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University of the People: Tuition-Free, Accredited Online Degree Programs

uopeople.edu

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Re: University of the People: Tuition-Free, Accredited Online Degree Programs

#131

Post by renewiltord »

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #119
khawkins wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is under the assumption that you see college is a program of self-betterment and not busy work for receiving a degree that says you can have a middle-class job. It feels like even the universities themselves see it as the latter these days.

But if you can't do the middle-class job because you can't write, the piece of paper will only get you so far. It may get you an entry-level job, but you probably won't get much in the way of promotions. So even from that perspective, plagiarism isn't helpful.

To be honest, I arrived at university fully capable of my first job out. I think most people do. The selection process has you write essays and do math and all that shit.

Work is hard, but like most things you learn best doing the thing. Not saying SICP was shit. Just that I could have done that in high school and accelerated my time to money (and through it, contentment).

Maybe I'll let my kids do something like that if they feel the mildest desire to.

Re: University of the People: Tuition-Free, Accredited Online Degree Programs

#132

Post by uopeoplestudent »

ThalesBelisari1 wrote: post #129
taborj wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I dream of (and am actively working towards) a day where the computer's potential as a new educational medium is fully realized, rather than the current parade of attempts at transplanting a brick and mortar classroom into a remote asynchronous delivery system. I assume you already know about PLATO, yes?

Assuming you're not talking about the ancient philosopher, I'd like to know what you're referencing. Searching for "PLATO education" isn't finding something beyond the expected.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PLATO_(computer_system)

Re: University of the People: Tuition-Free, Accredited Online Degree Programs

#133

Post by javert »

themodelplumber wrote: post #40
dart600 wrote: post #33

Hi. I attended this school and then got accepted to another more standard institution, which I applied at the same time to. The new institution, learning I had been attending U of the P, promptly told me that U of the P credits would not transfer. Universal transferability in question, I opted out. I did enjoy meeting people from all walks of life, all over the world. However, I also saw a grossly wide range of educa…

> could not grasp the idea of plagiarism being unethical I remember experiencing this at a private religious university. At the time, my hyper-religious mind was blown to see students outright cheating in the Testing Center. Since then I've been exposed to additional perspectives on plagiarism. It is an extremely deep and nuanced topic. A few years out of school, I ended up mentoring and then teaching college student…

> Can you justify it in seconds, with something that's not simply a subjective perception or largely-covert moral construct of your own

You are making this way too complicated.

It's honesty vs. dishonesty.

Those of us playing on team honesty are right to view the dishonest as playing on the opposite team.

Which team is actually morally right, is the complex issue.

Re: University of the People: Tuition-Free, Accredited Online Degree Programs

#134

Post by renewiltord »

themodelplumber wrote: post #73
infogulch wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem with plagiarism isn't best characterized as some sort of power struggle between teachers and students via bullshit assignments. The purpose of learning to write is to make yourself a formidable communicator. If you can independently analyze a new topic to learn something new and apply the results of those learnings towards a particular goal, you can be amazingly effective in everything you aim for. But if…

> Power struggle between teachers and students via... Uh, did I say that, or were you intuiting? Not exactly a learner's approach :D > Plagiarizing some work doesn't really hurt the work, it hurts you. Except when it benefits you? This is the subjective perception I was talking about. That their mindset differs does not instantly make them wrong, especially when you can throw a dime out the window and hit an educated…

> Uh, did I say that, or were you intuiting?

What is it with this everywhere on HN these days where people assume every response someone makes is a refutation? It's a conversation, dude. People will take it places. Sometimes people will build on ideas you mention. Other times people will take an incident and draw their own conclusions. Other times people will draw on a similar incident or talk about a related concept.

I'll accept my off-topic downvotes since that is fair but this is so frustrating.

Re: University of the People: Tuition-Free, Accredited Online Degree Programs

#135

Post by Nginx487 »

reidjs wrote: post #15
johnkpaul wrote: post #4

This seems too good to be true and I’m trying to figure out the catch.

The catch is your degree will be from “University of the People” which will send red flags to hiring managers who check. Hopefully one day this will be a normal thing, but it’s questionable whether your degree will signal what you want it to signal.

Graduates work in FAANG companies though, probably hiring managers comsider it trustworthy enough. Btw, what red flags do you mean?

Re: University of the People: Tuition-Free, Accredited Online Degree Programs

#136

Post by themodelplumber »

austincheney wrote: post #127
themodelplumber wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a bit of an overreach, isn't it, calling my writing incoherent and incompetent? (Edit: Parent clarified that "you" is meant to mean a hypothetical student, not me.) If more information is needed, as was the case here, we can ask questions. That's got nothing to do with author competence. It's not an essay contest. And why assume we know it all, filling in the gaps like that? In a discussion of ethics, this is…

It’s not an overreach. The competence is a product of originality and independence. > And this is a big part of why "hyper ethical" subjective ethics people struggle--they assume their view is right and don't ask questions of others. That is itself quite the assumption.

Not an assumption at all. That's from my subjective past experience, from having conducted qualitative research experiences in this area as I interviewed and taught students. I shared that experience in my original reply and would love for anyone else to do the same, referring us to their past experiences even anecdotally, rather than forecasting woe via subjective intuition.

Re: University of the People: Tuition-Free, Accredited Online Degree Programs

#139

Post by jariel »

themodelplumber wrote: post #40
dart600 wrote: post #33

Hi. I attended this school and then got accepted to another more standard institution, which I applied at the same time to. The new institution, learning I had been attending U of the P, promptly told me that U of the P credits would not transfer. Universal transferability in question, I opted out. I did enjoy meeting people from all walks of life, all over the world. However, I also saw a grossly wide range of educa…

> could not grasp the idea of plagiarism being unethical I remember experiencing this at a private religious university. At the time, my hyper-religious mind was blown to see students outright cheating in the Testing Center. Since then I've been exposed to additional perspectives on plagiarism. It is an extremely deep and nuanced topic. A few years out of school, I ended up mentoring and then teaching college student…

This is a thoughtful comment, at the same time, it's some pretty scary postmodernism.

Advocating cheating because it helps a student from possibly lesser means achieve their 'check-box' in education is missing the point, in a very serious way.

We can always strive to have an open mind, to try and be sympathetic to the plight of others - but the Truth is pretty much still the Truth.

Plagiarism is not a controversial subject in the context you've mentioned, it's just wrong in every sense.

More pragmatically - if someone is in a situation wherein their need for the 'checkbox degree' outweighs their actual need to learn something, then they almost assuredly should not be there. It's pointless for society to be spending a lot of energy and resources only for people to waste them, and it ruins the credibility of the system. I'm not unaware of the fact that a lot of Uni may feel like jumping through hoops, but even then, if the hoops are merely jumped through, we're learning something. Uni is not meant to be enlightening at every step, it's also, like everything a grind.

A 'free public Uni' is going to attract a wide swath of students, and there will necessarily be all sorts of issues, probably very low graduation rates, challenges in communicating the material. I totally support the idea, at the same time, we should strive to maintain the credibility of our own ideals and institutions. Universities are there to help develop character, they're not just about 'absorbing data'. In the long run, it's worth it.

Re: University of the People: Tuition-Free, Accredited Online Degree Programs

#140

Post by jki275 »

fortran77 wrote: post #56

I looked at their CS degree. Just one semester of Calculus?

It's not a real CS program. Very clear from their front page description of the program. It looks like an IT degree with a side of Java and some web programming.
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