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There absolutely can be a feedback loop. Look no further than the many self taught programmers that frequent HN. Effective learning can and does happen without
by marknutter 14y ago
There absolutely can be a feedback loop. Look no further than the many self taught programmers that frequent HN. Effective learning can and does happen without high paid PHD level professors, large marble floored auditoriums, and football stadiums.
- CJefferson 14y agoThis is nothing new, through history there has been a large range of people who have self taught from books. However, and I agree with the basic point, many people have failed to self-educate through books, and it is not clear to me these people will suddenly do much better with MOOC.
- marknutter 14y agoMOOCs are much more directed than just picking up a book.
- aphyr 14y agoI don't claim the necessity of high paid professors, auditoriums, or football stadiums, but I'm dubious that autodidacticism is a broadly applicable strategy in isolation. The best teachers in my life have been public high school teachers, parents, six year olds, tenured professors, and other students. I've taught myself, learned by building, learned from working alongside peers, and learned from formal schooling. None is complete in itself--every time I think I'm proficient in a field because of my self-taught experience, a good teacher comes along and shows me how much I don't know; and vice versa, you never truly understand a skill learned from someone else until you've built something with it, on your own. Guided learning doesn't have to happen in a classroom, but I do believe feedback is essential.