work from 8 am, and even on Saturdays.
And yes, all my attempts to meet such hardworking students are ignored.
Motivation
Misconception:
“Students will be much more willing to donate labs if the teacher takes them in soap, and not draw reports, and even printed on paper. In the same way, if a lecturer allows you to take labs from several attempts (i.e., it’s not an irony to give a grade the first time), then students will have more desire to understand them. ”
nerzhul
I will say from my own experience: I accept students in PDP and homework by email. I do not print the reports, I do not force the reports, I do not force any proprietary office packages, and even put extra points for using LaTeX before, but the students' desire to understand something almost didn’t depend on it.
Always unhappy
Often, students complain about teachers, who give a lot of material for self-study, do not conduct all classes and require some kind of reporting only by the end of the semester. Here I agree with the students and I think that it is necessary to require more active participation from the teacher.
Therefore, I spend every pair, and still assign homework for every pair, arrange tests and checklists. But students in this case are unhappy and they are very upset about it.
Self-education
Do you think that many people visited the online course of a similar subject from Stanford offered by me as self-education? Or watched lectures in Lectorium? Or solved puzzles on sql-ex.ru? A couple of about 60 people.
Laziness
A little more tediousness. Our teachers, who still had the opportunity to find punch cards, said that in comparison with them we had much more opportunities in learning and receiving information, we had home computers and the Internet, which they did not have.
Now I also envy new generations of students in terms of fast Internet, a lot of software, open source, development tools, video lectures, websites with interactive tasks, etc. All this was not some 6-8 years ago.
If desired, knowledge and experience, which took a couple years to master, can now be obtained in a few months. For the previous generation, it is good that, in addition to technical progress, laziness among new generations is progressing.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/192728/
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