Barbara Oakley: «When we learn, we change the structure of the brains»
Barbara Oakley teaches how to learn since she knows from the first hand how to do it – from being philologist specialising on Slavic Languages, she became an engineer and the distinguished professor of engineering sciences. Zhanara Rakhmetova met with Barbara Oakley to discuss online learning and how to learn efficiently as well as to understand why it is important for everyone to know mathematics.
Zhanar Rakhmetova
November 20, 2019
What are the benefits of online learning?
Online learning is like learning from a book but even better because you hear and a see the instructor's explanations. For example, you can read a book on how neurons work, but in the video you can actually see the professor pointing at how neurons are interconnected. Hence, it is easier to comprehend the material.
Recently, I was talking to a medical doctor. He was top of his class at the medical school, but hardly ever went to the classes. Instead he watched the available videos, read books and actively learned the materials. When you go to the class you are in a way wasting the time because you are taking notes, after awhile you lose track and you are just being a stenographer. But sometimes you do not need a teacher to put the information into your brain.
Another benefit of learning online is that it is possible to become part of the global community, which is never possible learning in a conventional way. For example, you can connect on discussion forums of online courses with people from India, Chile, the USA, China, while being in Kazakhstan.
