13 ms·

I think learning from another human being live who can understand your confusingly articulated questions and who can adjust their answers for you, another human

by kovek 2mo ago

I think learning from another human being live who can understand your confusingly articulated questions and who can adjust their answers for you, another human being, that's great.

b473a 2mo ago
I agree, at least in that we need more human contact, not less. But I will say Gemini / Claude have both been surprisingly good at understanding my half-assed attempts to put a complicated question into a coherent sentence.
thedevilslawyer 2mo ago
Too costly. Now its viable with AI to do it cheaply.
- jplusequalt 2mo ago
  >Too costly. Now its viable with AI to do it cheaply. Where is the data that shows this sort of technology beats normal pedagogy? From a study I read that came out last year, AI tutors are at best no better than a teacher, and whats worse is that AI tutor use caused many students to become dependent on them. These students could not recall information or perform nearly as well without them. This is just another example of a long line of behavior from software engineers thinking they are god's gifted people, who can waltz into any industry and revolutionize it overnight with an application.
- kovek 2mo ago
  Try being an English speaker learning Mandarin from Claude
  - CamperBob2 2mo ago
    What obstacles do you tend to run into? I'd be inclined to use a Chinese model for that, since Claude was presumably RLHF'ed primarily by native Anglophones. Have you tried a Chinese-trained LLM for learning Mandarin, and if so, did it help?
    - kovek 1mo ago
      I think to learn a language you need to do as many modalities as you can: Speaking, listening, reading, singing, asking questions to native speakers, asking questions to LLMs, writing, flash cards, etc. The obstacle with LLMs is that they are specifically going at their own uncanny valley pace. I do see how that might be not a problem for some prompts. I haven't tried a Chinese-trained LLM for learning Mandarin, so I'm not sure which LLM is best..

by kovek 2mo ago

I think learning from another human being live who can understand your confusingly articulated questions and who can adjust their answers for you, another human being, that's great.

b473a 2mo ago

I agree, at least in that we need more human contact, not less. But I will say Gemini / Claude have both been surprisingly good at understanding my half-assed attempts to put a complicated question into a coherent sentence.

thedevilslawyer 2mo ago

Too costly. Now its viable with AI to do it cheaply.

jplusequalt 2mo ago
>Too costly. Now its viable with AI to do it cheaply. Where is the data that shows this sort of technology beats normal pedagogy? From a study I read that came out last year, AI tutors are at best no better than a teacher, and whats worse is that AI tutor use caused many students to become dependent on them. These students could not recall information or perform nearly as well without them. This is just another example of a long line of behavior from software engineers thinking they are god's gifted people, who can waltz into any industry and revolutionize it overnight with an application.
kovek 2mo ago
Try being an English speaker learning Mandarin from Claude
- CamperBob2 2mo ago
  What obstacles do you tend to run into? I'd be inclined to use a Chinese model for that, since Claude was presumably RLHF'ed primarily by native Anglophones. Have you tried a Chinese-trained LLM for learning Mandarin, and if so, did it help?
  - kovek 1mo ago
    I think to learn a language you need to do as many modalities as you can: Speaking, listening, reading, singing, asking questions to native speakers, asking questions to LLMs, writing, flash cards, etc. The obstacle with LLMs is that they are specifically going at their own uncanny valley pace. I do see how that might be not a problem for some prompts. I haven't tried a Chinese-trained LLM for learning Mandarin, so I'm not sure which LLM is best..