The system of education at the American University in Computer Science
Recently, I entered the American university ( Worcester Polytechnic Institute ) and in this connection I want to share my first experience. I will not write about how cool it is here, cool and so on. I will write more specifically about the education system, since I studied it for three years, but nevertheless I did not understand much. The post is quite large, so feel free to start reading from the most interesting paragraph in your opinion. However, I recommend reading everything, this is the real experience of a real student from the former CIS, who entered the top US university. Why I think it will be interesting for IT people? Because my specialty here is Computer Science, and in the USA the most reputable IT universities. If someone from habrovtsev wants to send a child to meet a brighter IT future, then it will be useful for him and the child to read this article.
It is no secret that the US universities are the best in their field. Of the hundreds of influential universities in the world, about 70% are American, and the top three Harvard, Stanford, MIT does not leave the first places in international rankings. So how does this system work? I must immediately say that we will talk specifically about the university where I study. Systems may vary slightly by university. I'll tell you everything in order.
To begin with, the Americans do not have the concept of "session", "coursework", "thesis", "record book". To talk about the "retake and dosdat" back later. The school year is divided into four quarters, called from “A-Term” to “D-Term”. Each term (hereafter, term - quarter) lasts exactly 35 training days. If during the term there is a holiday, it does not matter - then the end of the term is shifted exactly on this holiday. During each term, the student takes three courses. You can take the fourth physical education or music, but not so important. For 35 days, the student attends only these courses and does not care about anything else. Lectures, conferences and laboratories on one course take exactly 50 minutes a day. Accordingly, 50 * 3 minutes per day are mandatory visits by the student to lecture and laboratory audiences. Let it not seem like a “freebie” to you, since according to statistics, for every hour (50 minutes) of the lecture (laboratories, conferences) there are 3 hours of independent work. When it comes to exams, even more.
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I now have three courses: Computer Science - Introduction to Programming, Physics - General Mechanics, Math - Calculus II. And the tasks for each of the courses are different. For example:
At lectures, the professor reads material for 150 people. Everything is very interesting, since she (the professor) has a clear, detailed plan for a minute. As a rule, she, with us on the computer prints some things, runs the program and so on. Then he puts the materials into the portal. During the lecture, she can give the so-called "Quiz" - the analogue of our independent work. There are just a couple of tasks and a few minutes of time. You know - you will write quickly, you do not know - you do not need to waste time. This way homework is checked (video views, tutorial). Sometimes she gives a real volumetric Homeworks, which includes work for 3-5 hours and performed with a partner. Once a week, laboratory work is carried out in which the same tasks are given, but there is a Lab Instructor who is always ready to help. Four times exams are held.
Three times a week the material is read in a huge lecture hall. And now the most interesting thing: the professor has a microphone, and behind her there are two canvases and two super-quality projectors, in front of her is a touch computer, on which she draws us graphics and vectors in a special program (something like PowerPoint, but not him). On the blackboard (meaning on the projectors) there are questions with answer choices and each student has a Clicker, on which he presses the answer button. That is, instead of shouting at the whole hall “Marya Ivanovna, there are 22”, “I answered first!”, Students simply press a button and get points. The whole lecture is recorded on camera and then you can view all this (and her notes on the touchcomputer too). In the laboratories (telling about the first classes) we moved the machine along the ruler, the mechanism fixed the speed, movement and acceleration and sent the data to the computer that built the graphics in the live mode. Thus, we could see the relationship between these quantities. At conferences we were prepared for exams and independent. There are four exams, which are given to sample questions with answers.
Mathematics is almost the same as with us. Of the interesting points is the lab, on which we use Maple (an analogue of MathCAD) and the home inspection system. DZ ask a lot, but it is not checked in notebooks, as they do in our school. On Friday morning, the professor gives Quiz, in which a couple of home examples for the week. Quiz is allocated a minimum amount of time, and, interestingly, the use of notebooks is not only not prohibited, but even encouraged. Thus, if you systematically did dz - rewrite, if you didn’t, but you know the material - you will, if neither one nor the other - fail.
For all subjects, the assessment components were immediately named as a percentage. Thus, you can calculate how much is one missed lab.
Grades 4: A, B, C and NR (No Record). If a person fails the course, then he does not go to the zero "certificate", but it is simply considered that he did not take the course. Thus, it does not spoil its GPA (Grade Point Average - average rating). And now about the percentages: A - 90 +%, B - 80 +% and C - 70 +%. We see that a score of 8 out of 12 (I'm from Ukraine, we have a 12-point system) or 4 (with 4+, 4-) from 5+ - 66% is FAIL. What we consider to be “solid horoshist” is a failure for them. Accordingly, when it is said that laboratory work is 10% of the assessment, it is not an idea to skip.
And now the most interesting thing is to “dosdat” and “retake”. In order not to keep the intrigue, I will say right away - in academic English there are no such words. In fact, there is a Make-up - to say nothing, but this is more likely an insult. No matter how scary it sounds, but never, in any way, under no circumstances can you retake anything, even an unfortunate lab. Any professor will refuse this, and he simply will not respond to an e-mail with such content. In my university, most of the works are “submitted” via e-mail, and if the deadline is 6 pm, then at 6:01 you will not send anything. And it is useless to prove that the Internet lagged, my head ached, the dog gnawed on the cable. The train has left. Nobody will scold, get angry, be offended or hold a tooth. The student simply loses some percentage of the assessment.
In this section I will talk a little about the requirements for the diploma. Since the courses all students take are different and there is no general program as such, the requirements are simple - 30 courses of their specialty, 6 classes of mathematics, 6 humanitarian classes, 2 classes of physical education and two projects. More about them. IQP (Interactive Qualifying Project) and MQP (Major Qualifying Project) are two mandatory and large projects. The essence is simple - students gather in a group and solve the REAL problem of society. This may be a drought in some region of Africa, students are developing an irrigation mechanism or a biochemical, maybe easier - in some areas of the city there are many minibuses, and students are developing an optimal transport plan that will reduce the number of buses. Projects are often made outside the university, sometimes even in different countries (my university even has a point in Moscow, has recently appeared).
With such "draconian" requirements in the university of the sea of ​​resources. Professors, professors' assistants (Teacher Assistants), other students, instructors, MASH - Math and Sciences Help and about five other resources. That is, only you have a question, everyone is happy to help you. Resources compensate for the requirements with interest.
About food and hostel will not tell. Let me just say that in this regard - this is a luxury hotel.
My university has the motto “Go to class, do the work, ask for help”, the so-called “Nine words rule”. That says it all. Be honest, work. Everything has been done for you, you just have to learn.
It is no secret that the US universities are the best in their field. Of the hundreds of influential universities in the world, about 70% are American, and the top three Harvard, Stanford, MIT does not leave the first places in international rankings. So how does this system work? I must immediately say that we will talk specifically about the university where I study. Systems may vary slightly by university. I'll tell you everything in order.
schedule
To begin with, the Americans do not have the concept of "session", "coursework", "thesis", "record book". To talk about the "retake and dosdat" back later. The school year is divided into four quarters, called from “A-Term” to “D-Term”. Each term (hereafter, term - quarter) lasts exactly 35 training days. If during the term there is a holiday, it does not matter - then the end of the term is shifted exactly on this holiday. During each term, the student takes three courses. You can take the fourth physical education or music, but not so important. For 35 days, the student attends only these courses and does not care about anything else. Lectures, conferences and laboratories on one course take exactly 50 minutes a day. Accordingly, 50 * 3 minutes per day are mandatory visits by the student to lecture and laboratory audiences. Let it not seem like a “freebie” to you, since according to statistics, for every hour (50 minutes) of the lecture (laboratories, conferences) there are 3 hours of independent work. When it comes to exams, even more.
')
Tasks
I now have three courses: Computer Science - Introduction to Programming, Physics - General Mechanics, Math - Calculus II. And the tasks for each of the courses are different. For example:
Computer science
At lectures, the professor reads material for 150 people. Everything is very interesting, since she (the professor) has a clear, detailed plan for a minute. As a rule, she, with us on the computer prints some things, runs the program and so on. Then he puts the materials into the portal. During the lecture, she can give the so-called "Quiz" - the analogue of our independent work. There are just a couple of tasks and a few minutes of time. You know - you will write quickly, you do not know - you do not need to waste time. This way homework is checked (video views, tutorial). Sometimes she gives a real volumetric Homeworks, which includes work for 3-5 hours and performed with a partner. Once a week, laboratory work is carried out in which the same tasks are given, but there is a Lab Instructor who is always ready to help. Four times exams are held.
Physics
Three times a week the material is read in a huge lecture hall. And now the most interesting thing: the professor has a microphone, and behind her there are two canvases and two super-quality projectors, in front of her is a touch computer, on which she draws us graphics and vectors in a special program (something like PowerPoint, but not him). On the blackboard (meaning on the projectors) there are questions with answer choices and each student has a Clicker, on which he presses the answer button. That is, instead of shouting at the whole hall “Marya Ivanovna, there are 22”, “I answered first!”, Students simply press a button and get points. The whole lecture is recorded on camera and then you can view all this (and her notes on the touchcomputer too). In the laboratories (telling about the first classes) we moved the machine along the ruler, the mechanism fixed the speed, movement and acceleration and sent the data to the computer that built the graphics in the live mode. Thus, we could see the relationship between these quantities. At conferences we were prepared for exams and independent. There are four exams, which are given to sample questions with answers.
Math
Mathematics is almost the same as with us. Of the interesting points is the lab, on which we use Maple (an analogue of MathCAD) and the home inspection system. DZ ask a lot, but it is not checked in notebooks, as they do in our school. On Friday morning, the professor gives Quiz, in which a couple of home examples for the week. Quiz is allocated a minimum amount of time, and, interestingly, the use of notebooks is not only not prohibited, but even encouraged. Thus, if you systematically did dz - rewrite, if you didn’t, but you know the material - you will, if neither one nor the other - fail.
For all subjects, the assessment components were immediately named as a percentage. Thus, you can calculate how much is one missed lab.
Ratings
Grades 4: A, B, C and NR (No Record). If a person fails the course, then he does not go to the zero "certificate", but it is simply considered that he did not take the course. Thus, it does not spoil its GPA (Grade Point Average - average rating). And now about the percentages: A - 90 +%, B - 80 +% and C - 70 +%. We see that a score of 8 out of 12 (I'm from Ukraine, we have a 12-point system) or 4 (with 4+, 4-) from 5+ - 66% is FAIL. What we consider to be “solid horoshist” is a failure for them. Accordingly, when it is said that laboratory work is 10% of the assessment, it is not an idea to skip.
Requirements
And now the most interesting thing is to “dosdat” and “retake”. In order not to keep the intrigue, I will say right away - in academic English there are no such words. In fact, there is a Make-up - to say nothing, but this is more likely an insult. No matter how scary it sounds, but never, in any way, under no circumstances can you retake anything, even an unfortunate lab. Any professor will refuse this, and he simply will not respond to an e-mail with such content. In my university, most of the works are “submitted” via e-mail, and if the deadline is 6 pm, then at 6:01 you will not send anything. And it is useless to prove that the Internet lagged, my head ached, the dog gnawed on the cable. The train has left. Nobody will scold, get angry, be offended or hold a tooth. The student simply loses some percentage of the assessment.
In this section I will talk a little about the requirements for the diploma. Since the courses all students take are different and there is no general program as such, the requirements are simple - 30 courses of their specialty, 6 classes of mathematics, 6 humanitarian classes, 2 classes of physical education and two projects. More about them. IQP (Interactive Qualifying Project) and MQP (Major Qualifying Project) are two mandatory and large projects. The essence is simple - students gather in a group and solve the REAL problem of society. This may be a drought in some region of Africa, students are developing an irrigation mechanism or a biochemical, maybe easier - in some areas of the city there are many minibuses, and students are developing an optimal transport plan that will reduce the number of buses. Projects are often made outside the university, sometimes even in different countries (my university even has a point in Moscow, has recently appeared).
Resources
With such "draconian" requirements in the university of the sea of ​​resources. Professors, professors' assistants (Teacher Assistants), other students, instructors, MASH - Math and Sciences Help and about five other resources. That is, only you have a question, everyone is happy to help you. Resources compensate for the requirements with interest.
About food and hostel will not tell. Let me just say that in this regard - this is a luxury hotel.
findings
My university has the motto “Go to class, do the work, ask for help”, the so-called “Nine words rule”. That says it all. Be honest, work. Everything has been done for you, you just have to learn.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/193150/
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