Episode 30: Teaching Adult Learners

In this episode, Kelly and Sean speak to Reuven Lerner about how to teach adult learners and people switching to Python from other languages. Reuven is a corporate trainer of Python and Data Science. He helps developers around the world learn how to code in Python. As fellow teachers, we dive into the similarities and differences of teaching adults versus students. What works? What is new and interesting?

Our guest, Reuven Lerner, is a full-time Python trainer. In a given year, he teaches courses at companies in the United States, Europe, Israel, and China — as well as to people around the world, via his online courses.

Reuven created one of the first 100 Web sites in the world just after graduating from MIT’s computer science department. He opened Lerner Consulting in 1995, and has been offering training services since 1996.

Reuven’s monthly column has appeared in Linux Journal since 1996, and was a panelist on the Freelancers Show podcast from 2015 - 2019. He is also the CTO of Rent Like a Champion, an event-based home-rental company based in Chicago, Illinois.

Reuven’s most recent book is “Python Workout,” a collection of Python exercises with extensive explanations, published by Manning.

Reuven’s free, weekly “Better Developers” newsletter, about Python and software engineering, is read by more than 10,000 developers around the globe. His “Trainer weekly” newsletter is similarly popular among people who give corporate training.

Reuven has a bachelor’s degree in computer science and engineering from MIT, and a PhD in learning sciences from Northwestern University. He lives in Modi’in, Israel with his wife and three children.

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• Learning Bayesian Statistics — Are you a researcher or data scientist/analyst/ninja? Do you want to learn Bayesian inference, stay up to date or simply want to understand what Bayesian inference is? Well I'm just like you! When I started learning Bayesian methods, I really wished there were a podcast out there that could introduce me to the methods, the projects and the people who make all that possible. So I created "Learning Bayesian Statistics", a fortnightly podcast where I interview researchers and practitioners of all fields about why and how they use Bayesian statistics, how they came to these methods, and what their projects and challenges are. My name is Alexandre Andorra by the way. I live in Paris and I’m a data scientist, passionate (and learning) Bayesian, and elections-forecasting enthusiast.
• Weekly Python Exercise: Advanced topics 3 — Become the fastest, most proficient Python programmer at your company. What career opportunities would you have if you were a top 1% Python developer?  Maybe you already have a decent understanding of it... ...but wouldn’t you rather know exactly what to code in every situation? To just “know” how to solve any problem off the top of your head, without spending hours scouring Stack Overflow or Google and rarely finding solutions that make sense?
• Python for EV3