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Why MasterClass Isn’t Really About Mastery

kiba 6y ago
Seems to me that MasterClass is basically the Great Courses except much slicker and is funded by venture vultures. We'll see how long they will last until it get ruined. Beside, I don't really care if the company is really selling X or Y. Clearly, their product contain real valuable knowledge. However, if you're in the pursuit of knowledge, just watching it will likely result in jack-squat retention. I know this because I watched a whole lecture about the industrial revolution, and can't retain anything beyond the basic overview, if at that. Master Class appears to have workbooks and exercises, so retention are going to be much better than one of the series in the Great Courses. Still, 90% of the value is gained by learners doing the work and putting in the time.
cm2187 6y ago
I don't think anyone could take it seriously as education. I see as an interesting interview, where someone will discuss technical things about his art, great for geeks. The one from Hans Zimmer where he discusses how he progressively comes up with the music for a film is interesting, or Ron Howard analyses an Indiana Jones sequence, etc. Don't think it is meant to make you a composer or a director. Kind of like a cockpit video for planes.
- michelb 6y ago
  This rings true for me. The analysis of the craft, and looking over the shoulder was really great. Hearing a 'grandmaster' talk about their profession and giving a little demo is quite interesting. There are some real gems in the catalogue.
Ghjklov 6y ago
"Master"Class? Uh, 1950s much? I thought we were living in the 21st century. EDIT: Here comes the downvotes from HN nazi white supremacists
- michelb 6y ago
  More like early 1300's when guilds had masters and apprentice craftsmen.
  - musicale 6y ago
    And 'masterpiece' being a (presumably excellent) piece of work that qualified them for guild membership. "Master Class" does sound sinister if you interpret it as a social class rather than as an "expert tutorial" which is its presumed meaning in this context. But the article also emphasizes the subtext, that they are selling socioeconomic prestige and not just education, much as universities do.
- ramblerman 6y ago
  Perhaps there is a better way to advocate new language use than call anyone who missed the memo a nazi white supremacist. Master/Apprentice has a pretty standard meaning in the context of skill.
  - taejo 6y ago
    From their comment history one can be 95% sure that Ghjklov is not an advocate for new language but either a pure troll, or is politically opposed to it.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
ageitgey 6y ago
If you have ever written an educational book or sold educational material, the first thing you learn is that the market for actual mastery-level educational material is infinitesimal. The only way to make money (without charging astronomical, university-enrollment-level prices) is to make content that appeals to a mass audience. Imagine you wanted to revolutionize higher education, so you build a big-budget website with excellent graduate-level CS content at an affordable price. How big is that market? There are only about 2,000 CS PhDs and 40,000 CS masters degrees issued in the US each year. That's a tiny market compared to the many millions of people who could benefit from learning basic programming to automate a boring part of their non-programming job. There are teenagers in India producing zero-budget PHP tutorials on YouTube in their bedrooms everyday that easily reach 10x your total addressable market. It's a business non-starter. And that's for a popular, lucrative field like CS - imagine trying to launch an educational product in a smaller, less lucrative field like Anthropology or Sociology. The only viable way to make something like MasterClass work is to aim it at adults with disposable cash who want to broaden their skillset while being entertained but aren't trying to become an expert in the field. There's nothing wrong with that. MasterClass (and the numerous similar products, from ad-supported YouTube content to many providers of paid courses) are often really great and entertaining.

kiba 6y ago

Seems to me that MasterClass is basically the Great Courses except much slicker and is funded by venture vultures. We'll see how long they will last until it get ruined. Beside, I don't really care if the company is really selling X or Y. Clearly, their product contain real valuable knowledge. However, if you're in the pursuit of knowledge, just watching it will likely result in jack-squat retention. I know this because I watched a whole lecture about the industrial revolution, and can't retain anything beyond the basic overview, if at that. Master Class appears to have workbooks and exercises, so retention are going to be much better than one of the series in the Great Courses. Still, 90% of the value is gained by learners doing the work and putting in the time.

cm2187 6y ago

I don't think anyone could take it seriously as education. I see as an interesting interview, where someone will discuss technical things about his art, great for geeks. The one from Hans Zimmer where he discusses how he progressively comes up with the music for a film is interesting, or Ron Howard analyses an Indiana Jones sequence, etc. Don't think it is meant to make you a composer or a director. Kind of like a cockpit video for planes.

michelb 6y ago
This rings true for me. The analysis of the craft, and looking over the shoulder was really great. Hearing a 'grandmaster' talk about their profession and giving a little demo is quite interesting. There are some real gems in the catalogue.

Ghjklov 6y ago

"Master"Class? Uh, 1950s much? I thought we were living in the 21st century. EDIT: Here comes the downvotes from HN nazi white supremacists

michelb 6y ago
More like early 1300's when guilds had masters and apprentice craftsmen.
- musicale 6y ago
  And 'masterpiece' being a (presumably excellent) piece of work that qualified them for guild membership. "Master Class" does sound sinister if you interpret it as a social class rather than as an "expert tutorial" which is its presumed meaning in this context. But the article also emphasizes the subtext, that they are selling socioeconomic prestige and not just education, much as universities do.
ramblerman 6y ago
Perhaps there is a better way to advocate new language use than call anyone who missed the memo a nazi white supremacist. Master/Apprentice has a pretty standard meaning in the context of skill.
- taejo 6y ago
  From their comment history one can be 95% sure that Ghjklov is not an advocate for new language but either a pure troll, or is politically opposed to it.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

ageitgey 6y ago

If you have ever written an educational book or sold educational material, the first thing you learn is that the market for actual mastery-level educational material is infinitesimal. The only way to make money (without charging astronomical, university-enrollment-level prices) is to make content that appeals to a mass audience. Imagine you wanted to revolutionize higher education, so you build a big-budget website with excellent graduate-level CS content at an affordable price. How big is that market? There are only about 2,000 CS PhDs and 40,000 CS masters degrees issued in the US each year. That's a tiny market compared to the many millions of people who could benefit from learning basic programming to automate a boring part of their non-programming job. There are teenagers in India producing zero-budget PHP tutorials on YouTube in their bedrooms everyday that easily reach 10x your total addressable market. It's a business non-starter. And that's for a popular, lucrative field like CS - imagine trying to launch an educational product in a smaller, less lucrative field like Anthropology or Sociology. The only viable way to make something like MasterClass work is to aim it at adults with disposable cash who want to broaden their skillset while being entertained but aren't trying to become an expert in the field. There's nothing wrong with that. MasterClass (and the numerous similar products, from ad-supported YouTube content to many providers of paid courses) are often really great and entertaining.