Online vs In-Person Learning

I don't know. My 19 year old self went to a decent state research university. The lectures I sat through were much less effective than watching Gilbert Strang on Youtube at 3x speed with arrow keys to get him to repeat himself when I miss something and a pause button so I can work out problems after he writes them on the board but before he explains them. There was 1-on-1 time at "real" school, but it was with TAs and a room full of 19 year olds. I feel like the Internet addresses

It is a thing. I don't think any online course can beat a good teacher in a small classroom, but online courses can take you a long way, and are wonderful for the broad variety of courses available. YouTube recordings of university lectures are also very useful - MIT has excellent courses available for watching. Self-learning is not suitable for everyone, but if you have discipline and the ability to understand how things fit together in a subject, it can really work.

I think that the will power to go through 3 or 4 years worth of lectures on your own would be the main blocker. The main benefit to in-class learning is that your peers drive you, and you drive your peers.As a not-on-campus-learner, you should probably concentrate on smaller pieces that can be had individually. It would not hurt to have a small community to discuss the things that you learn (e.g., peers at work) to keep you motivated as well.

It's about access to resources that you won't have not being part of a university. This is especially true for physical sciences that require expensive laboratory equipment. However, even for something like CS, having access to good lecturers and courses is very helpful.Of course, the open courses being put out for CS and Math is certainly is changing the picture for these fields. I think they are great.The point is, learning in a bubble is not nearly as useful as learning from p

Online courses I've taken have been much better than in-person courses.Online courses have several advantages:1) The lecturer can prepare a video, refine it, and have others review it before it makes it to the students. Errors can be corrected and annotations can be added.2) Quizzes, tests, and projects can be effectively randomized to dissuade cheating (see coursera courses).3) Other resources can be linked directly in the material.4) Written information for the courses can

Philosophy postgrad here, my take is: yeah, sorta, but it's hard to build your own curriculum without expertise, and it's hard to engage with subject matter fully without social discussion of, and guidance through texts.It's the same as saying "why learn maths at university, it's cheaper just to buy and read the textbooks/papers?". That's kind of true, but I don't think that's effective for most people.

I've been working through some of the MIT OCW math courses lately. It's actually been a better experience in many ways than my old college classes. Instead of sitting in a room full of 100+ people with a teacher too busy to answer questions I can sit back on my couch with a laptop and a lemonade and take my time, pause, rewind, etc.There is something valuable in the kind of direct interaction you get at higher course levels in most colleges though. Any real alternative to the current system i

University degrees are totally doable without going to lectures, or attending any classrooms at all. People of univeristy age should be able to self-learn, and I see no difference to a video of a lecturer vs sitting in a hall. As long as questions can be emailed to them.Schools on the other hand...plenty of students are unable to learn on their own. "Self learning" is a skill, that even at the ago of 40 I'm still trying to master. (Anki seems to be the key here!)

I think you want something like university/school, without the overhead. but usually live sessions would be pricey especially compared to watching prerecorded videos. I do think the experience is radically different, it's important to have a group advancing at similar pace to you as well as routine.

Speak for yourself!When I was young and starting college, I was poor and lived in a semi-rural area. So getting back and forth to all the classes was very difficult. Not to mention I had to work two jobs to support myself at the time.I would have fucking loved to be able to do my classwork remotely and just hung out with other students as my schedule allowed. Of course it was not an option back then.I have recently went back to university to advance my degree and it has nearly all been