Today, one rather dull topic (software provisioning on #HPC clusters - a reoccurring issue) and a rather interesting: teaching.

It is difficult for me to keep still (and I am sometimes failing at it), when people tell, utterly convinced, that they only offer online courses, because they are better, in higher demand and just "in".

My attitude is the opposite: watching videos might infuse knowledge, but no practice. They are meant for small snippets of knowledge, like how to log in. And they aren't suitable for teaching complex topics.

Will actual online courses work? Maybe. But my experience is to talk to a black screen, despite asking several times, that people switch on their cameras. Questions remain unasked. It is hard to admit not having understood the lesson, when feedback is not anonymous.

On the other hand, I enjoy the classroom. Any failure of mine will result in blank faces during exercise. I can approach people and rephrase the task. It usually takes only a little while to create a sphere where people do not hesitate to ask a seemingly "stupid question".

This is why, I considered MOOCs a fashion. And indeed, they are at the end of their hype cycle. Some are still being produced. Nobody will see them as THE solution for knowledge transfer. A similar silent fate was suffered by e-learning. It found it's niche. That's it.

And now online courses. They will earn themselves a bigger piece of the pie. But the classroom will live one. It is just better and more fun.