E24: When is binge learning better than consistency?
Oz and Charlie vibe-chat their way through respective Mathacademy experiences + reviews, leading to a discussion of "binge learning" vs more-structured, consistent learning / time-tracking. Also, Oz shares that he's currently reading a math textbook with this incredible sentence in its introduction: "I consider the mathematical treatment of these problems to be among the chief glories of Western civilization, and I hope you agree."Shownotes:mathacademy.comcsprimer.com
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E23: MathAcademy and the efficient pursuit of mastery
There's something about MathAcademy that just works for learning math (for both kids and adults - ask Reddit!), and we're chatting with Justin Skycak - Chief Quant & Director of Analytics at MathAcademy - to try to figure it out.Shownotes:justinmath.com -- Justin's personal websitemathacademy.com3blue1brownCell biology by the numbersExecuteProgramStar Trek 2009The Math Academy Way -- Math Academy's working draft book, authored by Justin, which answers the following questions: What techniques exist to maximize student learning and talent development, particularly in the context of math? Why are these techniques so impactful, and if they are indeed so impactful, then why are they so often absent from traditional classrooms? How does Math Academy leverage these techniques?Math Academy Origin Story, 2014-20 -- from Sandy & Jason's perspective, with a focus on how the original in-school program and early software came to beMath Academy Origin Story, 2019-23 -- from Justin's perspective, with a focus on teaching in that school program and getting the algorithms in place to turn it into a fully automated systemNews Articles about Math Academy's original in-school programOz on XCharlie on XOz's websiteCharlie's website
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E22: Building HR software for dying on Mars?
Ammar Mian is a software engineer and the co-founder of startup health tech company Malla - and another former student of Oz's and Bradfield School of Computer Science! Many software engineers daydream about starting their own company one day, so we've got Ammar on the show this week to give us the goods. Is it still fun? Can you still get into flow? Are you still coding? Does Oz want to die on Mars? All this and more!Shownotes:MallaThe WigglesThe Six Levels of Interaction with a SystemZone of proximal developmentRed-bellied black snakeReentry [book] - more recent history of SpaceXRed Mars [book] - Kim Stanley Robinson
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E21: Make the easy things harder (with Madison Kanna)
Madison Kanna is a lifelong learner and self-taught programmer who learns in public, and Madison joins Oz and Charlie to share tactics for getting things done (with their learning goals) - and the importance of having fun along the way when learning computer science.ShownotesMadison Kanna's siteThe Cost of Forsaking CFlow - Mihaly CsikszentmihalyiRyan Holiday - Don't Talk about Writing a Novel
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E20: Jason Benn's path to ML engineering
Jason Benn is an ML engineer and truly the epitome of a lifelong learner (Cal Newport even wrote about Jason in one of his books on learning!). Oz and Charlie catch up with Jason on his current self-directed ML sabbatical - which he's corralled into a co-working cohort called mleclub.com (similar to Recurse Center but with an ML / AI focus). We discuss the tactical, strategic, and emotional side to effective self-directed learning, and close out with a new segment tentatively called "Would you read the top article on Hacker News right now?".ShownotesMinerva University [book] So Good They Can't Ignore You - Cal Newport[book] Why Greatness Cannot Be Planned - Kenneth O. O. Stanley, Joel LehmanJason Benn's website MLE Club
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