At a crossroad

Hi Motty,

I just joined for a week, but I'm absolutely addicted to Treehouse! All the teachers are my heroes, because I can sense that they truly care about their jobs. I thought I'd just give my 2 cents on the topic here.

This post reminded me of an idea I have that maybe Treehouse could implement, which is a student evaluation system. I am a teaching assistant in a university, and they allow students to evaluate me anonymously every year as well. Some of the comments will be pretty hurtful (esp. if you open it up for the whole internet to criticize you). But when you see some comments keep recurring, you have an idea about your weakness and can improve upon it. You can skip ones that are obviously personal.

For students, I'd say, go at your own pace. I pause and rewind Randy's and Andrew's videos all the time. Sometimes, I paused and try to make the function work on my own, before peeking what the teachers are going to do. Sometimes I tried alternate ways of doing it. I skip lots of things that I already knew, and just take the quiz to prove that I actually know it. I sometimes just read the transcript quickly on topics I'm familiar with. This is the beauty of e-learning. On Treehouse, they give you all the resources to make it fit your learning style. You cannot do these things in the university.

Hey Jah,

I too am addicted to Treehouse and 3,000 points in one week is amazing! You must be a robot!

I agree that every single teacher is amazing and that they all care about their respective careers. I was in no way, shape or form, trying to hurt the teachers, nor their reputations. I was trying for a constructive, not-even-a-criticism, guideline for future reference.

I would never request something that wasn't changeable. I used Nick as a good example of the possibility of change for the better. Just as I'm here - an adult that wants to learn constantly and improve on his work - I believe the teachers are also constantly looking to improve on their lessons. The best possible way for them to know where their faults lay, is by their students being honest and open with them. I must assume that the teachers are mature enough to handle critique from their students without taking personal offense.

I don't think any of my comments were "personal", yet they were specifically directed towards teachers. Meaning, the points I brought up weren't about the teacher - they were about something the teacher was doing that is changeable and isn't a defining quality about the teacher himself. I specifically stated good qualities about each teacher that I addressed; to remind him that I love this place and that he's an amazing teacher (though some things can be improved). I know that Zac is an amazing teacher...I have never misunderstood him. This doesn't mean that he's perfect.

I don't feel it's necessary to be anonymous when we belong to a family.

I'm also not perfect, and because of this I am going at my own pace and paying $50 a month (very much worth it) to be a part of this amazing community. A place where I can learn.

When I review a topic twice and I still don't understand the material, it's not for a lack of trying. You seem like a very smart woman (accumulating that amount of points in a week, wow!), and I commend you for your efforts and achievements. The very nature of me not understanding the same materials as well could be a hint towards a better system (or that I'm the only guy that's not as intelligent as you).

I like all the instructors as well. I think Nick just sets the bar really really high. He is an expert at what he does and that is taking a subject he knows and breaking it down in a way that is both easy to understand and engaging.

It is very hard to do. Zac makes me laugh. He provides a little bit of comic relief. I think sometimes we take things too seriously and he is a good reminder that this is supposed to be something we enjoy. I think of his enthusiasm as a positive.

I will admit that I was sad to read of Allison's departure. Chicks that code are awesome and treehouse needs them. Hopefully we haven't seen the last of her.

Tagging Randy Hoyt, Zac Gordon, Guil Hernandez & Nick Pettit on this one

Hi Motty Jaffe,

Thanks for taking the time to write this super honest feedback. We always welcome constructive feedback and would never take it personally. Trust me, Treehouse teachers have heard it all. :)

I'll leave it to each teacher to address their own courses, but one thing I'd like to point out is that the teachers we hire are experts first and actors second. Teaching in a classroom or writing a blog post is very different from being on camera. It's incredibly difficult to find people that are both top-tier technology experts and outstanding presenters, so instead, we try to take subject matter experts and provide them with an environment that will train them to be better presenters.

That said, a lot of it just comes with practice. I was an actor from ages 2-18 before I became more serious about a career in tech, and as you noted, it still took time for me to adjust to being on camera again. :)

I'm not trying to make excuses here. Rather, I'm just trying to highlight why your feedback is so valuable. We need to hear things like this so that we can improve and make Treehouse better.

Motty Jaffe I want to second Nick Pettit and say, as long as it's like you have done and provided constructive feedback that doesn't get personal or malicious, then bring it!!! We (I) love the feedback and nothing you have said is something I haven't reflected on myself.

To share some explanations. When I came on board a year ago I had some guidance to go for a very very simplified and humorous instruction on how to build a Blog with WordPress. We realized pretty soon after launch that we had gone too far with this approach, as you rightly point out with your explanation of "going back to 2nd grade," a comment which actually made me laugh :p although I realize you made a very serious point.

When I moved on to the How to Build a Theme Plugin I dropped a lot of that humor, tried to bring a more serious real world project into the narrative, and step up the professionalism and target audience for the project. With my third and most recent project, How to Build a WordPress Plugin (soon to be on roadmap) I think I have refined this process even more and hope you will find much more of what you're looking for.

Also, a big shout out to Guil Hernandez for demonstrating some really strong and spot on teaching skills. He's definitely one of my role model teachers here at Treehouse.

I am getting ready to start on redoing the first blog project into How to Build a Website with WordPress and if you would like to ping me outside the forums zac [at] teamtreehouse.com I would love to hear your thoughts on how to improve it even more.

Thanks again for speaking your voice and I encourage other students to do the same and follow your respectful approach for doing so.