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[sevenlayermuddle]

I read a lot about students being taught remotely, for obvious reasons.

But I can’t help wondering, how can that work?

In my own 1970s degree course, at one of our centuries-old Universities, the morning was usually lectures.  That could probably be done remotely.

But the afternoons were usually labs... stretching a piece of steel in a machine til it snapped, or producing a 3D engineering drawing with a big wooden set square and an easel, or doing sound measurements in an anechoic chamber.     One lab area even had a high tension line hung from the ceiling with ceramic insulators, reminiscent of Frankenstein movies.   

How can any of that work ‘remotely’, and produce graduates with similar experience?

Enlightenment welcome.

[Black Sheep]

You Tube. 

[sevenlayermuddle]

You Tube. 

So you’d be happy to be operated on by a surgeon, who’d never operated on live patients or even dead ones, but had seen somebody else do it on Youtube?

[Black Sheep]

No .... but I'd be happy to see, "stretching a piece of steel in a machine til it snapped, or producing a 3D engineering drawing with a big wooden set square and an easel, or doing sound measurements in an anechoic chamber." 

[sevenlayermuddle]

 I do ‘get’ your point BS, let’s not fall out.

But sticking with the example of stretching these steel rods til they snapped, as an electronics guy, they were of entertainment value.      But others in these same labs went onto Civil and Mechanical Engineering.  I’d personally feel happier driving over a bridge designed by an engineer who’s previously experienced real-life failure in a laboratory...

Having said all that, I’ve no idea what actually happens in labs for modern graduate courses.   In my day, in electronics, an example might have been using big old oscilloscopes to plot the frequency/phase response of an amplifier, then being asked to compare and explain the measurements vs expected theoretical behaviour.   If that amplifier were the front end of a DSL modem, such experience might still be relevant....

[Alex Atkin UK]

I would not be surprised if the hands-on experience is limited these days.  I know even in school, science was drastically watered down for me compares to what I've heard from generations before.  I know of people older than me who did computer programming at school, not when I attended they didn't.

I did an Electrical Engineering short course and the practical lessons were kinda scary in how simplistic they were.  Watching what electricians have to deal with in the real world on Youtube, there is no way it prepared us for that.

Disclaimer, I did miss a lot of practical lessons due to my health problems really kicking in at that point but all we had to do was show examples of wiring up and get it signed off in the workbook, so I know what I would have done had I attended fully.  I also passed all the exams despite this.

[Weaver]

It does very much depend on what you’re doing. I chose Theoretical Physics which meant that I had one day a week in the Spread Eagle instead of in the labs like everyone else.   

Recently I have been watching a lot of superb Physics videos on YouTube and I could learn everything I need for a higher degree from that, arguably wouldn’t need to go to university. The only value to me would be some help from a human when you are stuck.

[sevenlayermuddle]

The point is that it rather depends on what you are doing. I did Theoretical Physics which meant that I didn’t do any lab work after four terms, and so after that I had one day a week down the Spread Eagle instead. 

Electronics required physics lessons too.   I’ve been trying to figure out why I can’t recall many examples of University physics labs, maybe you’ve hit the nail on the head.

I would not be surprised if the hands-on experience is limited these days.  I know even in school, science was drastically watered down for me compares to what I've heard from generations before.  I know of people older than me who did computer programming at school, not when I attended they didn't.

I did an Electrical Engineering short course and the practical lessons were kinda scary in how simplistic they were.  Watching what electricians have to deal with in the real world on Youtube, there is no way it prepared us for that.

Much I agree with there.   

I remember a school chemistry teacher giving unofficial advice on construction of safer home-made fireworks.   In those days, an eight year old could walk into a chemist and ask for a bag of weed killer, a bag of sugar, and some matches.  We’d get served, no questions asked.  Old teacher’s advice at least reduced the risks of any mischief we might get up to.

I recently had an electrician in the house for a day, doing some work.   He taught me quite a lot that I had missed in my own education restricted to ‘fiddly bits’ of electronics.   Not least that, for all these years, I’d not been tightening terminal screws anywhere near tight enough.

[Alex Atkin UK]

Years back when my modem and router (PC) got fried when our chimney got hit by lightening, I discovered the reason the surge protector did sod-all was due to the "electrician" putting a single piece of earth sheathing around both conductors, they had managed to screw it into the sheathing instead of the conductors.

Watching Youtube its good to see how now they are supposed to test earth resistance from each outlet which should catch this sort of thing where it was probably making minimal contact due to splitting the sheathing from the pressure, but not making nearly enough contact do its job properly.

[sevenlayermuddle]

I too have seen some amazing examples of work by ‘professional’ electricians.

Favourite was a fluorescent  light fitting in the garage of a house I bought, with a switch by the up and over door at the front, and another switch by the door to garden at the back.   Wiring two-way switches generally involves a 3 core cable.  He’d obviously run out of that,  and had used ordinary twin and earth, with earth sufficing as the  third conductor.  Conscientiously and in line with his teachings, he’d also connected the same ‘earth’ core to the earth terminal in the light fitting, so for some settings of the switches, the metal body was at mains live potential.

It all ‘worked’, the light came on and the light went out, when either switch was operated.  But eventually I had to change the bulb  and immediately felt a familiar ‘tingle’ when I climbed on a stool and touched the fitting.