Comment by gergles | Hacker News Reader

Comment by gergles | Hacker News Reader

I especially enjoy the University's ludicrous overreaction (seriously, read the letters they sent this guy; specifically the one where they demand he do the job of the "myUCF" team and come up with how he would update the application -- wherein he is specifically forbidden from saying he'd write something like the app that people obviously found useful since, you know, they were using it.)

I also enjoy that he has to attend a 'coaching session' where they teach him that University policy is sacrosanct -- and he has to pay for it as well as write a "spelled-checked [sic]" research paper about his coaching session (WTF is there to 'research' about an hourlong chat?)

What's even more bizarre is why this app exists at all. PeopleSoft's "SA" module that UCF is using for registration includes a waitlist feature that already does all of this -- actually, it's better, because it just pops people off the stack when a spot becomes available.

So, let's be clear:

- UCF willfully refuses to enable the waitlist option in PS

- Student uses a public interface to replicate the functionality

- Star chamber declares the student broke a nebulous IT policy and that he has to write humiliating 'research papers' as contrition.

And people wonder why higher ed is less and less valued...

The best (worst) part of that letter is the last part of that "research paper" section:

"Be advised that the paper may not serve to justify your own actions, nor evaluate the actions of others"

They are basically asking him to be academically dishonest in the event that the logical conclusion from his cited sources either supports his actions or serve to make the IT department look bad.

Demanding that a student arrive upon a predetermined conclusion is not how university is supposed to work; that shit ends in primary school (or I suppose debate classes?).

Someone should call Dana Juntunen and ask for clarification about this. Since its a state university, I can think of a long list of other people who might have some ideas on this as well.

This is not a problem with higher ed, this is a problem with bureaucracies staffed with incompetent people who are so terrified of losing their jobs that they resort to things like this.

This is incredibly common in IT, not just at Ed institutions, but in corporations in general. If you've never worked anywhere except at a tech company, your view of the average IT experience will be skewed.

> this is a problem with bureaucracies staffed with incompetent people who are so terrified of losing their jobs that they resort to things like this

so... higher ed. sadly, that's what it has come to these days. and that's the problem with higher ed.

This type of shortsighted paternalism is peculiar to higher education, not just any system bloated with bureaucracy.

The sanctimonious and patronizing reaction by UCF is a perfect example of why the model is ripe for disruption.

It reminds me very much of the MPAA right before bitTorrent's invention.

I hope that this entrepreneur will realize they are wasting his time and money and drop out, and start charting his own course.

Although true that higher ed has its own set of problems as it resists adapting to contemporary realities; I felt compelled to point out that this incident is not surprising coming out of UCF. Through various interactions with UCF and its graduates I have come to understand that the institution is composed of low caliber people. I have no ties to UCF other than having come in contact with several of their "graduates" and I would be surprised if anyone else with a quality education didn't also get the same impression that UCF is nothing more than a Phoenix grade program. It is a borderline degree mill that primarily functions as a qualification for the poorly educated coming out of the Florida public education system and to slurp up GI Bill dollars providing degrees to the poorly educated coming out of the military.

The bigger problem with higher ed in this country is that it has no real standards. You can get a degree from UCF or from MIT, for all intents and purposes, it is the same degree. I have never understood why the Ivy League schools have not pushed for a distinguishing classification. It surprises me that even the higher and mid tier schools wouldn't want to distinguish themselves from the like so of UCF, Regent "Univ", Oral Roberts "Univ", the Pheonix, the Strayers, etc.

This guy really needs to just move on to a half-way decent program where his innovation and drive might even be welcomed. F doing all the bull he was sanctioned with. That is exactly the kind of nonsense I would have expected to come out of UCF. Go innovate somewhere where it's recognized and leave that UCF dump behind. I have yet to see anything good come out of UCF.

Don't ask me to substantiate what I said or any other such nonsense, they are observations.

This is so gross. It's basically extortion to provide free labor for the school.

A decent (morally) school should offer this kid a scholarship.

He "may not represent the university in any official capacity"... yeah don't use an industrious entrepeneur to reflect the school. Let their athletic department do that: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/football/ncaa/07/31/ce...

Was it a public interface? My read is that his app was logging in to the university system with his personal credentials.

It's not clear why there couldn't be a public read-only interface for that data, and it's a shame the U wasn't willing to work with him on it rather than slap him down reflexively. But it is reasonable for them to object to his use of his personal account to enable a for-profit project.

There was a guest access system for looking at class listings that his service used. It's mentioned in the slides.

I built a similar system once, with similar (but not nearly as ridiculous results. There was a public interface, but it was a few hours behind the private one.

It was guest access. No logging in required.

"PeopleSoft's "SA" module that UCF is using for registration includes a waitlist feature that already does all of this"

It isn't always enabled. Many classes for some odd reason have the waitlist feature turned off.

What prevents UCF from enabling it?

I built an equivalent program for the University of South Florida, except without charging for access. The most administrators did was request I disable the system. When I met with an administrator at USF, they were honestly more impressed than anything else.

http://www.usforacle.com/news/helloclass-provides-students-i...

Its amazing how charging for access changes the ramifications.

Depending on the polling method / frequency, he could have created some problems for them. As to automatically popping people off the stack registration is often a complex issue where I want the CS101 10am-12am session vs CS101 8am-10am session, but only if I can also move my Math 10am-12am to TR at 2pm - 5pm etc. (And that's a simple change vs some of the optimizations I did.)

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