The most and least important computer science or math class you took in college or graduate school

The most important CS class I have taken is Operating Systems (I would have said Algorithms, but in the college I was in, this class was more about mugging up famous algorithms than actually learning to create algorithms or even learning how to apply the 'famous' algorithms in real world applications. OS on the other hand actually taught us the fundamentals of how a system works)

The least important was Indian Cyber Law. We did not learn anything. We were taught to mug up an outdated text book, and none of the really necessary stuff was ever taught (yeah, I already knew spamming is annoying. I didn't need two chapters to tell me that). Teaching us how to apply for copyright and legal remedies on breach of the same may have been useful. Instead we got a chapter instructing us to put copyright notices on everything.

There were hardly any Math classes that we took (in most Indian universities, choices are pretty limited.) The most useful one was Graph Theory. Not terribly useful, but hey, we hardly did any useful Math. It at least taught us the Mathematical basis of most graph algorithms.

But, The most important (and in my opinion, by far the most under-rated) course was System Software, which at our time was taught during the Autumn Semester of our 2nd year. Now, I liked this particular course for several reasons:

1. The material offered some crucial insights into how a Unix-based machine would pre-process, compile, link, load and then execute our programs (all the example programs taken up were in C).
2. It was during this course that I realized the true power of a Linux machine and my life has never been the same since!
3. The course did a great job in motivating me into the remainder of my CS curricullum by showing a glimpse of what was in store in the upcoming semesters (Operating Systems and Compilers).
4. It was taught by Prof. Manoj Mishra, who possessed immense knowledge and expertise in this area. Also, the questions set by him for our exams discouraged mugging up/rote learning and could be solved by a mere understanding of the underlying concepts.
5. The syllabus was not that huge as compared to the other courses in the semester, and this one almost qualified as a blow-off course :)

The least interesting (won't say the least important though) one for me was Software Engineering (Autumn Semester, 3rd year).

1. I still have not been able to fathom the need to wait till the 3rd year to introduce this course whose contents can very easily be comprehended by any student who has spent a moderate amount of time playing around with any programming language.
2. This course demonstrated that a mathematically intensive and intellectually stimulating branch such as Computer Science also has it's share of drab and monotonous subjects.
3. Almost all the knowledge that I gained (read : memorized for the finals) could have been obtained by a simple Google search or a Wiki article.
4. The course contents did not even touch upon one of the most ubiquitous topics in real-world software development : version control!

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What kinds of 4-year universities can you transfer to from a community college?

Lots of people will try to stop you from even trying, it's important that you do notlisten to them. Statistically it's really, really, really, hard to get into an ivy league from a Community College. But it is NOT IMPOSSIBLE.
There are ways you can increase your chances at achieving this goal. 

1) Getting good grades... (duh)
A strong transcript is so important coming from a Community College. Don't listen to the people saying "WELL MY FRIEND GOT INTO STANFORD WITH A 3.1 GPA IN CC!!!" because they're most likely not telling the complete truth or are an outlier. Getting a good GPA should be your first priority. 

2) Get involved in your community!!
...I don't mean working at your local coffee shop or grocery store. Take an initiative to find a problem in your community, and try to solve it. This can come in the form of starting a charity, participating in town hall meetings, or even simply volunteering. Try and make your community a better place. :)

3) Find work in your field of interest.
Incessantly look for internship opportunities, jobs, or even conferences with people who are currently working in your field of interest. Find people with your dream-job on LinkedIn and send them a personal Email regarding your interest in the field. Offer your services for free, because you're not focused on finding an income but rather are looking for distinguishing experiences. 

4) Contact Admissions Early.
Reach out to the ivy league's Admissions and let them know you're interested in applying. Ask them for advice! You'd be surprised how accommodating the admissions board are at big universities. Tell them your story, and ask how you can maximize your chances of being accepted.

5) Write an Amazing Application.
I cannot stress the importance of having an amazing application essay. GET HELP ON YOUR ESSAY. Share your story, and make the essay personal. Stress what makes you a unique individual and directly show how you (personally) can positively impact their campus. 

Worst Case Scenario: The ivy league rejects you... You attend another awesome University with an exceptional work ethic, the ability to participate in a professional atmosphere, and the power of making your community a better place. 

You got this.

If you need any help transferring to your dream school and are at all confused about the process - we'd love to help you out at Klip Clap.

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The great examples of virtual reality in education

I’ll give you three great examples of virtual reality in education:

1. English Class

Let say, today’s class is about creative writing, such as poems or short stories. We’ve learned all the technical things at school, but one thing we never learn is about how to get the inspiration, how to “feel” our story. Virtual reality will help us to get out of our seats at school without leaving our class. You can use Google Cardboard to show your students beautiful scenery, such as. When they take off the Google Cardboard, they’ll get a new experience, and a new experience leads to a new ideas.

So, there goes they’re writing their best. :)

This could be a great source if your students need some inspiration.

2. Science Class

YouTube is a charm. You can find a lot of 360 videos related to Science Class. You canenter a human’s body and learn how it’s going on, watch a total eclipse(remember when we use balls and flashlight to do this in our class?), floating in space and visiting planets.

3. History Class

Write “Pyramid 360” on YouTube, and you can finally visit Pyramid with Google Cardboard. Or, if you want to teach about the history of the States, you can simply write “Name+of+a+City 360” on YouTube. Though it doesn’t show the old version of the city, well, that’s the task of a teacher to explain something like,

“Could you please turn around? Do you see the bookstore? It was actually…. where a war began… 

Morever, Education is another area which has adopted virtual reality for teaching and learning situations. The advantage of this is that it enables large groups of students to interact with each other as well as within a three dimensional environment.

It is able to present complex data in an accessible way to students which is both fun and easy to learn. Plus these students can interact with the objects in that environment in order to discover more about them.

For example, astronomy students can learn about the solar system and how it works by physical engagement with the objects within. They can move planets, see around stars and track the progress of a comet. This also enables them to see how abstract concepts work in a three dimensional environment which makes them easier to understand and retain.

This is useful for students who have a particular learning style, e.g. creative or those who find it easier to learn using symbols, colors and textures.

One ideal learning scenario is medicine: virtual reality can be used to develop surgery simulations three dimensional images of the human body which the students can explore. This has been used in medical schools both in the UK and abroad.

The use of virtual reality in medicine is discussed in a series of separate articles in the virtual reality and healthcare section.

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The future of virtual reality in education

Virtual reality in education is the new hype and it’s changing the meaning of a sentence I love since I was a kid: “We love books because they are the greatest escape. That is because our own minds eye is the purest form of virtual reality.” Virtual reality will provide immersive experience for learning, but I see some signals it will come at a slower pace than you expect. This is what I’m going to explore in this post.
Virtual reality ramifications in the educational sector are a reason for all the attention it’s receiving. Virtual reality, similarly to distance learning technologies, will enable learning from remote, when travelling, when a teacher is not available, at any time in the day (or night) and at your own pace. In addition to online learning, students will be transported to another programmed world through the use of feedback headsets, tactile gloves and motion sensors. It will become a supplement to traditional methods. Virtual reality in education promises to deliver the best aspects of both real classrooms and online platforms: avatars, educator’s assistance, voice and video, PowerPoint, collaborative technologies, chat and messaging, ability to record and replay lectures etc.…
It sounds all correct, but we have evidences that past innovations, although really amazing, failed to substantially change education: cinema, computers, tablets and apps, online and distance learning. A movie is able to immerse the audience in another world, but our schools mainly use movies when it comes to teach a foreign language. Ironically a language is mainly about “listening”, a movie is about “watching”. Yes, but computers, labs and interactive whiteboards changed dramatically the scenario. And now that tablets and apps kicked in, the revolution is completed. Unfortunately, this is false. In 2015, OECD examined the impact of school technology on international test results, in 70 countries, and made two “incredible” discoveries:

• The world is still unplugged
• Students who use computers very frequently at school get worse results

This is frustrating. Our kids and teens spend less than half an hour per day at school on a computer, the diffusion of technology helping education is extremely dis-homogenous and it does not even work. The diffusion can be about the cost of the equipment, but there must be something in the approach, in the way we use technology. According to Saomya Saxena, an educational blog author at Ed Tech Review, the effect of technology on education depends on the design of instruction: the design of the instruction accounts for more variance in how and why people learn than the technology used to deliver the instruction. In other words, technology is just one ingredient in the recipe of education; so if learning is not effective, it’s not easy to separate the role of technology from the other elements; sometimes technology is fine, the rest is poor.
So I decided to search for some definitions of “learning” and they are mainly around the concepts of permanently changing the behavior through experience, instruction, or study. I feel comfortable in adding that learning to me “is about gaining the ability to use your head to face any situation”. Merely studying the concepts is a mean to an end. Today technology is able to provide all the information you need in just a picosecond and in engaging ways, but I guess this is not sufficient to learn how to apply proper reasoning. Static technology is making lifelong learning a practicality, but the results are not as good as expected. According to constructivism theories, learning is an active process of constructing rather than acquiring knowledge; and instruction is a process of supporting that construction rather than communicating knowledge. In the next paragraph, you will see that virtual reality fits well with it.
So, virtual reality is enough to learn better? What does learn better mean? Understand better? Remember longer?
The first comment is really about learning through experience. The pedagogies of constructivism and game-based learning show that children learn best by doing or by being. They should not just read about history, they should be historians. They should not just study archaeology, they should be archaeologists. Using state of the art graphics, which are comparable to video games, virtual reality can educate as well as entertain students through uniquely realistic recreation of a time period that no longer exists or locations that are difficult to reach. I write about Google Expeditions in the next section, and that’s a clear example.
Game based education is another relevant topic. It’s more fun and engaging. Bringing a video game-like experience to students and presenting material in a more engaging way, will help get a new generation of students get excited about topics they think are boring. Somebody thinks that virtual reality in education is better suited for matters related to visual skills, for ex. it would be better for arts than for math. I’m not sure about this point, there are ways to visualize also a math or chemical formula and make it alive. Virtual reality headsets already allow students to move planets, see around stars and track the progress of a comet. This also enables them to see how abstract concepts work in a three dimensional environment which makes them easier to understand and retain. 3D interaction with objects can help students to understand difficult theoretical concepts through applications that would visually represent those topics. Since VR is a computer simulation of a natural environment, interaction with a 3D model is more natural than browsing through 2D webpages looking for information. The zSpace platform described ahead is a good example of these concepts.
The fact virtual reality in education is interactive brings with it collaboration. Thecollaborative aspect of learning is crucial. In fact, immersion, imagination and interaction, are the three fundamental features of virtual reality. The advantage is that it enables large groups of students to interact with each other as well as within a three dimensional environment. Much of collaborative learning strategy is built on VR technologies and allows learners to discuss and solve visualization problems in a group. In other words, students can help each other, investigate a problem, propose and debate solutions, learn from experienced peers etc.… But the interesting point is that virtual reality can maximize also the opposite of collaboration, individualism. Virtual reality allows student to progress at their own pace without being held back at a class schedule while also motivating them to learn. The motivation comes from being the protagonists of their learning session. It would be like a movie in which the student is playing the protagonist. Compared to the classic situation where students sit at the back of classroom and passively assist to a lesson, virtual reality can improve both participation and retention.
The last benefit, is often undervalued, virtual reality changes the methods of rewarding students. Virtual reality is going to transform the traditional concept of incentives in the learning process. Students engage step by step to achieve intermediate results and complete their understanding; there’s gaming component in this approach. This kind of rewards engages the brain and keep learners questing for more. Emotional rewards cannot be ignored either. They make a huge impact on students’ desire to study. There are rewards for achievements. Failures are generally ignored. This is the opposite of standard education where success is neutral and failure is punished.
My full post, including some remarkable examples with videos is here
Why virtual reality in education is the next big thing
Morever, it also has the following characteristics:

• It's not new. Some consumer-grade experiences will have higher fidelity sensors, but otherwise... We've been doing virtual reality for targeted instruction (especially military simulation) for more than 20 years. As other answers have pointed out, it is useful for simulating dangerous activities so you don't die doing them. Let's hope our children don't need that!
• It's not useful for general education. For school children it may provide an interesting distraction, but will not be adopted wholesale for the next 20 years. It's too expensive. It provides little educational value they couldn't get in other cheaper ways. And the success of existing computers in the classroom has not been stellar, other than exposing kids to computers to give them a head start after they graduate.
• It's not as cool as it looks for long. After the initial 'wow' wears out, it's just another thing. Some kids will love VR, if they get to play with it, not that it will educate them deeply. Some love computers, and particular programs they get to play with them. Some absolutely love specific movies, or books, or what have you. VR is just another thing.

As a friend just reminded me, VR can provide value in one significant area, learning performance-based skills.

For example, by capturing a tennis player performing different actions - perhaps even playing a match - you can  explore and experience it more fully with a VR rig. This in turn can help you learn physical skills which would be much harder to learn from 2D performances or reading. You can move to different positions to observe the same performance and understand every physical nuance. If you have appropriate sensors and cameras in the space you're in, your performance can be recorded and compared to a template with differences highlighted. It would be an interesting way to perfect a serve, for example.

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The future of college education

Online delivery.

We can now shop online, get a taxi on our phone, etc.

CD stores are now difficult to find, because internet delivery is just so cheap and convenient. 

If there is a way to use internet-based, satellite, or wireless communication technology, it will happen, and walking physically into a store or hailing a cab on the curb in the rain--it's not necessary anymore.

Clearly, this is already happening with online education.

Unbundling or disaggregation. 

Airlines used to fly the planes, clean them, fix them, and make and serve the food. 

Now they just fly the planes. The cleaning, repair, and food are all done by other companies.

(Examples could be multiplied.)

Why should the same vendor sell you courses, pay your teacher, offer you tutoring, counsel you to graduation, prepare you food, rent you a room?

Universities are already using content from other universities. How long before students buy data services from one school, get tutoring online, do some things face-to-face, etc.--cafeteria style?

Outsourcing.

X-rays are analyzed overseas. Call centers moved there long ago. Programmers can be hired for pennies on the dollar. Etc.

Does your professor need to be within ten square miles of you? Of course not.

Professional Saturation.

The need for lawyers has hit an end. Law school graduates now do temp work.

Ph.D.'s can't find teaching jobs: there are too many Ph.D.'s for every job.

We've made too many professionals. Demand didn't keep up.

Implications?

Only the first of these is really hitting hard. But the others are sure to follow. 

What happens to those industries that are shaken up by online, unbundling, and outsourcing?

Tower Records? Gone. Barnes and Noble? Hanging on by a thread.

Airline companies? Bankrupt and merging, except for the carriers with the lowest prices and the least overhead. 

Professions lose their mystique when a degree doesn't get you a job.

Presumably, this will happen to education, too.

Colleges will close. Not the most elite. Likely not the cheapest. We will end up with the top 50 or 100 colleges, and then community colleges and for-profit colleges in strip malls (because of convenience). 

It's not pretty.

Will the new educational order be worse or better?

Do you enjoy downloading music and videos? I bet you do. 

Have you enjoyed a plane trip lately? I doubt it. Is the food on planes better? Yes. Is their crash rate lower? Yes. On-time performance? I doubt it. (I admit I haven't checked.) 

Do you enjoy calling a call center for support? I didn't think so.

It seems inevitable. Maybe I'm wrong. But powerful forces break up industries very rapidly.

To mix metaphors, higher ed is on life support.

Additionally, .and in a tech bubble you can get away with a lot of wishful thinking.  For example, you can convince yourself that taking free online classes can replace the experience of a brick-and-mortar university.  There are a lot of entry-level programming jobs out there that pay pretty well, and if you can talk your way through an interview based on the time you've spent at Coursera, well, who needs that degree, right?

But bubbles eventually pop and programmers get laid off.  Now there aren't nearly so many entry level jobs, and that's when the four-year degree starts paying off.  You've had four years to network with a much larger (and much more diverse) group of people, including professors.  Those people remember you and remember how you stood out.  And if you're on the market, they might know somebody who knows somebody and pass your name along.

You don't get anything like that in online courses.

When you're interviewing, now letters of recommendation start to matter.  Sure, you did pretty well with your last job, but maybe you were only there a year and maybe your supervisor wasn't giving you very difficult work.  If you're up against someone with a four-year degree they may be in the same boat with their industry LOR, but they still have a couple of professors writing letters for them, and the professors can can compare them to hundreds or thousands of other students they've known.  Maybe you've taken every course on compilers that EdX offers.  You might be up against the person who camped out in their prof's office hours trying to bolt a C++ compiler onto their C compiler assignment.  Sure, it never worked, but it's a great story and their professor will tell it well. 

So what's the future of college education?  Fewer tenure lines, more vocational classes, and a model that will continue to work well into the foreseeable future.

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The way to succeed in college

In response to your question, I  like to share with you a slew of proven efficient and effective  strategies for becoming a college success, and yet still have time for fun.

To me, navigating the college journey with success is just a matter of strategy and discipline!

Here we go:

1) First and foremost, have FUN and ENJOY your academic journey to the full tilt;

2)  Think about your career aspirations in the longer term, and also look  at your interests and hobbies, and explore how they can mesh together to  help you reach your fondest dreams;

3) Set long-range goals and  objectives – broken down into short-term, medium-term, and long-term  perspectives and covering the most important areas of your life, with  naturally academic pursuit as your top priority, followed by career  aspirations, physical health, financial wealth, mental development,  family relationships, social networking, recreational ventures  (including hobbies, interests, sports, vacations, etc.), and  spiritual  development (including contributions to society, volunteering, etc.).

This  is to ensure that you have the motivating image of your ultimate   success achievement right in front of you, to serve as your personal  driving force, so to speak;

4) Learn and embrace proven effective  study techniques, like SQ5R, 6W1H questioning toolkit, Cornell Method,   Index Card Strategy, graphical methods of note-taking and note-making  like idea-maps, cluster diagrams, graphic organisers that you can  readily use to navigate your more intensive school subjects with ease  and ace;

5) Make a quick study  the nature and structure of each  of your academic subjects so as to determine their significance, i.e.  understanding why you are studying them, and why they are important, in  tandem with the auspices of your career aspirations.

Once you have this forward-looking mental grasp, your studying becomes a total breeze for you;

6)  Understand that studying at college or university level is a different  ball game. It's a deliberate and disciplined process, and it involves  ten inter-connected, inter-dependent  and interactive stages:

• (i)  setting goals and attaining goals;
• (ii) managing priorities and executing tasks; 
• (iii) reading actively and selectively;
• (iv) gathering information and generating insights;
• (v) taking notes and  making notes;
• (vi) organsing information for fast recall;
• (vii) revising and rehearsing lessons; 
• (viii) preparing for test/exam;
• (ix) writing logically and creatively;
• (x)  managing stress and increasing energy;

7) Because your memory  retention and recall is a critical aspect of your ability to negotiate  your academic journey through college or university, make sure you pay  attention in class [this explains why goal setting is important, because  life goals and priorities direct your attention, like precise commands  present into the flight plan of a Tomahawk cruise missile homing onto a  predefined long-distance target!].

In reality, this is the most  critical, as it is the first stage of your information intake, which  science calls, " schema acquisition". Preferably, during the night  before class, you should run through the new lesson on your own to get a  gestalt feel or bird's eye view.

This is because, when you are  learning something new, your prior knowledge will always come into play  to make connections and create linkages.  More schema, more  understanding!

8) Also, make sure that you thoroughly understand  the content of all your class lectures; if not, you have to ask for  clarification or elucidation from your lecturers or professors.

To  me, the acid test for understanding something new is your ability to  explain the new concept to someone else, like your kid brother or even  your grandma. No puns intended;

8a) A tip for you: at the end of a  class lecture, always do a quick recap, review and reinforce,  preferably with mnemonics (I call ...

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Isha Arora, Student at Gndu University

Written May 9, 2016

Being a student at college ,I can surely give you few tips:

1.First and foremost,if you want to succeed at academics,attend your lectures regularly and keep pace with what is being taught in class,try to interact in the class,raise some questions ,try to answer some even if you think answers may be wrong.That will help in building up your confidence.

2.Secondly along with studies try to participate in some extra curricular activities which interest you.That will help making you all rounder.

3.Try to interact with people around and make some connections,by people i mean your seniors as well your classmates,that will help you to learn from others experience.

4.Participate in at least one sport to keep yourself  healthy.

5.Seek for some internship ,that will help you to gain some real time experience and work on some awesome projects that will help you stand out of the crowd.

6.Lastly,have fun,go  have some outings and trips with your friends,you will learn lot of things besides we live college life only once.

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