Students are not interested in learning mere theory
The formulas are not seen necessary nor linked to their study area or future job
Theory that is not used will be forgotten quickly. In a few years students won't even remember if a specific topic was covered or not
Estonian IT College is focused to applied higher education
Idea
Have students do practical work, configure servers and services
Involve more experienced students in teaching of others, using blogs, forums, wikis, etc
The tasks students are going to solve have to be associated with the practical applicability of the theoretical knowledge
Problems with practical classes
Complex labs are difficult to setup
Example: E-mail lab needs 2 preconfigured servers + two additional servers will be configured during the lab
Example: DNS lab needs working infrastructure - hierachy of servers
Example: for Windows 2008 R2 labs we will need 64bit capable machines
Students can't setub lab infrastructure at home because complexity and high demands to the lab hardware
Problems with practical classes
Have students to do practical work, configure servers and services
Involve more experienced students in teaching and coaching of others, using collaboration environments like blogs, forums, wikis, etc. This will motivate more expierenced students and decreases lecturers workload
All the tasks that students are going to solve have to be associated with the practical applicability of the theoretical knowledge
