Re: [Phys-L] another?? thread?? on online teaching or on the job education?

[John Denker <jsd@av8n.com>]

On 03/27/2013 11:13 AM, Bernard Cleyet wrote:
> perhaps of interest?
>
> Disruption guru Christensen: Why Apple, Tesla, VCs, academia may die - Silicon Valley Business Journal
>
> http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2013/02/07/disruption-guru-christensen-why.html?ana=lnk&page=all

Interesting to me at least.

What Christensen says makes sense as far as it goes, but it is
very incomplete.  For one thing, the market for cheap cell phones
is a /byproduct/ market, rather like ordinary leather is a byproduct
of the meat industry.  The chips used in a cheap cell phone come off
a fabrication line that cost well over a billion dollars to set up, 
and it was the expensive cell phones that paid for it.  The cut-rate 
guys need to be careful not to bite the hand that feeds them.

I reckon Christensen may be /underestimating/ the impact of online 
learning.  Schools will adapt or die.  RSN.

> bc wonders how one does on the job physics

Answers to that question include:
 -- students teach you a lot
 -- local collaborators
 -- far-away collaborators
 -- books
 -- phys-l
 -- APS meetings
 -- other meetings
 -- Gordon conferences
 -- Erice conferences
 -- Aspen CFP
 -- Santa Barbara ITP
 -- Santa Fe Institute
 -- Perimeter Institute
 -- Les Houches Advanced Study Institute
 -- consultants
 -- web pages
 -- yet more books
 -- etc. etc. etc.
 ..... not to mention original work, figuring stuff out

When I walk into a typical physics professor's office, every bit of
wall is covered with books.  Maybe a thousand books.

I had a good education, quite literally better than most people can
imagine, and I am exceedingly grateful for it ... yet still it was 
less than 10% of what I needed to know to do my job.  On-the-job 
training is *most* of the story.  The degrees and stuff were just 
preparation, just to get ready for the real learning.

BTW the same goes for pilot training.  At least 90% of what you need
to know you have to teach yourself.  Formal flight training is just
to get you to the point where you can safely learn on your own.

It is super-important for students to understand this message.

The guys at Bell Labs have a saying:  "Research here is like doing a
new PhD thesis every year."