As I prepare to study for the subject that has been the bane of my existence for the past two years (by writing this blog post instead) I can't help but draw a comparison between how classes in my real world university are going and the classes I'm taking as part of Stanford's online experiment offering this year.
Granted, the medium of a real world lecture hall and an online set of videos is very different so I might be comparing apples to oranges. But there is something inherently wrong with the fact I have actively been trying to pass a class for two years and failing, whereas I'm getting scores in the 70% and 80% range on both online classes.
Even though the subject making my university experience somewhat horrible is probability and statistics, which is supposed to be the raw basis for both artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Something is wrong with this picture, probably me though.
I believe the main difference is one of attitude. You go into most classes at my faculty expecting to struggle and fail, it's just the way it is around here. Failure isn't only an option, it's a way of life. Regardless, failure isn't applauded, it's not even encouraged, in fact it is frowned upon by everyone.
Failure isn't encouraged, it's a given
Stranger still, the professors themselves expect people to fail. Not all of them, some are actually quite nice and very good at teaching. For others it almost seems like grading coursework is a final act of irony. The probability and statistics class, for example, considers it a pass if you solve 20% of your homework.
Imagine this contrived situation, _answering 20% correct _is success.
And of course you're only allowed to take the quizzes once. Because how else are you going to learn? Surely being given a single chance to answer a question, being told that it's wrong (without an explanation as to how) and not being allowed to try again is the best way to learn.
Compare this with stanford's online classes - and I wonder if their real world classes are the same - the teaching is so good that after a single listening to the lecture you can get an 80% correct. Sure, you might say they are somewhat easier than the homework/quizzes I'm used to around here, but it's a lot more encouraging.
Most of all, getting decent grades and being encouraged to retake the quizzes until you get 100% and are certain you understand the material ... well it's a much better experience than being explained something once, not getting very satisfying answers to questions and then being hammered into the ground with coursework.
I guess the fundamental difference is this: the online classes convey a sense of teaching, the real world classes convey a sense of putting you in your place and jumping hoops.
Continue reading about Can I please take all my classes online?
Semantically similar articles hand-picked by GPT-4
- ml-class.org vs. real world ML class
- The university lecture structure is all wrong
- I learned two things today 3.9.
- I suck at [formal] education or does education suck?
- I learned two things today 30.8.
Learned something new?
Read more Software Engineering Lessons from Production
I write articles with real insight into the career and skills of a modern software engineer. "Raw and honest from the heart!" as one reader described them. Fueled by lessons learned over 20 years of building production code for side-projects, small businesses, and hyper growth startups. Both successful and not.
Subscribe below 👇
Software Engineering Lessons from Production
Join Swizec's Newsletter and get insightful emails 💌 on mindsets, tactics, and technical skills for your career. Real lessons from building production software. No bullshit.
"Man, love your simple writing! Yours is the only newsletter I open and only blog that I give a fuck to read & scroll till the end. And wow always take away lessons with me. Inspiring! And very relatable. 👌"
Have a burning question that you think I can answer? Hit me up on twitter and I'll do my best.
Who am I and who do I help? I'm Swizec Teller and I turn coders into engineers with "Raw and honest from the heart!" writing. No bullshit. Real insights into the career and skills of a modern software engineer.
Want to become a true senior engineer? Take ownership, have autonomy, and be a force multiplier on your team. The Senior Engineer Mindset ebook can help 👉 swizec.com/senior-mindset. These are the shifts in mindset that unlocked my career.
Curious about Serverless and the modern backend? Check out Serverless Handbook, for frontend engineers 👉 ServerlessHandbook.dev
Want to Stop copy pasting D3 examples and create data visualizations of your own? Learn how to build scalable dataviz React components your whole team can understand with React for Data Visualization
Want to get my best emails on JavaScript, React, Serverless, Fullstack Web, or Indie Hacking? Check out swizec.com/collections
Did someone amazing share this letter with you? Wonderful! You can sign up for my weekly letters for software engineers on their path to greatness, here: swizec.com/blog
Want to brush up on your modern JavaScript syntax? Check out my interactive cheatsheet: es6cheatsheet.com
By the way, just in case no one has told you it yet today: I love and appreciate you for who you are ❤️