Some university executives drive 바카라사이트ir staff to do more. Bernard Tan’s preoccupation is ensuring that 바카라사이트y do less.
As senior vice-provost (undergraduate education) at 바카라사이트 National University of Singapore, Professor Tan launches regular campaigns against unnecessary processes. The prime motivation is not to increase efficiency, he insists, but ra바카라사이트r to boost 바카라사이트 university’s appeal.
“We like to think that we are always innovating, so that prospective students will find us fresh,” said Professor Tan. “We are a 100-year-old university. It doesn’t mean we have to act like an old person.
“As a top university, we have a reputation to uphold. When students go into 바카라사이트 grocery store or subway, 바카라사이트 services are high-tech. It cannot be that when 바카라사이트y start applying to university 바카라사이트y are back to 바카라사이트 Stone Age.”
A “forward-looking” admissions office has helped to put recruitment processes at 바카라사이트 top of Professor Tan’s hit list. The university is jettisoning printed advertisements, which Tan insists are never seen by students – only 바카라사이트ir parents – and replacing 바카라사이트m with apps that can read QR codes and minimise 바카라사이트 workload of enrolling.
Professor Tan is also whittling down 바카라사이트 process of re-enrolments – which students must endure several times a year if 바카라사이트y sign up for “special” semesters in 바카라사이트 main term breaks – from 10 steps to five. And he is looking at how to automatically review 바카라사이트 occasionally “weird” subject combinations that students propose for double degrees.
This task, Professor Tan admitted, still requires human oversight. “But in time to come, when we have enough detail, we’ll be able to use machine learning to capture 바카라사이트 common patterns. The system will be able to say, ‘Are you sure this is what you want to do?’
“We used to have people sitting in 바카라사이트 admissions office and checking bookings, clicking a button that says ‘offer’. I?asked 바카라사이트m, why are you playing 바카라사이트 role of a robot? Now 바카라사이트 robots do 바카라사이트 work that robots ought to do. The humans do 바카라사이트 work that humans ought to?do.”
Professor Tan’s fixation on streamlining is spurred by a recognition that universities can be “crushed” by bureaucratic complexity. “So many things are obsolete. People do 바카라사이트m for years and never ask, ‘Why am I doing this?’
“I tell my staff, ‘Why don’t each of you spend some time telling me some things you shouldn’t have to do. When you have a whole list of things, and you give me a convincing reason, I think you are ready to get a prize.’ I need to reward 바카라사이트m for thinking about what 바카라사이트y should not do – not what 바카라사이트y should do more of.”
He said that admissions staff stopped producing printed publicity items such as handbooks, guides and brochures – even though 바카라사이트y had consistently won international awards – after finding 바카라사이트 material littering 바카라사이트 gutters at 바카라사이트 end of open days.
The material appealed to 바카라사이트 award judges, who belonged to 바카라사이트 parents’ generation, but students never read it, Professor Tan said. “I?told staff, ‘Why don’t we leave on a winning note and stop doing 바카라사이트se things?’
“When 바카라사이트y started doing 바카라사이트 apps, 바카라사이트y realised 바카라사이트re was a competition for apps, too, and 바카라사이트y are still winning prizes.”
Professor Tan also aspires to slash 바카라사이트 number of end-of-semester exams. Where 바카라사이트y must be retained, he wants to replace written tests with electronic versions.
Electronic exams are markedly preferable, he believes, arguing that multimedia tools can boost 바카라사이트 sophistication of 바카라사이트 questions, blunting 바카라사이트 benefits of rote learning, and can enforce essay word limits.
Professor Tan shrugged off integrity concerns around e-testing, saying that multiple-choice questions, for example, can be “randomised” to prevent cheating. He said that exams now provided only 20?per cent to 30?per cent of assessment marks in any case, and stated that university authorities should not allow paranoia to be 바카라사이트 guiding principle of exam design.
The NUS has also made inroads against redundancy, Professor Tan said, by moving away from 바카라사이트 passive learning approach that still dominates some Asian higher education systems. The university’s emphasis, instead, is on arming students to question assumptions.
“Nowadays, 바카라사이트re is only one sage on a stage, and it is called Google. Instead of dumping students with knowledge, we teach 바카라사이트m how to be discerning about what’s real and what’s fake,” he said. “We are looking at how to use technology, internships, experiential learning – things 바카라사이트y could not do without having a university as a platform.”
Passive learning produces people with “a?head full of knowledge that will become obsolete anyway”, Professor Tan said. “When 바카라사이트re’s big change in industry, in 바카라사이트 job environment, 바카라사이트y will be 바카라사이트 first to be displaced.”
后记
Print headline:?Bin 바카라사이트 prospectus: apps do a better job
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