E-Classes (& Other Changes) Coming

Many changes coming..

Site fixes

You’ve seen the new theme by now. Many more people were reading on “devices” and the old format was not well suited. Plus, the typography on this new one is pleasing.

All pages have been updated, especially the Classics page, which has an entirely new format. I have too much material to put up “best posts”. Besides, I have a something in the works for those.

E-classes

I have decided to make formal the lessons taught here under the title “e-classes”–which is, I know, an awful name. I am willing to consider others.

I went with “e” prefix because (above, on the menu bar) if you saw only “classes” you might assume these are links to classes taught in some physical location. This aetheric non-location is (now, anyway) the only location at which I teach.

In order to discover the class lessons a link on the relevant menu page will appear, but so will a new category. This drop down select menu is located to the right on large screens, and at the bottom on small ones. This feature was too little used before. The category will be ECLASS NAME. These will be obvious when they start next week.

Classes will show about once every week or two. We’re starting with Applied Statistics, which assumes that the material of Uncertainty is known. Which is to say, I won’t spend any time proving why the philosophy of probability I use is the one and only true one. We’ll just start with “analyzing” some data under this philosophy. R code will be provided as necessary.

I warn readers that how I teach statistics is not how statistics classes are taught at typical universities. The emphasis there is on the math, and proving this and that. Fine stuff. But math doesn’t help much in understanding what models mean, and what uncertainty is. Probability isn’t math, though math is useful in some aspects of probability. (This is proved in Uncertainty.)

Thus, though the course says “Applied Statistics”, it’s more applied epistemology than anything else. All this will make sense.

The lesson order will be more-or-less serial, but I don’t want to lose the possibility of mixing in timely posts with the class. This is so for the first lesson, which is the Gremlins of MCMC, or Why Simulations Don’t Do What You Think.

There is no way to charge for these classes, but I have beefed up (and am beefing up) the Donations page.

Podcast

These will be returning in a new format. The old one had its merits, but it wasn’t working. They’d be fine as lectures in classes, but they weren’t gaining a casual listenership. I hope this problem has been fixed. Stay tuned for details.

Thanks to a generous reader, the podcasts might graduate to videocasts, but only after the bugs are worked out in the new format.

Talks

I have a number of talks upcoming, about which more when the dates are near. But here a reminder that I’ve available for more. (The topics will be obvious to regular readers.) Use the Contact Page to inquire.

Consulting

This is how I make my living. I don’t know where, but I don’t mind making more of it! Again, use the Contact Page and send them my way.

4 Comments

  1. I can’t afford your book at the moment. A newer pair of spectacles comes first ($75 for the exam, $200 or more for the lenses and $50 to $100 for the frames. Once I have those and a few more quid, I’m buying a hardback copy of your book.

    I will look forward to your online classes. They’ll be fun, I’m sure.

  2. bat8

    Of course there’s a way to charge for this classes, in fact there are many ways. For an example, google “wordpress paywall”. Though I benefit from you not knowing of any.
    If you mean there isn’t enough of a market for them, you might be right.

  3. Steve E

    Briggs,

    Digital Learning, Digital Classes, Digital Course, Online Learning, Online Classes, Online Courses, Distance Learning, Distance Classes, Distance Courses, e-Learning, Online Seminars, Webinars…you get the idea. To me “classes” suggests both a group of people and a physical place and “e-anything” has become a little trite; “Digital,” “Online” and “Distance” are better descriptors. If you do want to continue with “e” then I think “Learning” works better than “Classes.”

    Cheers

  4. Briggs

    Steve E,

    Thanks. I’m not a big fan of “e” anything, either.

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