7 pointsby stopachka7 hours ago5 comments
  • neerajmurarka6 hours ago
    I don't remember take-home exams in the nineties when I did computer science. Is this really that common to start with?

    Because it is not an issue if you don't do it in the first place.

    The problem with take-home is similar to the problem I saw with open-book. Now, you were maybe biasing the results to favour people who can skim through the book more efficiently. It is not really about people using knowledge they absorbed. I hated open book -- it put me at a great dis-advantage because i was much better at slow absorption.

    • MichaelRo5 hours ago
      Maybe "take-home exam" is not the proper name. During school, I had "homework". During university I had "projects". Definitely quite a few projects over the course of a semester.

      And about cheating with AI. After you get hired, you're expected to use AI and only AI and if you don't tokenmax your AI consumption you're scolded and threatened and eventually fired. Whole fucking industry is about forbidding to use your brain anymore.

      The fact that universities still insist on independent human thought just shows how hopelessly out of sync they are, stuck in the past and not able to produce the new generation of brainwashed idiots that the corporations expect.

      • neerajmurarka5 hours ago
        I can't disagree with most of what you are saying, not from experience but because it is a logical conclusion of at least what I am seeing.

        I am a pilot and even as as car-driver, I notice how I totally lose my sense of awareness of where I am and how to deal with unexpected re-routing, when I am using GPS. Why is this relevant?

        There was a time I had no GPS. I'd look at a map, memorize, and have total situational awareness, and with that, I could drive anywhere, more or less, regardless of what unexpected things happened (construction, accidents, etc).

        As a pilot, I don't use GPS because it is way too dangerous to not know where you are. You need to be able to react to unexpected situations quickly.

        We already have people who are incapable of independent thought, pre-AI. Now? With this? It is going to get much worse.

        These people will be voting. That's scary.

  • Jblx27 hours ago
    >Take-home exams

    Is this a left-over artifact of the covid-19 times? Why would there be take-home exams? I know I'm getting old, but wouldn't a return to in-class exams be the first line of defense?

    • rpaik5 hours ago
      I've had take home exams before Covid. I don't think any of them were for computer science classes, but they were a major pain as I'd rather have my exam done and over with in 1-2 hours.

      They're basically like major papers or projects and they could be endless time-sinks.

  • cebert7 hours ago
    Instead of using AI to cheat, we should leverage AI to give individuals personalized guided instruction. I’ve asked LLMs to help guide me with learning a new concept. They can do a phenomenal job assessing your knowledge and gaps and building an individualized learning plan. I find it a more effective way to learn that college ever was.
  • zippyman554 hours ago
    In class quizzes and in class exams are probably the way to go. Quizzes can be less than ten Minutes. Take homes are tough. I was an outlier student, one class a quarter due to my work. Witnessing all the answer swapping between the full time students was a bit challenging but it was their way of learning.
  • yanjunnf7 hours ago
    How AI plays the right role in the learning process is currently an important task for educators
    • topham7 hours ago
      They do not have the competence to do this.

      Recognizing this is the first step.