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I disagree. One of the best educational resources I've seen is MasterClass and tbh, people like Wayne Gretzky, Metallica, and Will Wright don't need more money

by muzani 4y ago

I disagree. One of the best educational resources I've seen is MasterClass and tbh, people like Wayne Gretzky, Metallica, and Will Wright don't need more money nor visibility. I've taught courses myself. We charge a lot but in my experience, it doesn't make money. It's just a social giving back thing. It's enough to cover costs of production, but not opportunity costs. But we charge because the people who come for the free courses often leave by lunch. Even when it's an expensive course paid in full by a company, people will skimp out because of "work" and it just wastes everyone's time. It takes about 4 hours to produce 1 hour worth of slides and content. So the income can be worse than freelance coding, even when the hourly rate is higher. Rule of thumb IMO is that the person teaching spends at least 80% of their time on the topic that they teach.

loveparade 4y ago
I disagree, but perhaps there is a difference between technical and non-technical subjects. I'm aware of Masterclass and I don't know what the incentive for people to put their teachings behind a paywall is there, but if you are under the illusion that you can learn any technical subject by watching 1-3 hours (most of the courses are of that length) of videos, you are falling into instant gratification trap of modern society, just like reading popular news. These things are the pop science education equivalents of TikTok. They are interesting, but they are entertainment, not education. The unfortunate truth is that if you want to become an expert in a technical topic, you need to put in hard work beyond 1-3 hours of watching a video, despite what all the YouTube influencers may want you to believe.
- enos_feedler 4y ago
  Let me chime back in here since I brought up paid courses. When I say paid courses I did NOT mean courses offered by a platform that sells paid content. Especially Masterclass. I don't want to learn from a celebrity. I want to learn from someone normal with a passion for what they have learned and want to share it with the internet in a genuine and authentic way. In that spirit, I am talking about independent teachers, generally authors, professors, researchers who have dedicated lots of years to acquire expertise. They sell courses not because they need the money, but because its passive income and simply worth it.

by muzani 4y ago

loveparade 4y ago

I disagree, but perhaps there is a difference between technical and non-technical subjects. I'm aware of Masterclass and I don't know what the incentive for people to put their teachings behind a paywall is there, but if you are under the illusion that you can learn any technical subject by watching 1-3 hours (most of the courses are of that length) of videos, you are falling into instant gratification trap of modern society, just like reading popular news. These things are the pop science education equivalents of TikTok. They are interesting, but they are entertainment, not education. The unfortunate truth is that if you want to become an expert in a technical topic, you need to put in hard work beyond 1-3 hours of watching a video, despite what all the YouTube influencers may want you to believe.

enos_feedler 4y ago
Let me chime back in here since I brought up paid courses. When I say paid courses I did NOT mean courses offered by a platform that sells paid content. Especially Masterclass. I don't want to learn from a celebrity. I want to learn from someone normal with a passion for what they have learned and want to share it with the internet in a genuine and authentic way. In that spirit, I am talking about independent teachers, generally authors, professors, researchers who have dedicated lots of years to acquire expertise. They sell courses not because they need the money, but because its passive income and simply worth it.