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I am not Jeremy but I have taken part in the current course and also took some lessons by Siraj (who also does lessons at udacity), Andrew NG, and Karpathy. I

I am not Jeremy but I have taken part in the current course and also took some lessons by Siraj (who also does lessons at udacity), Andrew NG, and Karpathy. I think all of them are awesome teachers. Like Siraj's lessons, the fastai course is full of practical examples, whereas Ng/Karpathy's courses are more theoretical. What makes the fast.ai course unique compared to Siraj (who covers a lot of topics very briefly) is that Jeremy delves into depth, taking a long time explaining things, so you have a lot of opportunities to understand what's going on. In the 2018 course there is actually not that much different content compared to the 2017 course, rather Jeremy took the time and tried to make everything easier for everyone to understand and built a better python library. Also another unique point about Jeremy is that he and Rachel want not only to teach people but rather inspire a community of people working together in teams. The fast.ai library will not be just a project for the course, it will be something that a lot of people will use and contribute to to make pytorch better.

bitL 8y ago
Is Rachel the lady that always keeps interrupting Jeremy so that he goes out of flow all the time, making lectures less enjoyable?
- jph00 8y ago
  Dr Rachel Thomas, the co-founder of fast.ai, is the person who takes the highest voted questions from our 600+ in-person students and passes them on to me, as I asked her to do. At least 4 different people must have wanted the question asked before she asks it. This approach helps ensure that if I haven't explained something clearly enough that I get another chance to do so, and, more importantly, keeps me fresh and energized throughout each lesson (I get stale and boring without some interaction).
  - bitL 8y ago
    I am a firm believer in candid feedback; I talked to multiple people taking fast.ai and all of them took it as disturbing the flow of lectures. I really like fast.ai, it's an excellent hands-on course, so please don't get offended.
    - ghufran_syed 8y ago
      Personally, I find the questions helpful, and for everyone who's watching on video, you can skip whatever portion you like, can't you?
      - bitL 8y ago
        The thing is you can visibly see how it interrupts Jeremy; he is in the middle of explaining something, then has the face of a surprised person, loses context for a few seconds etc. Better IMO would be if he just finished a small section in its entirety then did Q&A, instead of allowing himself being interrupted all the time. And often those questions are missing the point, which is to be expected with newbies, so the lecture loses efficiency. If I didn't know most of the basics already, I'd have problem following them. I found just doing the exercises better for learning.
        krispin 8y ago
        I also find the questions very helpful. I understand for many people who already have a good understanding, these questions might be interrupting the flow. Many a times the questions his students raised were things that I had not thought of, sometimes they even stumped Jeremy. Fortunately Jeremy in most cases gives answers which vary in length, according to whether it's a concept which he will clear later, or whether it is an important concept that needs to clarified then itself. So I think this more effective way of learning/teaching even though there is a loss in efficiency.
        jph00 8y ago
        Rachel's mic is always off until I turn it on. So if she's asking a question, it's only after she's visually indicated that she wishes to do so, and I've found a time in my presentation that I'm ready to take it. So I'm literally never being interrupted, and can't be surprised by the fact that she's asking a question (although I may well be surprised by the content). I do try to limit the time I wait to take a question, since I don't want to move on with a topic where I've failed to properly explain some foundational piece.
        8y ago

bitL 8y ago

Is Rachel the lady that always keeps interrupting Jeremy so that he goes out of flow all the time, making lectures less enjoyable?

jph00 8y ago
Dr Rachel Thomas, the co-founder of fast.ai, is the person who takes the highest voted questions from our 600+ in-person students and passes them on to me, as I asked her to do. At least 4 different people must have wanted the question asked before she asks it. This approach helps ensure that if I haven't explained something clearly enough that I get another chance to do so, and, more importantly, keeps me fresh and energized throughout each lesson (I get stale and boring without some interaction).
- bitL 8y ago
  I am a firm believer in candid feedback; I talked to multiple people taking fast.ai and all of them took it as disturbing the flow of lectures. I really like fast.ai, it's an excellent hands-on course, so please don't get offended.
  - ghufran_syed 8y ago
    Personally, I find the questions helpful, and for everyone who's watching on video, you can skip whatever portion you like, can't you?
    - bitL 8y ago
      The thing is you can visibly see how it interrupts Jeremy; he is in the middle of explaining something, then has the face of a surprised person, loses context for a few seconds etc. Better IMO would be if he just finished a small section in its entirety then did Q&A, instead of allowing himself being interrupted all the time. And often those questions are missing the point, which is to be expected with newbies, so the lecture loses efficiency. If I didn't know most of the basics already, I'd have problem following them. I found just doing the exercises better for learning.
      - krispin 8y ago
        I also find the questions very helpful. I understand for many people who already have a good understanding, these questions might be interrupting the flow. Many a times the questions his students raised were things that I had not thought of, sometimes they even stumped Jeremy. Fortunately Jeremy in most cases gives answers which vary in length, according to whether it's a concept which he will clear later, or whether it is an important concept that needs to clarified then itself. So I think this more effective way of learning/teaching even though there is a loss in efficiency.
      - jph00 8y ago
        Rachel's mic is always off until I turn it on. So if she's asking a question, it's only after she's visually indicated that she wishes to do so, and I've found a time in my presentation that I'm ready to take it. So I'm literally never being interrupted, and can't be surprised by the fact that she's asking a question (although I may well be surprised by the content). I do try to limit the time I wait to take a question, since I don't want to move on with a topic where I've failed to properly explain some foundational piece.
      - 8y ago