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Honestly, this is why I just read technical books cover to cover. It’s just about the best point to point resource out there. I think I remember seeing where C
by brightball 8y ago
Honestly, this is why I just read technical books cover to cover. It’s just about the best point to point resource out there.
I think I remember seeing where Cornell offered a course structure where you’d do one course, all day, for 3 weeks and then move to the next. It was years ago, but I remember thinking I would have loved it.
- colmvp 8y agoI've tried that for a couple topics (Reinforcement Learning, Linear Algebra, Bayesian Stats) over the last six months and I found for myself it was much harder to retain information than spacing it out over several months and chipping away at it little by little (which I'm doing with Python, Algorithms, Control Theory). I personally prefer practicing interleaving, as I find that applying one subject to another make me remember a lot more of the concepts than block learning techniques. Also in the grand scheme of things, three weeks isn't a lot of time. Granted, I'm not a fast learner!
- mathinpens 8y agoimo you should definitely do linear algebra before learning RL or stats. it will make everything else much easier.
- amp108 8y agoJust to clarify, that's Cornell College, not Cornell University.
- adamweld 8y agoThis is generally called a Block Plan[1] and is a great system for some students. Looks like Cornell College offers it, you got my hopes up as I'm a Cornell University student and juggling five technical courses at a time has heavy context switching penalties. On the other hand, last year taking Linear Algebra and at the same time having to apply it in a signals processing class was a good combo. [1] http://www.expertadmissions.com/ExpertAdmissionsBlog/tabid/70/PostID/46/Block-Plan-Colleges.aspx http://www.expertadmissions.com/ExpertAdmissionsBlog/tabid/7...
- 0x445442 8y agoYeah, I used to take intersession courses back in my college days where I focused on one course for four weeks. That fit my mode of study way better than taking 4/5 technical courses at the same time. Doing a deep dive on one subject and then moving on was just way better for subject retention in my opinion.
- barry-cotter 8y agoInterleaved study leads to greater retention than blocked study. http://www.indiana.edu/~pcl/2014/01/interleavedblockeddelayed/ http://www.indiana.edu/~pcl/2014/01/interleavedblockeddelaye... https://www.northeastern.edu/learningresearch/interleaved-studying-increases-students-retention-information/ https://www.northeastern.edu/learningresearch/interleaved-st...
- swsieber 8y agoWhat makes you think that it was better? Condensed studying feels easier, but leads to lower long-term retention. Now, there are methods used to help mitigate that, but those can also be used to increase retention of spread out studying too.
- seanmcdirmid 8y agoIntensive courses in the summer aren’t unusual, especially in the summer and especially for language classes.
- sndean 8y agoThis also reminded me of some summer classes. Maybe one month, 5 days/week? Some of the things that best remember from undergrad were learned over the summer. I still don't know whether it was the short/intensive set up of the courses that improved learning, or if it was the fact that I was only willing to do summer courses in topics I knew I'd do well in. Either way, it's my best memory of school.
- seanmcdirmid 8y agoI always took advantage of summer quarter as an undergrad. It was a better experience though course selection wasn’t great (especially for CS).