About Everybody Study Club
This is a personal project of vrk's! It's intended to be an experiment around online learning, as well as a mechanism to share more knowledge about how to build things on the web.
As with many of vrk's personal projects, there's a chance that this will just be a one-time thing, or an unfinished thing, or an idea that never comes to light. But those too are things to be celebrated 🎊
Motivation
I taught a web programming course a few years ago, and for a while I've wanted to make a free online version of it. This year I might finally do it.
If I do, then I also want to tinker and experiment with the format of online learning. Few of the current models work well for anyone, so let's see if there aren't ways we can improve upon them.
A little more
Self-studying is really hard. There's a sea of educational resources out there, but it's well-known that e.g. MOOCs have a poor completion rate. It's hard to find the time and it's hard to stay motivated.
As a quarantine pastime, I started studying Korean again. It's been going surprisingly well, and I think it's because I've stumbled upon some really great self-studying techniques from this community.
Language learning best practices have changed a bit, at least since I last studied seriously. The idea that one must be physically "immersed" in a country to become fluent in the language is now a bit out of date, and instead there is an emphasis on slow and steady learning.
There is also an emphasis on small community within the larger community. Language partners, community tutors, classes of 5-10 people are all strongly encouraged. (You never see 100-person lecture sizes for a Spanish class.)
As a result, I've been studying Korean consistently since April 2020, keeping up with it even with a very demanding job. This is easily the longest I've ever stuck with a learning endeavor outside of school or work demands. Surely quarantine has something to do with it, but I don't actually think it's the main factor. I think it's the approach.
I recently left my very demanding job and I've got a few months of free time before my next gig. I'd love to spend of that time tinkering with online learning, and see whether I can incorporate some of these techniques (and others!) in some sort of class-like offering that teaches people how to build things on the web. It might work, it might not. Either way, I want to try it out.
If that sounds at all interesting to you, even just as a casual observer, please fill out the interest form! Filling out the form in no way commits you to anything.