Hi learners,

How do you find the best teachers?

The means of learning are abundant, but your time to learn is scarce. You can find online courses, coaches, and trainers everywhere. But when you're a novice in any field, it's hard to distinguish the valuable from the useless.

Today we'll explore some "meta" strategies that can help you find the best teachers for the skills you want to learn.

Have they mastered what you intend to learn?

There are many self-claimed online experts who teach theoretical fluff but have never directly done the thing. These "teachers" have read about others doing it and they might even be consultants for it, but have never learned and applied the skill.

What to do: Do a 10-minute background check on the teacher. If you intend to hire a guitar teacher, look at recordings. If you take an entrepreneurship course, check whether the instructor has built and scaled a company. Only commit your time if teachers have a proven track record.

Are they good at teaching?

Pedagogy is complex. Only because somebody has mastered a skill doesn't mean they're good at teaching it. Before you commit to a learning experience, determine whether the instructors are good teachers.

What to do: Ask for sample content and see whether you can follow. You can also hop on a brisk call to ask for an explanation to one question you have. Pay attention to whether they give a step-by-step explanation with a rationale behind. Plus, you can check whether the syllabus or learning design includes deliberate practice and a bias for action.

Can you relate to them?

I talked to Andreas Schleicher, OECD Director for Education and Skills, last week and he said something very wise: "Teaching is not just you know what you do, what you teach, but it's more about who you are. Many things are caught, not taught."

What to do: Look out for the social-emotional fit. If you spend a couple of hours every week with the same person, you'll copy some of their behavior. Plus, social connection strengthens learning.

Happy Learning :)

---

Learning Nuggets

🧠 How can you keep on learning?

I hosted a learning workshop a couple of weeks ago for 50 curious learners. On the right side you can finde a beautiful visual recording of the workshop, courtesy of Hannah Lenitz.

---

🎯 A comprehensive library of learning techniques

If you follow this link you'll find a great collection of learning techniques for defining, understanding, memorization, and review. The data base includes many techniques we previously covered in the learn letter, such as spaced repetition, interleaving, and elaboration.

If you click on the name, you'll find more information about each technique.

---

“The world is full of successful people and not all of them were meant to be your teacher..”

- Michael Thompson

---

​