I really haven't done anything geeky lately. I would really like to be hacking on Parrot and expanding my Perl knowledge base but I don't seem to have the energy. I should also be spending time with Jean learning/teaching languages - but nada.
I have this loose idea in my head about free on-line training sessions. Spending time in the Monastary CB and #perl shows me that no matter how many times you tell someone to RTFM they just don't get it.
It is a well known fact that different people learn different ways. Some people need to have things related to something they already know - others are better visual people than auditory - yadda yadda yadda. So this loose idea is where people would submit requests for training sessions - (how to pass by reference, how to sort complex datastructures, how closures work). I know - stuff that is in TFM. Then someone would volunteer to be an instructor - perhaps come up with some slides - but the actual training would be live and on-line. Perhaps the instructor creates an IRC channel where they are instructor/op and anyone else who joins is considered student
That last point I see as critical - the entire channel is devoted to the instruction of a single topic and there is exactly one teacher. The others present can ask questions.
Anyway - it seems that there needs to be a very structured underlying framework for this to work and I am too lazy to work on it. Chances are if I gave it any more thought to transform it from a loose idea into a solid one I would think it was a ridiculous idea.
But IMO the most critical thing is a way to avoid doing the same lecture too often. So the most critical side of it, is the announcement and scheduling. It should be well announced long beforehand, and maybe the date/time of lecture could be shifted depending on how many people can attend, and who can't make it. It'd be very silly indeed, if the one person who asked for this lecture in the first place, couldn't be present.
