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323 points timbilt | 2 comments | | HN request time: 0.442s | source
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joshdavham ◴[] No.42129395[source]
I'm really curious to see where higher education will go now that we have LLM's. I imagine the bar will just keep getting higher and more will be able to taught in less time.

Are there any students here who started uni just before LLM's took off and are now finishing their degrees? Have you noticed much change in how your classes are taught?

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cmontella ◴[] No.42129501[source]
I teach at the university level, and I just expect more from my students. Instead of implementing data structures like we did when I was in school, something ChatGPT is very good at; my students are building systems, something ChatGPT has more trouble with.

Instead of paper exams asking students "find the bug" or "implement a short function", they get a takehome exam where they have to write tests, integrate their project into a CI pipeline, use version control, and implement a dropbox-like system in Rust, which we expect to have a good deal of functionality and accompanying documentation.

I tell them go ahead and use whatever they want. It's easier than policing their tools. If they can put it together, and it works, and they can explain it back to me, then I'm satisfied. Even if they use ChatGPT it'll take a great deal of work and knowledge to get running.

If ChatGPT suddenly is able to put a project like that together, then I'll ask for even more.

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1. globular-toast ◴[] No.42133828[source]
University is supposed to be about dedicating one's life to learning and ultimately gaining brand new insights into the world. It's not supposed to be about training people to produce stuff in the exact same way everyone already produces stuff. Do you think this approach will help them come up with new stuff?
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2. cmontella ◴[] No.42138693[source]
Well I don't agree with your premise on what University is supposed to be. There's a lot one has to learn about how things have been done before one can even conceive of whether or not an idea is new.

Today we stand on the shoulders of giants to create things previous generations could not, but we still have to climb up to their shoulders in order to see where to go. Without that perspective, people spend a lot of cycles doing things that have already been done, making mistakes that have already been made. There's value in gaining that knowledge yourself through trial and error but it takes much longer than a 4 year program if that's the way you want to learn.

My role is that of a ladder. People are free to do whatever they want, create whatever they want once they get to the top.

And anyway, we graduate students who go on to create new things every year. So proof is in the puddin.