Con Academy

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Conacademy uses a web-based system to teach students math. The idea of instant feedback has been part of conacademy from the start. There are great efficacy studies on con academy demonstrating pretty interesting benefits. But i think there's a lot of work to do to scale it to things like, you know, what was the primary cause of world war one? A getting there rather than knowing how to multiply two digit numbers is going to be an extra thing.

Software Engineer Andy Matuschak talks about his essay "Why Books Don't Work" with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Matuschak argues that most books rely on transmissionism, the idea that an author can share an idea in print and the reader will absorb it. And yet after reading a non-fiction book, most readers will struggle to remember any of the ideas in the book. Matuschak argues for a different approach to transmitting ideas via the web including different ways that authors or teachers can test for understanding that will increase the chances of retention and mastery of complex ideas.