[kd5bjo]

It actually serves as a nice contrast in some ways. Compare the article’s description of the experience of going through the classes with the takeaways from a sample of the wiki entries.

The real benefit of having true experts teach something is all the tacit knowledge you get from hearing how they think about and approach their craft, not the explicit instructions they might give.

[donw]

> The real benefit of having true experts teach something is all the tacit knowledge you get from hearing how they think about and approach their craft

I think that's part of it, but only a part.

The real value of teaching lies in tight feedback loops.

Learning, as a neurological process, is entirely predicated on feedback loops. Our brains observe some system, make a prediction as to how that system will iterate, and then adjust their prediction mechanism based on the observed outcome.

Maybe to give an example, I learned to dance (Lindy Hop) by working with coaches. My nephew learned to dance by watching things like Masterclass.

He has spent much more time on watching videos than I have in working with coaches, and has been interested in dancing for far longer, but I am the better dancer. By a wide margin.

And that is not due to natural talent -- if anything, I would say that I am less coordinated than he is.

The advantage I have is -- partially! -- due to my instructors sharing a bunch of tacit knowledge. The structure of music, why jazz is polyrhythmic and how you can use syncopated steps to move between rhythms and melodies, etc.

But most of it comes from my instructors watching me flail about, and giving me immediate feedback on how to be less dangerous to my follow (the person dancing with me). And then watching me apply that feedback, correcting me again, and repeating that loop until I get it right -- which means than I then know what "right" feels like.

Online learning -- especially through watching videos -- completely lacks that realtime feedback.

It's possible to do! But most of the online course offerings that I have seen, don't. They are little more than recorded lectures and multiple-choice quizzes.

Moreover, now that I have a solid foundation -- built by working with coaches, and understanding the "why" behind the techniques -- I can leverage dance videos to pick up new moves, because I know what to look for an how to apply it.

[okamiueru]

I think you bring up very valid points.

The overall takeaway shouldn't be to have personal instructors in order to learn things effectively and well. I think that will always be the case. The constraint there is mostly with accessibility and availability

What you intend to learn, and whether a self-learned/video watching approach can be effective depends entirely on how to close the feedback loop, and make it accurate. For couples dancing, it's very hard to know when you're doing things right (how is it supposed to feel? What is the correct tension for proper leading? Etc). So, it makes it almost crucial to have some (semi)direct guidance in order to make the practice sessions effective.

However there are many other areas in which it is easier to close this loop, as well as more correctly assess the result. This will of course never be as good as having an expert's guidance, but the cost/benefit in terms of time spent / skill gained is more amenable that it is for dancing.

I'd say (I might be wrong) that this applies somewhat to art, technical skills like math and programming, and other knowledge based domains.

Fields requiring physical accuracy and dexterity is a bit harder. Like music instruments or dancing.

[ngold]

Getting someone that talks the syntax let's you know what questions to ask.

[shostack]

This is so important. I'm an intermediate coder and hit a wall on something today. I was fortunate to have a great Slack group to ask, and even though the answers weren't exactly the right solution, just exposure to the terminology used when talking about the problem let me refine my searches and find the answer very quickly.