4 ms·

Been mulling viability of hiring professors and TAs to give 10 day intensive math and physics lecture seminars backed by tutorials in beach settings. Sort of l

Been mulling viability of hiring professors and TAs to give 10 day intensive math and physics lecture seminars backed by tutorials in beach settings. Sort of like taking the lectures of theoreticalminimum.com but on the road, where you can join a session with a small group of ~10 students in places like Barbados, BVI, Costa Rica, mostly outdoors. If the economics can work for for yoga, we can probably make them work for an amateur/programmer interest in math. No certifications, maybe just walk through some coursera and khan material as prep. Want to teach geeky tourists calculus? If we made math tourism a thing, teachers in host countries could skill up pretty fast as well.

dghlsakjg 4y ago
I would much rather do this sort of thing in a conference room in a generic hotel. No distractions. If I’m going to travel all the way to a stunning vacation destination, I’m probably going to want to drink a beer on the beach instead of trying to focus on a class.
- motohagiography 4y ago
  Languages and yoga vacations are a huge thing and they typically do them outside conference rooms. (5-7 day probably better) I'd thought about using them, but being totally indoors is a waste of being somewhere. So long as you have shade and a blackboard, you have everything you need. There's no exam, maybe just a final problem set you get on the way in and work your way through. Idea is ~2-3h interactive lecture session in morning by interesting prof, ideally with no electronics, an optional recommended and personalized TA tutorial in the afternoon to catch anyone up, some fun activities like watching sunset on a sailboat and then using celestial navigation to find your way back, some partnerships with locals on regular stuff like surf lessons, musical performances, etc. Priced at a small premium to whatever all inclusives are. It's not for everyone, but the people it's for, it's really for. It's good for solo travellers, can qualify as business job training, or employee rewards/incentive/teambuilding. A way for poorly paid TAs to make some money and get a paid trip. Any product manager working in the ML space would need to do it. Developing local teaching talent could become a significant industry as well... There goes my day, anyway.
  - dpflan 4y ago
    Perhaps, tie some of the mathematics to the region/location where the mathcation is. Mathematical thinking does require space (so free time after "classes including learning mathematically about the location) to just think freely in addition to the rigorous focus needed when actively working on a problem or learning a concept.
  - dghlsakjg 4y ago
    Different strokes. I will say that I have experience teaching academic subjects in exotic locations including some of those mentioned (Semester at Sea/Abroad type programs) and it is HARD to effectively teach somewhere that isn't a classroom. A boring/utilitarian classroom (the room itself) is a feature, and classrooms the world over look the same for that reason.. If my company is paying for it though...
El_Alcalde 4y ago
I’m a programmer, almost 10 years out of college now. I’ve been thinking I should re familiarize myself with stats, discrete math, that kind of thing. So I love your idea.
t4_ 4y ago
There's definitely precedent - small math conferences are often held in interesting locations, and everyone gets a travel grant to attend. Just need a couple meeting rooms for the sessions during the day. The more niche the field the smaller the conference - not talking about big resorts here. Machine Learning Summer School (MLSS) used to have some nice locations, don't know what it's like these days. You could go with a name brand, Brian Greene type. Like a "MasterClass Live" type thing.
Steuard 4y ago
Speaking as a physics professor, you can listen to me talk about awesome physics all you want, and maybe feel like you're getting something out of it. But if you actually want to learn math or physics at any level beyond "I've heard those words before and they sounded cool", you absolutely must be doing it: solving problems as practice, struggling with how to apply subtle concepts to new situations, and just absorbing the details for a while. Are you genuinely envisioning this math/physics beach vacation as "mostly homework"? Because if it's not going to be a completely surface-level experience, it's going to be "mostly homework". :)
- Enginerrrd 4y ago
  >Are you genuinely envisioning this math/physics beach vacation as "mostly homework"? That's what I was envisioning. Homework with an onsite PhD for when I get stuck or find an interesting tangent to go on. At 32, this is literally how I prefer to spend my vacations now anyway. It's just hard to find time when I can focus and don't have to watch the kids.
- motohagiography 4y ago
  Was thinking 15h of lectures, ~20h optional TA tutorials over 5 day period. Undergrad level stuff, as it's not for academics, but interested amateurs and we go home after a week with something to work on, maybe come back for another session once a year. I'd ask, would you pay $5k to hang out in a yurt on Anegada for a week and learn an undergrad intro to category theory? This: https://anegadabeachclub.com/ https://anegadabeachclub.com/ Plus this: https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/18-s097-applied-category-theory-january-iap-2019/ https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/18-s097-applied-category-theory-... Equals...awesome? Other appealing ones to me would be from a selection of: https://ocw.mit.edu/search/?l=Undergraduate&q=geometry https://ocw.mit.edu/search/?l=Undergraduate&q=geometry https://ocw.mit.edu/search/?l=Undergraduate&q=proofs https://ocw.mit.edu/search/?l=Undergraduate&q=proofs https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/18-781-theory-of-numbers-spring-2012/ https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/18-781-theory-of-numbers-spring-...
jamal-kumar 4y ago
Yeah this idea is pretty killer and I'd love to work on something like that. I have the past decade of experience mostly being in such zones of my own volition and it's just been such an amazing time. I could completely picture even hiring locals who speak good English in these places to do the job being a thing to get around having to wrestle with stuff like visa requirements. Costa Rica for example has a law where if the job can be done by someone in Costa Rica, you need to hire them - But the country also has an enormously well educated talent pool (They abolished their military in the 40's to put it in on education), so there's no shortage of that at all.
f0e4c2f7 4y ago
I've never heard of teaching other things with yoga. I really love your idea. I could see it extending to teaching things like programming.
_v7gu 4y ago
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mlambie 4y ago

dghlsakjg 4y ago

I would much rather do this sort of thing in a conference room in a generic hotel. No distractions. If I’m going to travel all the way to a stunning vacation destination, I’m probably going to want to drink a beer on the beach instead of trying to focus on a class.

motohagiography 4y ago
Languages and yoga vacations are a huge thing and they typically do them outside conference rooms. (5-7 day probably better) I'd thought about using them, but being totally indoors is a waste of being somewhere. So long as you have shade and a blackboard, you have everything you need. There's no exam, maybe just a final problem set you get on the way in and work your way through. Idea is ~2-3h interactive lecture session in morning by interesting prof, ideally with no electronics, an optional recommended and personalized TA tutorial in the afternoon to catch anyone up, some fun activities like watching sunset on a sailboat and then using celestial navigation to find your way back, some partnerships with locals on regular stuff like surf lessons, musical performances, etc. Priced at a small premium to whatever all inclusives are. It's not for everyone, but the people it's for, it's really for. It's good for solo travellers, can qualify as business job training, or employee rewards/incentive/teambuilding. A way for poorly paid TAs to make some money and get a paid trip. Any product manager working in the ML space would need to do it. Developing local teaching talent could become a significant industry as well... There goes my day, anyway.
- dpflan 4y ago
  Perhaps, tie some of the mathematics to the region/location where the mathcation is. Mathematical thinking does require space (so free time after "classes including learning mathematically about the location) to just think freely in addition to the rigorous focus needed when actively working on a problem or learning a concept.
- dghlsakjg 4y ago
  Different strokes. I will say that I have experience teaching academic subjects in exotic locations including some of those mentioned (Semester at Sea/Abroad type programs) and it is HARD to effectively teach somewhere that isn't a classroom. A boring/utilitarian classroom (the room itself) is a feature, and classrooms the world over look the same for that reason.. If my company is paying for it though...

El_Alcalde 4y ago

I’m a programmer, almost 10 years out of college now. I’ve been thinking I should re familiarize myself with stats, discrete math, that kind of thing. So I love your idea.

t4_ 4y ago

There's definitely precedent - small math conferences are often held in interesting locations, and everyone gets a travel grant to attend. Just need a couple meeting rooms for the sessions during the day. The more niche the field the smaller the conference - not talking about big resorts here. Machine Learning Summer School (MLSS) used to have some nice locations, don't know what it's like these days. You could go with a name brand, Brian Greene type. Like a "MasterClass Live" type thing.

Steuard 4y ago

Speaking as a physics professor, you can listen to me talk about awesome physics all you want, and maybe feel like you're getting something out of it. But if you actually want to learn math or physics at any level beyond "I've heard those words before and they sounded cool", you absolutely must be doing it: solving problems as practice, struggling with how to apply subtle concepts to new situations, and just absorbing the details for a while. Are you genuinely envisioning this math/physics beach vacation as "mostly homework"? Because if it's not going to be a completely surface-level experience, it's going to be "mostly homework". :)

Enginerrrd 4y ago
>Are you genuinely envisioning this math/physics beach vacation as "mostly homework"? That's what I was envisioning. Homework with an onsite PhD for when I get stuck or find an interesting tangent to go on. At 32, this is literally how I prefer to spend my vacations now anyway. It's just hard to find time when I can focus and don't have to watch the kids.
motohagiography 4y ago
Was thinking 15h of lectures, ~20h optional TA tutorials over 5 day period. Undergrad level stuff, as it's not for academics, but interested amateurs and we go home after a week with something to work on, maybe come back for another session once a year. I'd ask, would you pay $5k to hang out in a yurt on Anegada for a week and learn an undergrad intro to category theory? This: https://anegadabeachclub.com/ https://anegadabeachclub.com/ Plus this: https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/18-s097-applied-category-theory-january-iap-2019/ https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/18-s097-applied-category-theory-... Equals...awesome? Other appealing ones to me would be from a selection of: https://ocw.mit.edu/search/?l=Undergraduate&q=geometry https://ocw.mit.edu/search/?l=Undergraduate&q=geometry https://ocw.mit.edu/search/?l=Undergraduate&q=proofs https://ocw.mit.edu/search/?l=Undergraduate&q=proofs https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/18-781-theory-of-numbers-spring-2012/ https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/18-781-theory-of-numbers-spring-...

jamal-kumar 4y ago

Yeah this idea is pretty killer and I'd love to work on something like that. I have the past decade of experience mostly being in such zones of my own volition and it's just been such an amazing time. I could completely picture even hiring locals who speak good English in these places to do the job being a thing to get around having to wrestle with stuff like visa requirements. Costa Rica for example has a law where if the job can be done by someone in Costa Rica, you need to hire them - But the country also has an enormously well educated talent pool (They abolished their military in the 40's to put it in on education), so there's no shortage of that at all.

f0e4c2f7 4y ago

I've never heard of teaching other things with yoga. I really love your idea. I could see it extending to teaching things like programming.

_v7gu 4y ago

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mlambie 4y ago