Re: Solving Homework in Pairs

On Mon, Jun 04, 2007, Shlomi Fish wrote about "Re: [hackers-il] Solving Homework in Pairs":
> P.S: and just for the record - I still think I'm right when claiming it is a 
> better idea to allow working in pairs. I find that Nadav has still avoided 
> refuting my reasons.

Ok, let's make one last attempt, even though I think I already answered you.

First, let's assume that you mean really "working in pairs" (because the
more common requirement is "handing in pairs" and nobody checks how you
worked).

The reason one studies for a degree is, in my opinion, three-fold. ONE is
to learn material. TWO is to get experience in solving difficult problems
in your field (not necessarily the mundane problems you'll be asked to
solve in your first year on the job - a university is not a vocational school).
THREE is to "get on the same page" as the peers you'll be spending your
professional life with - learn how they think, how they talk, how they
cooperate, and so on.

Issue #3 - learning how to cooperate with your peers in your professional
domain - is indeed important. You want future scientists and engineers to
be able to talk to others using terms they understand, to work together, 
and so on. But how much emphasis should be given to this issue, vs. the
other two (material and problem solving)? I believe that more emphasis should
be given to the material and problem-solving skills, because of several
reasons: these are wider and deeper areas than cooperation skills, they
are harder and less natural for the typical student, and they are things a
typical student would not be able to learn "on the job".
So my belief is that a university should spend some time on issue #3 - it
*should* teach terminology, nomenclemature and methodology that make it easy
for researchers in its field to cooperate, and it should give the students
some practical experience in cooperating - in the form of some pair-work
courses, some cooperative project, or whatever. But it is my belief that the
university should NOT turn each and every course into an exercise of
cooperation. The reason there are a few dozen courses in a degree is because
there are a few dozen subjects that need to be learned - not because
cooperation has to be exercised a few dozen times.

And I mentioned that when cooperation (pair work) is encouraged, care must
be taken not to let it run wild. If students can finish an entire course
not doing anything while their friend (or 5 friends, in the absurd example
I mentioned in my last mail) do their work for them, it is simply not fair.
This isn't a big problem when there are just a few courses like that
(especially when in the Technion's undergraduate courses, there is normally
a test in the end and that isn't done in pairs at all), but if you "run wild"
with the pair work idea, and every course is done completely in pairs,
someone could concievably finish a degree without ever doing a thing, and
without even violating any law (someone who buys solutions also can finish
a degree without ever doing a thing - but at least this is considered illegal).

I hope now you'll find that I answered your reasons. You don't have to agree
with what I said, though ;-) Like I said, we can agree to disagree on this
subject.

-- 
Nadav Har'El                        |       Monday, Jun  4 2007, 19 Sivan 5767
nyh-TS7m/[email protected]             |-----------------------------------------
Phone +972-523-790466, ICQ 13349191 |A professor is one who talks in someone
http://nadav.harel.org.il           |else's sleep.