Because learning is sexy
September 21, 2007 6:32 PM Subscribe
Librarian Chick is a blogger who has put together a wiki of literally hundreds of online learning sources with over twenty categories for "students, educators & anyone else who's hip to learning."
Also by the same author, a similarly vast collection of open source software resources. All found via.
Also by the same author, a similarly vast collection of open source software resources. All found via.
Wow indeed, nickyskye. Wow indeed.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 7:01 PM on September 21, 2007
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 7:01 PM on September 21, 2007
Thanks very much, jonson. This looks terrific.
posted by Jody Tresidder at 7:17 PM on September 21, 2007
posted by Jody Tresidder at 7:17 PM on September 21, 2007
There've been a few of these online learning resource aggregations that I've seen (excellent every time), and between these and the "What other MeFi subsites would you like to see" question on MeTa a while back I had an idea: It would be awesome if there was a site that compiled free online courses and then matched up interested parties into a 'class' of 2 or more. Sort of like a dating site, or better yet an online chess forum, but for study partners. You could indicate a course you want to take and then wait for someone who's interested in the same topic to come along, then work through the material together. Or, peruse the courses with someone waiting for a study partner. Does this exist? If not, does anyone want to take the idea and run with it so I can sign up?
posted by carsonb at 7:33 PM on September 21, 2007
posted by carsonb at 7:33 PM on September 21, 2007
Great resource...but did you only include the word "sexy" because it's a female?
posted by DU at 7:35 PM on September 21, 2007
posted by DU at 7:35 PM on September 21, 2007
Five comments and 10 favorites, wow! I see why. great post.
posted by RussHy at 7:45 PM on September 21, 2007
posted by RussHy at 7:45 PM on September 21, 2007
did you only include the word "sexy" because it's a female?
He was just quoting her — that's what she calls her own wiki.
posted by LeLiLo at 7:54 PM on September 21, 2007
He was just quoting her — that's what she calls her own wiki.
posted by LeLiLo at 7:54 PM on September 21, 2007
DU, please. Click the link again, then look at the title bar of your browser. And if you're going to be hyper-sensitive, at least try not to refer to women as its.
Annnnnnnnnnnyway! Thanks jonson! Man. Am going to melt my brain with this site.
posted by kavasa at 7:55 PM on September 21, 2007
Annnnnnnnnnnyway! Thanks jonson! Man. Am going to melt my brain with this site.
posted by kavasa at 7:55 PM on September 21, 2007
Carsonb, sounds like an interesting idea!
When I first got involved with Wikipedia three years ago I had a utopian ideal of learned and like-minded strangers cordially working together on a scholarly project. Man was my bubble burst!
I'm convinced the teacher/student model of learning is still the best way - the University system has remained resilient for almost 900 years despite every generation trying new ways.
So the question is how does one create a free online University system - I have not seen it yet and the response to Wikipedia suggests there is a huge pent up demand for it, but Wikipedia is a nightmare, probably because it is an honor system and "cultures of honor" breed intractable civility problems.
In Bologna, where the first European University started in the 11th century, the studently would form groups and pool their money and decide what they wanted to learn and then hire a teacher to teach them, with the power to fire that teacher at any time. Perhaps there is a market for freelance teachers and student designed courses.
posted by stbalbach at 8:00 PM on September 21, 2007 [3 favorites]
When I first got involved with Wikipedia three years ago I had a utopian ideal of learned and like-minded strangers cordially working together on a scholarly project. Man was my bubble burst!
I'm convinced the teacher/student model of learning is still the best way - the University system has remained resilient for almost 900 years despite every generation trying new ways.
So the question is how does one create a free online University system - I have not seen it yet and the response to Wikipedia suggests there is a huge pent up demand for it, but Wikipedia is a nightmare, probably because it is an honor system and "cultures of honor" breed intractable civility problems.
In Bologna, where the first European University started in the 11th century, the studently would form groups and pool their money and decide what they wanted to learn and then hire a teacher to teach them, with the power to fire that teacher at any time. Perhaps there is a market for freelance teachers and student designed courses.
posted by stbalbach at 8:00 PM on September 21, 2007 [3 favorites]
Someone's sucking up to the mods...what's next Johnson, a post about cyclists who wear glasses? Or maybe musical Jesus-alikes.
posted by SassHat at 8:08 PM on September 21, 2007 [1 favorite]
posted by SassHat at 8:08 PM on September 21, 2007 [1 favorite]
I keep clicking her links to applications that sound like something I could really use... but inevitably the application isn't Mac-friendly.
Not Librarian Chick's fault of course. But... wah.
posted by miss lynnster at 8:28 PM on September 21, 2007
Not Librarian Chick's fault of course. But... wah.
posted by miss lynnster at 8:28 PM on September 21, 2007
When I first got involved with Wikipedia three years ago I had a utopian ideal of learned and like-minded strangers cordially working together on a scholarly project. Man was my bubble burst!
Well, wikipedia may not be some platonic ideal of whatever, and the wikipedia litigation process certainly seems insane, with all the layers of beurocracy, but the ultimate product is pretty fucking useful.
I mean, can you imagine metafilter with 150 times as many visitors and no $5 fee to post? because that's wikipedia. To put that into perspective, it's more popular then myspace.
So I don't know what you had in mind, but the result is pretty fucking sweet.
posted by delmoi at 8:32 PM on September 21, 2007
Well, wikipedia may not be some platonic ideal of whatever, and the wikipedia litigation process certainly seems insane, with all the layers of beurocracy, but the ultimate product is pretty fucking useful.
I mean, can you imagine metafilter with 150 times as many visitors and no $5 fee to post? because that's wikipedia. To put that into perspective, it's more popular then myspace.
So I don't know what you had in mind, but the result is pretty fucking sweet.
posted by delmoi at 8:32 PM on September 21, 2007
Thank you very much for this post. I never went to college, but I have a deep love of learning. Resources like this are why I love the internet.
I also love your idea carsonb.
posted by Danila at 9:27 PM on September 21, 2007
I also love your idea carsonb.
posted by Danila at 9:27 PM on September 21, 2007
Posts like this are what make me wanna say,
"I ♥ jonson!"
posted by Lynsey at 9:49 PM on September 21, 2007
"I ♥ jonson!"
posted by Lynsey at 9:49 PM on September 21, 2007
Cool.
(Also, this reminds me of the interweb in 1994 or so.)
posted by caddis at 4:57 AM on September 22, 2007
(Also, this reminds me of the interweb in 1994 or so.)
posted by caddis at 4:57 AM on September 22, 2007
In Bologna, where the first European University started in the 11th century, the studently would form groups and pool their money and decide what they wanted to learn and then hire a teacher to teach them, with the power to fire that teacher at any time. Perhaps there is a market for freelance teachers and student designed courses.
posted by stbalbach
This happens all the time among homeschoolers. Sometimes the teacher is a parent with an expertise in the subject, and sometimes it's a third-party teacher, often a grad student or a retired educator.
posted by Biblio at 7:11 AM on September 22, 2007
posted by stbalbach
This happens all the time among homeschoolers. Sometimes the teacher is a parent with an expertise in the subject, and sometimes it's a third-party teacher, often a grad student or a retired educator.
posted by Biblio at 7:11 AM on September 22, 2007
the ultimate product is pretty fucking useful
It's ok. I mean, take Bibliographies for example. There are a handful of Bibliographies that are any good. Creating a useful Bibliography is one of the more difficult things to do - it takes an expert who is familiar with the corpus of works and who can distill them down into the most important. That takes years or reading and experience. Meanwhile, Joe Bob adds his favorite book to the list (or worse, the book he wrote).
Then take footnotes. What a joke! I can find a footnote that will support just about anything, footnotes don't make it right. And who checks these footnotes to make sure they actually say it? I often see accurate and well written articles that have no footnotes get trashed by well meaning but ignorant users - meanwhile articles with footnotes expose all sorts of strange and non-mainstream views.
Wikipedia gives the appearance of being scholarly and useful but in fact is often just the opposite. Sorry I didn't mean to derail this thread into a rant against Wikipedia. My original point is the demand for Wikipedia suggests a huge pent-up demand for online education with more substance.
posted by stbalbach at 7:31 AM on September 23, 2007
It's ok. I mean, take Bibliographies for example. There are a handful of Bibliographies that are any good. Creating a useful Bibliography is one of the more difficult things to do - it takes an expert who is familiar with the corpus of works and who can distill them down into the most important. That takes years or reading and experience. Meanwhile, Joe Bob adds his favorite book to the list (or worse, the book he wrote).
Then take footnotes. What a joke! I can find a footnote that will support just about anything, footnotes don't make it right. And who checks these footnotes to make sure they actually say it? I often see accurate and well written articles that have no footnotes get trashed by well meaning but ignorant users - meanwhile articles with footnotes expose all sorts of strange and non-mainstream views.
Wikipedia gives the appearance of being scholarly and useful but in fact is often just the opposite. Sorry I didn't mean to derail this thread into a rant against Wikipedia. My original point is the demand for Wikipedia suggests a huge pent-up demand for online education with more substance.
posted by stbalbach at 7:31 AM on September 23, 2007
People who click on your 'via' link while at work might be unhappily surprised.
posted by philomathoholic at 2:49 AM on September 24, 2007
posted by philomathoholic at 2:49 AM on September 24, 2007
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posted by nickyskye at 6:56 PM on September 21, 2007