[LINK] Australia has ‘skipped a generation’ of software engineering education

[Tom Worthington]

On 26/11/21 2:08 pm, Stephen Loosley wrote:
> ... Tim Biggs November 23, 2021 https://www.theage.com.au/technology/holberton-shakes-up-tech-education-with-melbourne-campus-20211122-p59aup.html
> 
> Silicon Valley’s Holberton School ... Focusing on collaboration and hands-on learning rather than lectures or rapid boot camps, the project-focused university offers a nine-month full-time course, synchronised with its facilities around the world in an online environment. ...

This is an appealing model. I help with ANU's Techaluncher program, 
where computing students have to work in a team on a project for a real 
client. The emphasis is on people and project skills. For any extra 
technical skills the students need, they are pointed to short online 
courses. ANU engineering students do a similar program (originally 
computing and engineering students were mixed in the same teams). 
However, this project towards the end of the students degree, alongside, 
and after, conventional courses. https://cs.anu.edu.au/TechLauncher/

It is not a new idea, with project based work being traditional for 
students of hands on vocations, the creative arts, as well as 
architecture. In 2002 I was invited to give a seminar to architecture 
students of the German new Bauhaus. The original school opened in 1919 
and showcased an approach of students working on projects.

> ... students must pass a rigorous entry test ...

One way such a program can show good results quickly is to be very 
selective. However, there are some equity issues with that.

> There are no formal teachers or instructors, with lessons delivered by software and projects led by the students themselves ...

This requires having *some* staff very skilled in education, technology 
and educational technology. It can all go very wrong, very quickly, due 
to people issues, amplified by tech glitches. In effect what the 
Holberton School have done is replace the tutors, who usually do the 
bulk of the teaching.

> “What we’ve been doing, especially on the TAFE side, has been failing. ...

Traditional VET techniques used at TAFE have student apprentices who 
mostly work on the job, and only a few formal classes. However, this 
requires employers willing to take on apprentices. Notably the 
Australian Public Service has IT apprentices and cadets (the apprentices 
attend TAFE, while the cadets attend university). The program has been 
running in the APS for decades, under different names. 
https://www.digitalprofession.gov.au/digital-apprenticeship-program

Unfortunately private enterprise employers are less willing to take on 
apprentices. It should be noted that traditionally an apprentice had to 
pay the master for their training. Holberton School could be seen as a 
return to that approach.


-- 
Tom Worthington http://www.tomw.net.au