Introduction
It's with great pleasure I am writing this piece of article to give feedback about how the academy has been since its inception. Thanks to the Steemit team for giving me the opportunity. And in this article, I will do justice to the context based on my observation over time.
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My Journey in the Academy
I've been a part of the Academy since its inception. I was a student in Season 1 through Season 3. It was in season 4 that I was appointed as a professor and my job picked race throughout the season and I was active as one of the professors in the just concluded season (5). In essence, I have been part of the system from the beginning and I can say, I have a lot to share when it comes to giving feedback in the Academy.
I am a proud
product of the Academy and I am grateful to the Steemit team. At the time when I joined Steemit, I was just a regular crypto trader and teacher, gathering people on social media and teaching them the basics of crypto trading. The Academy has expanded my sight in the realm of crypto trading, cryptography, and blockchain in general. I've greatly improved through the things that I've learned in the Academy. Let's proceed to the feedback properly.
What Worked Well with the Academy
The Purpose
If I am not mistaken, the primary purpose to which the academy was created is to enlighten its members more about cryptocurrency. As such, the academy has been able to achieve this, many users who have been writers in other fields before have been equipped with adequate lectures in the crypto ecosystem and those that can't say much about cryptocurrency before joining the academy are now somewhat professionals. Even some of them now teach crypto off-chain, are involved in trading, participating in different crypto projects having acquired the lecture from the Academy.
Research and Creativity
With the implementation of strict plagiarism rules, students have developed research skills to produce quality content based on their study both in lectures on-chain and off-chain. In addition, it has helped many users to be more creative when responding to the questions in a homework task, and this creativity is not limited to the Academy, it has helped many users in other communities on Steemit and beyond.
Reward for Hardworking
The Steemit crypto academy has remained a place where genuine users are rewarded for their commitment to producing quality content. Surely, students would get upvotes as long as they have been able to hit the pass mark of each course. The likes of Weekly Top 3 and Superstar of the Season which come with more rewards encourage students to give their all to producing outstanding content. Thanks to the reward scheme.
What did not Work well
Expired Homework Entries
Recently, there were a lot of expired homework task entries without curation, to be frank, this distorts the Academy's page seeing the long screenshot of the professor's review appearing as the cover page of students that make a repost. I hope there would be a system that adequately takes care of curation and keep the trending page of the Academy with fresh articles and not reposts, I know the team can do it.
Requirement for Participation
The initiatives like club5050, club75 and club100 are great ones, and I don't have anything against it, in the end, it benefits all members that keep to it in building one's account for the future, also, to help STEEM's price in the long run which in return benefits all. But the 150 STEEM power up requirement in the entry level is a bit hard, if a new user has not been participating in the Academy or getting support from the community, it would be hard to meet up with that. In addition, users can easily buy to power up but things are really hard in some parts of the world. I think something can be done about that.
Deprivation of Rewards amongst Levels
Students are allowed to attend any homework task and I have seen advanced class writing beginners' homework tasks. In the long run, the real beginners at that level are being deprived of their rewards maybe as the weekly top 3 or even Superstar of the season in the long run. It should be mainly for beginners and not disturbed by advanced students.
The reward of Professors
I have not added this because I am one of them but based on my observation over the previous months. I highlighted I have been part of the Academy since its inception and I can say professor's reward has dropped drastically as compared to the first season down to the last season (5) and students' reward has increased if not much but it has, those who started with the academy would understand what I am saying. Presenting lectures is a work of days and reviewing homework entries takes many hours at a stretch per day, I mean quality reviews. See how this has affected the Academy;
- Capable hands failed to respond to calls for recruitment of new professors. The applications have dropped drastically as compared to what it's been earlier, it used to be highly competitive.
- I have interacted with some in the category above and many preferred to remain a student because they tend to get more.
- Professors now write homework tasks to cover the loophole in the quest to build their accounts or meet up with a particular target.
- Some professors write homework tasks that can't contest with other students' entry and rake high scores. I've seen task entries that don't worth scoring even 4.5/10 but ended up scoring higher because they are professors. I've not marked one of such before, because I am always strict with grading as much as possible regardless of the writer's status.
- On average, one should be spending around 20-30 mins to properly review one homework task entry but I've seen cases where a professor spend even around 3mins on a post because they have many entries to review and probably thinking of doing other things to at least get more rewards, it's just like copy and paste, and only the favorite names get favored in that condition. I followed some professors when I was a student in the Academy and it's pathetic when I see such a situation, and this shows it's been happening for some time.
Above are a few things I can see it's not working well at the Academy for now. And I believe it deserves some special treatment.
What I would do to Improve the Academy and Changes I'd make
Reduction of minimum STEEM Power Up for Entry Level
For the entry level into the Academy, I would reduce the minimum Steem Power up required for participation in the entry level from 150 SP to 100 SP, as such to some extent, this would be easy for some users to cater for. And many other users would join the learning platform.
Fixed Level of Participation
I believe the beginners level should be mainly for beginners. There should be a system whereby we would
not allow intermediate/advanced class students to participate in beginners' homework tasks, as such the beginners won't be deprived of their rewards. Or higher-level students can be allowed to participate but won't be considered for rewards like weekly top 3 and superstar of the season as it should be reserved only for beginners. Meanwhile, intermediate/advanced students should be allowed to participate and share rewards in their levels with no hindrance.
Extra Rewards
I don't know if this is still existing but there should be an extra percentage (maybe 1%, 2% and so on) for students participating in the status available such that rewards for club75 is higher than club5050 student while club100 have more than club75. It can be even little but it would go a long way to motivating students. Take for instance, a top 3 candidate gets 10% for participating in club5050 while another candidate gets 11% for being in club75 and so on.
More Accounts to Handle Curation
In my opinion, some @booming accounts can be brought in to handle lower levels curation. I realized their resources would be quick to draining off but it can be of help to some extent if maybe 30% of their voting power can be used to handle a curation, done in collaboration (maybe 2). I don't know how effective it would be. Just thinking out loud.
The rewards of Professors and Disciplinary Committee
I hope the rewards of the professors can be reviewed maybe back to the percentage it was in one of the earliest seasons, it would attract more capable hands to compete to join the team and contribute immensely to the Academy, likewise, existing one's would be encouraged. In addition, the professors should have a disciplinary committee amongst themselves, these ones would look into professors that are involved in any irregularities, sanction such professors accordingly, and contain the situation, this would make the professors more diligent.
Development of Curriculum
There is a need for the development of curriculum, in the long run, this is a long-term plan. Instead of beginners' fixed courses, we can develop a curriculum for that and the name can be changed to Entry level where users from Achievement 4 and with certain SP and other requirements can start their journey in the academy. It is entry level and professors in that level would be committed to producing lectures for students based on the distributed curriculum between them every season, thereby we would eliminate fixed courses and facilitate quality learning/teaching in the grassroot.
Conclusion
It is a privilege I have enjoyed to writing this piece of an article today. All in this piece is based on my observation which I deem fit to include in the feedback. Nothing in this article is targeted at any individual but a pure review from my heart which I duly followed, and which might not be equal in others' perspectives, it's all good, we all have our different perspective of seeing things. Thanks to the Steemit team for the opportunity once again.
Written by;
@fredquantum
Nice review, It's almost as if you read my mind. I really hope the next season will be more interesting with fewer bottle-necks
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Thank you, @block.kids. I believe you have spent some time in the Academy and it would be good to see you write feedback based on your experience. Do not assume other articles have said it all, add yours and it might be useful when the team would be considering the feedback received. Once again, thank you.
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Your observations are quite valid, I agree with all of them.
Professor earnings are quite low compared to many student earnings. Each professor must be delegated at least 20,000 SP.
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Thanks for stopping by and for sharing your opinion on this article, @tht.
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Professor @fredquantum, I appreciate your feedback. Indeed you wrote your feedback from your heart. Thanks for not just writing from the Professor's angle alone.
However, I disagree with your first statement from the highlighted statements.
A times, there are some topics in the beginner class that a student may like and wish to take part in. If such a student is an advanced student, with that rule, s/he will not have access to it.
Also, there are some tasks in the advanced class that require the use of software that often not compatible with some laptops or so, in that case, students do lower courses like intermediate or beginners courses.
So if we go by that rule, the entry in the crypto academy will greatly reduce.
However, if the academy wants to go by that, then increasing the courses in each level can also be a way out. By that, students won't have reason to go to the lower classes to make entry.
Kind regards,
@msquaretwins.
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Thanks for sharing your opinion on this, @msquaretwins. There are two things up there, in the highlighted paragraph, which comes with OR and in that part, I have highlighted that users can be allowed to participate in all levels but the special beginners' rewards shouldn't be deprived of, in such a case where it's been taken away by the advanced level students.
How would a beginner feel if someone that has won a superstar in the advanced tier comes back to win it again in the beginners' tier? Or end up winning the top 3 week in week out while the beginners are left stranded. This is very possible if things continue the way it is. The beginners' should be credited for winnings at their level and not be deprived in any way. I hope you can look back at that section of the article again and see the two things I've discussed there, and not limit to first part alone. It's feedback anyway and the Steemit team would make the right decision in the end. Thanks once again.
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Professor @fredquantum, thanks for your response. Yea, and that's why I specifically direct it to your first statement. I know there are two things up there, and there may be acceptance of either one of the statements. I just pointed out my opinion, and direct consequence of the acceptance of your first statement.
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Alright, brother. Well understood. Have a great day.
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Greetings teacher. Your post is very kind and human.
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Thank you for the time spared on this, @edy.lobo.
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Admittedly your thinking covers all students at crypto Academy, I totally agree with your views. But for students earning more prizes from professors, this may correct. But not all students, because there are some students who are only able to complete 1-2 posts per week. With last season's reward, we will only get a total of $40 or $50, this is only for advanced students. Honestly, sir, making a crypto Academy post is very difficult, we think it deserves a greater reward than a Diary game post.
I totally agree with you that the community must empower professors to be better with greater rewards, so that the professor's fatigue will pay off.
Forgive me if I'm wrong, and please correct me.
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Thanks for sharing your view on my feedback, the time spared on it is well-appreciated. In addition, you have made a valid point based on your experience in the Academy.
I'm not in the right position to say you are wrong. This is a decentralized platform and you have just shared your opinion. Do have a great time over there, @daiky69.
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@fredquantum, well delivered. You share my opinion though I couldn't bring them on the table because of my absence from season 5 and non qualification for Club5050 150SP.
These following listed points by you were just important to be neglected:
In all, the essence of the Academy which is to enlighten it's members still remains top notch, but alot more still needed to be done, hence the need for the Summary feedback.
Thanks for sharing Prof.
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It's nice to have you stopped by on this article. With no doubt, you have been one of the active and consistent students in the last few seasons. It's quite surprising to see you being absent in the last season.
In this piece you have written, you have tried as much as possible to summarize some of your feedback. I hope to see you strive hard to start participating in the Academy again.
No doubt, the Academy has achieved that so far. Kudos to all that contributed. Thanks for the time spared, @xkool24.
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This is one pathetic thing I have been observing in the academy. Most times I always feel so bad that good gradings are not awarded to the persons that deserve them. If this very issue is tackled, the standard of the academy will be greatly revamped.
Most times I see the speed at which tasks are being graded, I always wonder if the Profs are using 10G speed to grades the tasks. But getting to see the reality of it, most grades are just being distributed to persons with specific country tags ..
There are so many Professors, able ones, who stepped down from the Prof role because of the great decline in the reward given to them. All i feel the academy needs to bring back is the standard they started with
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It's quite interesting to see you share a few things on some parts of my feedback. The Academy has been able to achieve a lot based on its aim of creation and I believe the little loopholes would be taken care of by the team as time goes on. Thanks for stopping by, @davosimple.
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