Many of these I'm sure where spurred on by CarlH's C++ Course http://www.highercomputingforeveryone.com/ (used to be on reddit) which is a great resource for learning C++. The interactive forum style of reddit makes teaching and mentoring easy.
If you search for Carl Herold on Google the first result is a rip-off report, which he claims is fake. Whether or not it is (I believe it is fake) his services to the online community are not to be ignored, and many on reddit have tried improving his pagerank for highercomputingforeveryone.com
To anyone who appreciates Carl Herold's work: please spread word about http://www.highercomputingforeveryone.com/ and post the link when the opportunity arises, not only to help others learn C++ but for Carls sake, he really is a true altruist.
This is great. If the teachers turn out to be good this will become a pretty nifty resource for learning. I hope it turn out to be like Khan Academy but with a lot more teachers.
This has gotten me pretty motivated to learn some new stuff. I plan on taking the span 101 class and the game theory class. I only wish someone would open a Russian class, I'm getting a bit rusty...
I'd gladly sit down and pass on everything I know about programming (not a lot!), unix, amateur radio, aviation etc because as long as it's an interest of mine, I love talking about it. Having someone willing and/or eager to listen is even more motivational.
Because it's cheaper and has a shorter feedback loop than other ways of mastering a subject.
Have always felt teaching was one of the best ways to learn. Good students will force you to respect many of the fundamentals that you never had the patience for in school or when you're working in your field day-to-day.
Perhaps the best way to find good teachers is to find people who do it for social reasons, to have an impact, or for the appreciation of their peers, rather than the money. Even if it's on a part-time basis.
I'm not sure part-time would work for elementary school, but past that? I think it would work.
Your statement reminds me in a way of Diogenes of Sinope[1]:
The most scandalous of these activities involves his masturbation in the marketplace, to which he responded he wished it were as easy to relieve hunger by rubbing an empty stomach.
On that note I did come across Udemy[1] the other day - which is something similar and looks like it will let you offer paid-for courses in the future (paid courses seem on a limited trial atm).
I be dammed if I can remember his name now, but there was a famous mathematician, who used to travel around to different universities, sleeping there and working on papers with the other professors.
Some people can leverage karma points into employment. It usually is a decent proxy for determining that someone is a known and valuable member of a community, which counts for a lot.
Oh dear god.