[Courses] Course format (bordering on off-topic)

[Terri Oda]

>I think course format choices have more to do with how people learn than
>with their level of experience.

You know, I was thinking about this and although I agree that formats have 
*more* to do with how people learn, I think people switch formats as they 
get more comfortable with the material, or perhaps more acurately, they 
branch out in what formats can help them once they have some baseline 
information.  So (for example) when you're first learning something, having 
a book, website, howto, course, or other decently-sized repository of 
information is really helpful, because it helps to have consistent 
information (eg: I was told yesterday that in learning database theory, 
definitions may vary depending on the source, and you can't mix and match 
definitions arbitrarily because some info gets lost).  Once you've got a 
base of understanding, though, you don't need to have everything in one 
consistent place -- you can seek information from other sources more easily 
because you can translate different styles of presenting material, 
different viewpoints, etc. from the actual core information.

  Terri