Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!ncis.llnl.gov!helios.ee.lbl.gov!pasteur!ucbvax!hplabs!hpfcdc!hpfclm!hpfcdj!myers
From: myers@hpfcdj.HP.COM (Bob Myers)
Newsgroups: sci.electronics
Subject: Re: Learning Electronics
Message-ID: <16750013@hpfcdj.HP.COM>
Date: 23 Jan 89 20:03:44 GMT
References: <5340@bsu-cs.UUCP>
Organization: Hewlett Packard -- Fort Collins, CO
Lines: 24

>than a correspondence course.  If you don't insist on being spoon-fed
>everything, this can be a very effective way to learn.

I would agree that this *may* be a very effective way to learn for *some*
students, with a couple of caveats:

The vast majority of textbooks for electronics are inadequate without
*some* type of supervision/feedback/verbal instruction.  The problem is,
that while they are very good at presenting tons of formulas and their
applications, they do very little to enhance a student's *understanding*
of what's going on.  It is always better to have an understanding of the
principles involved than to have a perfect recollection of reams of
apparently-mystical formulas.  The student who has learned nothing more than
the formulas, by rote, will be completely lost when encountering problems   
which do not match the very specific conditions under which those 
formulas were derived.  I'm not saying that you *can't* gain an understanding
of electronics through textbooks alone, but my experience as an instructor is
that about 90% of the students will be far better off in a classroom
environment than on their own.


Bob Myers  KC0EW   HP Graphics Tech. Div.|  Opinions expressed here are not
                   Ft. Collins, Colorado |  those of my employer or any other
{the known universe}!hplabs!hpfcla!myers |  sentient life-form on this planet.