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Truth be told, the job market will just refocus to better find the people that are autodidact learners because the truth is those people are the ones that end u

Truth be told, the job market will just refocus to better find the people that are autodidact learners because the truth is those people are the ones that end up being the most productive. They are able to learn stuff much quickly compared to other people and end up knowing significantly more than others due to being able to just self-study the material and "get it". Also you are looking at the first generation of MOOCs...which I agree...aren't that great but overtime...new technologies will get added to them. Better algorithms, better learning tools and probably even live streaming lecture similar to what you see on twitch. The basic MOOC will be free and then if you want the "social interaction" element of it then you can pay for it.

lelandbatey 8y ago
I'd disagree with the statement "they're able to learn things much more quickly compared to other people." I've universally observed that autodidacts may appear to learn faster, but in reality they're spending an order of magnitude more effort and time. If you applied 10% of the time reading that an "autodidact" applies reading, then took the other 90% of the time an autodidact spends reading and instead spent that time speaking with experts in a social and exploratory way, you'd learn many times faster than the "autodidact" would who spent all their time only reading and consuming learning material. When you consume learning materials, you are adapting your thoughts and knowledge to what you're learning, but when you don't understand something, without someone who can answer questions in a highly individualized way, you may have a really hard time finding answers to questions purely from material. Having a person to talk to though can bridge gaps in understanding faster than even the best written textbook.
- ek750 8y ago
  Not to disagree with what you said, I think that can definitely be the case, that autodidacts aren’t learning in the most efficient manner. The flip side is that people who spend most of their time asking questions and getting answers may not ever get the experience of struggling through problems and never fully learn to exercise those skills, ime But, limited time and energy makes both approaches useful.

lelandbatey 8y ago

I'd disagree with the statement "they're able to learn things much more quickly compared to other people." I've universally observed that autodidacts may appear to learn faster, but in reality they're spending an order of magnitude more effort and time. If you applied 10% of the time reading that an "autodidact" applies reading, then took the other 90% of the time an autodidact spends reading and instead spent that time speaking with experts in a social and exploratory way, you'd learn many times faster than the "autodidact" would who spent all their time only reading and consuming learning material. When you consume learning materials, you are adapting your thoughts and knowledge to what you're learning, but when you don't understand something, without someone who can answer questions in a highly individualized way, you may have a really hard time finding answers to questions purely from material. Having a person to talk to though can bridge gaps in understanding faster than even the best written textbook.

ek750 8y ago
Not to disagree with what you said, I think that can definitely be the case, that autodidacts aren’t learning in the most efficient manner. The flip side is that people who spend most of their time asking questions and getting answers may not ever get the experience of struggling through problems and never fully learn to exercise those skills, ime But, limited time and energy makes both approaches useful.