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Comment by bee_rider | Hacker News Reader

Students are in a weird case. Currently instructors aren’t experts in AI tools because, well, they didn’t exist 10 years ago when even the young professors were learning how to do things. The best that can be done at the moment is to teach the old way. The current students are the ones who will need to make the AI based workflows. But obviating intro assignments by having the AI do them doesn’t benefit anybody.

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If students what to deprive themselves of the opportunity to learn then that's their perogative.

Universities need to produce competent graduates at a good rate to maintain their reputation.

Yes but this only further waters down the already watered down legitimacy of a degree. I know a lot of people think students should be building things independently of classes but that kind of misses the point of dedicating a full time investment in guided learning at the hands of an expert instructor. If instructors graded rigorously and had a magic cheating detection too (where cheating is defined overly capaciously so that students really and unambiguously have to get creative in their work), then the degree might mean something

The university system is rather outdated at this stage anyways. As an institution of learning there is still a place for universities in terms of research and inquiry, but degrees seem like an outdated concept. Maybe we can break down degrees to certifications that can be pieced together to demonstrate a set of skills. Maybe we can value independent projects more. The academic system is so broken at this point that I don't think much value will be lost if they lost all credibility, and let them scramble to create some more value.

If the expert instructor guiding you doesn't know whether you actually understood the material, chances are they can replaced with a YouTube video.

If universities offer a learning environment that actually provides the students better learning than what they can get at home, the pieces of paper they hand out will continue to mean something. If they don't, they were already on a downward spiral kicked loose by online learning platforms handing out certificates.

Easy, don't count coursework towards the degree, all exams.

In an ideal world, "getting an education" and "getting a degree" are the same. In reality, any overlap at all feels like a win. Which is unfortunate, because some of the best learners are terrible students, and vice versa.

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