Contextual Electronics

[apelly]

Signed up for Chris' Contextual Electronics course today. Will let you know how it goes.

It was a relatively small outlay, I'll learn stuff, and it supports Chris, who entertains me: Pros outweighed the cons.

[apelly]

Two and a half weeks in:

It's kind of relaxed and pleasant; in a part time sort of way. It's a bit like a beta, but I can't think of a better way to do it. Chris actually makes content as requested, which is pretty slick!

So far it's very light on theory (next to none) but I can see how sometimes you need to just "get shit done" and the theory can follow as a matter of course.

There's an ultra rigid "forum" structure though which makes it (deliberately) a pain in the ass to communicate outside your team. Actually I'm a bit surprised we haven't seen a Contextual Electronics thread over here. In due course maybe...

Chris' heart seems to be in the right place though. And that's important.

[ChrisGammell]

Thanks! I'm glad you participated. There might be one or two other EEVblog forum members inside CE, hard to keep forum names straight.

The CE forum structure was to try and reduce the normal forum silliness and increase team cohesion, though it does restrict overall involvement. I might open up a general forum later into the course, but there is still more experimenting. The "on demand" content has been great actually, as I've gotten more comfortable with the tablet and trying to explain stuff there. We'll probably move into more theory as well, but I just don't know how to try and normalize everyone without demanding math skills. I've been feeling the pull to dive into the math more and more (especially when talking about signal theory) but don't want to discourage people from getting stuff done/made. I figure the ones who pull through that and are really interested will go back and learn the math in order to be able to innovate/iterate better.

I was a little surprised by your comment about the pacing. For some, it seems hard to keep up but for some it seems a little slow. I'm guessing that is dependent on overall experience level? How would you rate your experience level versus your group members?

I do appreciate the feedback and feel free to give more as it comes to mind. I like that there is a thread here, as it might encourage more folks to sign up later. Thanks again!

[Sigmoid]

I missed the community signup, but did sign up for the Audit program, as I'm hoping to pick up some useful practical tidbits.
So far I like the hands-on nature of the course - the only problem I'm having is that it feels a bit drawn out.

I think it's a good idea to create a forum of correspondence here, I'm sure I'll have questions sooner or later, and it'd be nice to discuss them with others who know exactly what I'm talking about.

[apelly]

I might open up a general forum later into the course

I have three ideas:

• Email notifications for the course forums as well as the group ones
• Allow replying to the forum by email
• Moderated comments on the video pages

None of which may be practical.

I just don't know how to try and normalize everyone without demanding math skills.

Nobody has to bother with the theory if they don't want to, or can't, but if you don't give us some formulas and examples then what information can we extrapolate from to design other projects?

I've been feeling the pull to dive into the math more and more (especially when talking about signal theory) but don't want to discourage people from getting stuff done/made.

Meh. They signed up for an electronics course. I know your emphasis is on practical application, which I approve of, but if we are just blindly copying you then what do we really learn?

I figure the ones who pull through that and are really interested will go back and learn the math in order to be able to innovate/iterate better.

True. You're not issuing qualifications here. It is an electronics course though. By your logic I could have just learned everything from the web and not bothered with Contextual Electronics. (I wouldn't have though - See post 1)

I was a little surprised by your comment about the pacing. For some, it seems hard to keep up but for some it seems a little slow. I'm guessing that is dependent on overall experience level? How would you rate your experience level versus your group members?

My design and troubleshooting experience doesn’t really exist beyond kit assembly. I have been learning from the web. My group seems to range from the same as me to quite competent.

I do appreciate the feedback and feel free to give more as it comes to mind. I like that there is a thread here, as it might encourage more folks to sign up later. Thanks again!

I didn't expect you to pop up over here so my comments were just idle thoughts that I noted down for others thinking of signing up in the future. I'm glad the feedback is useful for you though.

[ChrisGammell]

Oh yeah man, I'm a ninja, I pop up everywhere (on the internet)

[orion242]

Two and a half weeks in:

It's kind of relaxed and pleasant; in a part time sort of way. It's a bit like a beta, but I can't think of a better way to do it. Chris actually makes content as requested, which is pretty slick!

So far it's very light on theory (next to none) but I can see how sometimes you need to just "get shit done" and the theory can follow as a matter of course.

There's an ultra rigid "forum" structure though which makes it (deliberately) a pain in the ass to communicate outside your team. Actually I'm a bit surprised we haven't seen a Contextual Electronics thread over here. In due course maybe...

Chris' heart seems to be in the right place though. And that's important.

That's good to hear your happy with it.

Personally I had the same thought.  Small outlay for the minimum, lot of content, likely good stuff, no big deal.  I didn't sign up but was really on the fence.  What ended up nixing me, was the very few details on the project he wanted to build.  I'll likely pay for the content now that I hear some good reviews.

No offense Chris, but you can only spend it once.  It sounded like a great format, I just wanted more details on the project up front.  Your still likely to separate me from my coin in the end.

[ChrisGammell]

No worries Onion! I am glad people were willing to jump in but if I'm honest, I'm not usually an early adopter so I might have sat it out with you! Also, I was stupidly quiet about the project itself...secrecy is dumb :-D

[Kohanbash]

Signed up for Chris' Contextual Electronics course today. Will let you know how it goes.

It was a relatively small outlay, I'll learn stuff, and it supports Chris, who entertains me: Pros outweighed the cons.

I also had a similar thought process when signing up. Most of the PCB design that I have done (in eagle) is self taught so I wanted this opportunity to learn better/best practices from somebody who actually knows they are doing. Paying for the course also gives me the motivation to learn KiCad which is less restrictive then eagle (and I am starting to like better than eagle).

I was debating between audit and participate. While I would be willing to pay more for more content it was not clear what the additional content was, and I do not have time to spend on group activities (work, family, etc..). I agree with the other posters that knowing more about the project would have been nice (I know you had the video towards the end).

I think certain things are going slow but I have also been working as an engineer for 8 years (plus hobby stuff and university before that).

I really enjoyed the video you posted on buffers.

This module is about basic PCB design and the next if for building the PCB. What ideas do you have for future modules? Are they the same course but with a different project, more advanced, or different topics?

One thing that might be nice is to post pdf's of the schematic/block-diagram developed in the video on the pages (I know I can pause the video or get it from github). I don't know if I am old school or if others would also like to look at the pdf after watching the video.

Cheers!

[orion242]

IMHO your spot on.  I have the cash to spend, but I have a full time career that doesn't require EE design knowledge.   Find the right format, at the right price, and I'm all in if there is value.

That said, my hobby and my collage time prior to paid employment was spent in the EE field.  Well that and anything female. These days, learn at your own pace is exactly what I'm looking for.

EE still a huge plus for me.  I repair in-house many of our controllers.  All of this I would credit this Dave and Chris for re-sparking my interest in the field and setting up a good lab at home.  I would love to pickup where I left off in EE and continue because its parallel with my current occupation.

It's a value for value proposition that both Dave and Chris should push more.  I use to pay >$60 a month for cable TV to deliver me 100 channels of bull $hit.  I would much rather pay for XX hours of content from these guys than anything on cable.  I have netflix, youtube, and a few select podcast I donate to now and cable got tossed to the curb.  So far I have far more good content then ever before at a fraction of the price.