Given the importance and expense of Harvard classes, significant time and effort should be put into optimizing the process. The Q Guide and courses.cs50.net–the main tools used by undergraduates to help select courses–should be as efficient as possible. Here are five changes that will take Harvard course selection to the next level:
1. Filtering responses by concentration
Concentrators and non-concentrators will obviously have different experiences in a given course. Concentrators in the subject area may spend less time on class work and get better grades. The Q Guide should allow the user to filter responses by concentrator and by non-concentrators so that students can better understand the what a class will require.
2. What prerequisites does this class actually require?
While some courses claim background is necessary, the enrolled students may argue otherwise. For example, Economics 1127 says in the course description requirements include Math 21a, Math 21b, and Stat 104. As a student in the class, I can speak to the fact that having CS50 is much more useful than knowledge of the three listed. Students, in addition to professors and teaching fellows, should be allowed to give more detail regarding specific, Harvard-taught prerequisites.
3. Evaluate at different stages
How students view a class might change over time, both during the course and after. Including mid-semester and end-of-semester evaluations would provide a better approximation of the in-course experience. Additionally, students should be able to write-in to the Q Guide in a special section indicates how this course helped them down the road.
4. Vote up helpful responses
Sites such as Reddit and Stack Overflow allow users to vote responses up and down, allowing the community to take ownership of the commentary. This would push the most helpful comments to the top of the list of responses.
5. What is this class a prerequisite for?
Professors should include in their course descriptions how their courses fit into Harvard curricula. A course like Stat 104 meets the Statistics and Economics requirements, but also helps you out if you’re premed. Courses can also seem more attractive when their descriptions help the user understand how they map to other higher-level courses.
These are just a few suggestions. Comments on others ways we could could experiment with the Q Guide are welcome!