Learning About Outsourcing in College?

nial-in-a-box asks: "I just started my software engineering course today at Loyola University Chicago and I found out that I will be learning hands-on about outsourcing. My classmates and I will be outsourcing parts of projects to students at another university, and then those students will be doing the same for us. This seems like it could be rather interesting. Has anyone out there been in a class like this before? Any other ideas on how to effectively teach about the implications of outsourcing (especially pointing out that outsourcing doesn't necessarily mean no jobs upon graduation)?"

Comments

Sounds like...

[cs02rm0]

...a lot of documentation... *yawn*

To get that real feeling of outsourcing..

[hookedup]

Make sure the college you're doing the work with doesnt have any english speaking students.

sure

[pizza_milkshake]

they could outsource the entire class (except for "upper management", i.e. the prof). the students would have a few weeks to prep foreigners on what they would do in various situations, and then the professor could teach the foreigners via conference calls while the students go look for other classes.

It's the new cruelty..er..curriculum

[isaac]

This is part of the new curriculum being phased in at CS programs around the country. The next phase will have you deposit your diploma into a shredder for recycling after you cross the stage. You'll then be loaded onto a container ship and be sent to a reprocessing facility in China, where you'll become something useful, like soylent green.

-Isaac

Not realistic.

[BigChigger]

If you want to make it realistic, you have to have the situation where you are NOT receiving any work from the other college. So you and your collegues get to do no work, and receive an F in the class.

BC

Nothing new

[Anonymous Coward]

Even though I haven't been in college for many years, one of the young women in CS 101 with me was a master of outsourcing. Jodi Jackson would always outsource her programming assignments to others in the class. These chumps would happily work overtime for a chance to have her smile at them and perhaps even sit with them for lunch one day. When you think about those Indian schmucks happily working themselves to dust for crumbs from American companies, you can see the parallel. Jodi was ahead of her time.

Good lord Jodi was hot...

zerg

[Lord Omlette]

You're doing it wrong. The best way to teach these kids about outsourcing is:

• Make it a mandatory course that you need to graduate. No substitutions or exemptions.
• Make it a really really hard course w/ lots of homework and studying and tests and stuff.
• No matter how well they do in the class, give the guy who did the absolute least work an A and give everyone else an F at the end.

Even more realistic

[raider_red]

To make it even more realistic, they should get a bunch of clueless business administration students to come in and grade your work.

You're in the wrong class

[pyrrhonist]

I just started my software engineering course today at Loyola University Chicago and I found out that I will be learning hands-on about outsourcing.

You're in the wrong class. This is actually one of the Management courses. The SE course is down the hall.

I just thought you'd like to know before you get too into it.

On second thought, if you couldn't figure out what room you're supposed to be in, you'd be a good manager. Nevermind.