in reply to Difference in self v/s instructor based Perl training

Well, this is just my 2 cents, but... It's seems to me that when I was in school I had some great teachers and some awful ones. Some classes I learned a lot, some I taught myself a lot.

There is also the fact that some people learn better on their own than in a lecture environment. So really, you have asked a loaded question. It all depends. An instructor will most likely give you a nice structured lesson, whereas teaching yourself could be all over the place. But there are also books that give you structured lessons.

An instructor gives you the chance to ask questions, but then, so does perlmonks :)

Really, in the end, it's all in how you learn, and what instructor you get, I think. And any advantage or disadvantage is up to the person. Of course, if you don't find places like perlmonks or newsgroups to ask questions, then there is the real benefit of an instructor: Experience.

Update Ok... one thing that can be a bonus other then the instructor's experience is enthusiasm. Go to a class of Damian Conway's some time, or just a talk. If you find an instructor who knows what they are talking about and presents it with enthusiam, that can catch you up and carry you along. It is much harder to pull that out of a book or off the internet. Of course, teachers that can inspire are a rare find, but worth every penny.

                - Ant
                - Some of my best work - (1 2 3)

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Re: Re: Difference in self v/s instructor based Perl training
by AssFace (Pilgrim) on May 14, 2003 at 14:55 UTC
    Another thing to note are the resources you have on hand as well.

    My least favorite classes in college were the classes that were taught by someone very good in their field, but lousy at teaching. Or worse yet, that scenerio and then also having that person's book on the subject as your textbook. They would then teach the textbook in class - and if you had any questions, you couldn't then refer to the textbook as an alternative reference and hope that the idea is explained there in a different way that you might understand better than the idea you had in class.

    Some of the best classes I had were classes using a great textbook and a teacher that had a great understanding of the concepts and would teach it how he envisioned it - but differently than the way the textbook explained it.
    That way if you didn't get what happened in class, you had a different resource to reach to - instead of having duplicate resources - neither of which you understand.

    so just like you said, it really depends what resources you have on hand - if they aren't very good - then you are much better off teaching yourself.

    I've also found that once you have a pretty firm grasp on programming in general, then the less teaching you need and the more just a reference book will work. Not always the case - but frequently the case.

    -------------------------------------------------------------------
    There are some odd things afoot now, in the Villa Straylight.
[reply]
      Agh! Yes, teachers with a textbook they wrote. Which means if you don't understand the teacher, the book isn't going to help either. Not to mention it just reduces the number of knowledgeable views being presented.

                      - Ant
                      - Some of my best work - (1 2 3)

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