As I have mentioned in an earlier post, I am now also a student at the University of British Columbia, in Vancouver. Or rather on the net.
Instead of watching football (US=Soccer) on TV, sipping a glass of Californian wine (why not?), lying in my sofa like a dead octopus, I am trying to decipher a 54-page document, written in a foreign language (English in this case), and dealing with obscure digital metrics…
A bit exagerated, I must admit. Still, I have already learned a few lessons.
In the first place, the Canadian examiner is only willing to test your knowledge. The questions are all relevant to the lesson, asked in the order of the guide, with simple calculations. No trap, no re-shuffle of the questions, no tricky to-be-deducted-with-your-own-logic calculations, no out-of-lesson problem asked in preparation of future topics.
Basically, no French examiner. A fair Canadian one.
It took me an hour at least to remember this basic fact: the key point here is to check your knowledge, not to evaluate your capacity in assessing complicated issues picking relevant parts of the lessons.
I appreciate the fact that the UBC is only willing to deliver the award to those deserving it, instead of getting rid of those not deserving it.
Different ways of seeing things. Success for as many as possible vs. rescue for a happy few.
I think this tells a lot about the way we handle innovation or even the economic crisis.
Instead of trying potential new ideas again and again, thus generating a few positive initiatives, one often tries rather to prevent failures, and in the end achieves very little.
I do believe in positive thinking. That Is why I am happy to try ever again. And to be evaluated by a North-American tutor…
Data Elicitation 