Teaching and learning: they’re obviously linked but as different sides of the same coin. I have been doing both recently, and although the situations are very different, neither one is long enough to make a good blog post.
So this is two-for-one that I’m pretending is more connected than it actually is.
Learning (with AI)
It’s never been easier to learn. The internet has made much of the world’s knowledge broadly and freely available. Online courses and other educational content have made the best teachers and niche content accessible for self-directed learning.
And that’s why we spend most of our time watching cat videos. Because learning is still fundamentally really, really hard.
The biggest part is motivation: real learning takes real effort, and most people need structure to stick with it. That’s why I think traditional education and the residential college system are still useful.
Another important part is calibration. Nothing happens if learning is too easy, but too hard is very demotivating. This goldilocks problem takes careful planning. In primary education, we can roughly do this with curriculum at scale. In one-on-one settings, tutors can personalize to the student.
I recently have been learning a new topic in programming, and I didn’t really know how to get started. Short of having a set curriculum or a tutor to guide me, I turned to today’s magic bullet: AI.
First, I prompted it to create a curriculum for me. I gave it:
- an overview of my prior knowledge
- why I was interested in this topic
- a desired time frame and time spent
I also specifically requested:
- a mix of theory and hands-on exercises
- relying on external resources (rather than AI-generated content)
One major drawback of this is that many of the external links and resources are actually invalid: the YouTube video or website doesn’t (or maybe never did) exist. However, with the specific topic ready, it’s easy to find a substitute.
Second, I took notes. I didn’t write out full summaries, but I picked out the insight and surprising facts. I wrote it in the style of teaching and setting a curriculum, which has been a useful framing to ensure I really understand.
Third, I asked AI dumb questions. Sometimes I didn’t understand some jargon. Sometimes I copied an entire paragraph into chat to have it explain it to me in other words. Sometimes I saw an implementation detail and wondered the obvious answer wasn’t correct.
Most people ask fewer dumb questions than they should. Other than embarrassment, there are other reasons, such as not knowing how to ask the question correctly or not expecting to get a useful answer. However, AI provides a free option for getting through those.
Fourth, I had AI generate quizzes for me. I could check myself to make sure I really understood the material. I subsequently took the non-trivial questions and put them into flashcards for spaced repetition.
That last point is what makes this feel like real, durable learning to me. I read and watch plenty of seemingly educational content, but after five minutes, all of the information has left my brain. I might as well have watched a cat video.
As I read back my main learning strategies, it’s all very traditional: have a curriculum, take notes, ask questions, and test. What’s new is using AI to act like a tutor and directly engage with me as I’m learning.
Teaching
My eldest child is now learning lots of concrete skills. We’re past walking and talking and into biking and reading. Of course, needing to teach means I’m learning a lot, too.
I have learned that an entirely western upbringing couldn’t get the tiger parent out of me. I am not relaxed about how my children learn. However, I have made a distinction in my approach.
I try not to push on what my child chooses to do. Besides some core survival skills, they can choose their own interests. However, once they start getting serious, I am firm that they need to focus and persevere to learn.
I have learned that I don’t know how to teach many of the things I know how to do. I’m on more solid ground in academics, but when it comes to physical activities, boy am I lost.
My eldest is taking real swim lessons now. We’re past parent-and-tot and into different strokes. I enjoy being in the water, so I wouldn’t have minded teaching them. However, there was enough potential for fear, negativity, and crying that I offloaded it to a coach.
I’m glad I did because swimming is hard.
I can swim just fine, but I couldn’t describe most of what it takes. As I’m sitting there at the lessons, I’m constantly surprised by the subtle details of body position and movement that need to be just right to float or move or breathe.
On the flipside, my eldest is also learning to ride a bike. We did the balance bike before and don’t use training wheels. No training wheels is in vogue, and even if it wasn’t, I’m a tiger parent. My child needs to learn the hard way.
And I also don’t know how to describe how to ride a bike.
Going back to learning and teaching, this also feels like the value of having a good coach or tutor. If the student stays on-track and mostly gets it, then a poor teacher (or even learning out of a book) works fine. However, if things aren’t working, a good coach knows how to identify and correct any problems.
As a self-identified tiger parent, I am all for pushing my child to see if they can figure things out and learn on their own. However, even if they need to persevere through adversity in the medium and long-term, I have also seen the value of taking a break in the short-term.
So often, I, as the teacher, have gotten fixated on a particular way to teach, say, how to start biking that isn’t working. When I had a night to sleep on it, though, I had a different approach or explanation that just resonates better with my child, and the next day goes much better.
Final Thoughts
I started by saying that there was no connection between these two thoughts, and I still don’t have one. Thus, my final thoughts will not tie all of this together.
However, I recently started learning Mandarin much more intensely. Whether it goes well or poorly, I should have something to say in a few months.