There are many kinds of courses for every learning style, but I’m going to focus on programming and programming languages (not directly), as it is the area where I have the most experience and where I first identified the issues I’ll discuss. Keep in mind I’m not a scientist nor basing this on formal studies. I’m simply sharing my own experience and beliefs, inviting you to reflect on your learning methods.

1. The illusion of pasive learning

Courses typically teach through audio, text, images, or videos, content we consume as we progress through lessons. We watch, listen, or read as instructors demonstrate what they’re teaching, believing we’re understanding and learning. However, consuming content creates an illusion in our brains, making us believe we’ve learned and can now apply that knowledge. In reality, this is just familiarity, not genuine understanding or learning.

Some people may have exceptional memory or cognitive abilities that allow them to learn purely from consuming content, but most of us don’t. A simple way to test whether you’re actually learning or just consuming: try to recall or apply the material a few hours later, or the next day. If you realize you can’t remember the content or can’t apply it, then, you did not learn. You just became familiar with it.

Don’t let this realization trick you into thinking you lack the capability to learn, that you’re not smart enough, or that “this just isn’t for you.” These thoughts push us away from improving our learning methods and prevent us from addressing the real issues.

2. Superficiality vs. Depth in concepts

Most courses are entirely based on showing how to do something, going step by step. Some even might include tests or mini-projects intended to be completed by following the steps and concepts introduced. Courses limit themselves to the HOW, completely omitting the WHAT, WHY, and FOR WHAT.

The lack of context is an even bigger issue. You might actually learn how, what, and why about the things you’re studying, but it’s completely useless if you don’t know where and when to use it, that’s context. Imagine you have a hammer (knowledge), top quality, but you need to tighten a gear (context). Even if the hammer is incredibly good, it’s useless because it’s not what you need. That’s the problem with context: we need to know when and where to apply our knowledge. Otherwise, it has absolutely no practical use, even if it could help us learn other things.

When courses show us how to do things step by step, we’re simply replicating someone else’s actions instead of reflecting and critically analyzing the information to generate our own thoughts. However, this isn’t necessarily bad if your objective is to complete a specific task and you prioritize that over learning and understanding what you’re doing, or if you just need a quick reminder. Not everything needs to have the same purpose or approach.

3. Absence of cognitive challenge and genuine interest

Following steps and replicating someone else’s actions does not represent the same mental process as actually trying to solve problems and errors we discover or establish ourselves. For example, watching someone do a sport like soccer or boxing, even if you understand the technique, is very different from actually doing it yourself. This same analogy applies to learning anything less physical than a sport; it’s just more difficult to see.

As established earlier, many courses don’t offer challenges or tests substantial enough to make us truly think instead of just following presented steps. And even when they do offer them, they might not generate the genuine interest or motivation needed for better learning and deeper understanding, because it’s not our own work. I see it as solving someone else’s homework instead of mine.

Learning anything at all requires practice, making errors, and active reflection. It’s in the process of solving those errors or answering our own questions where we find our own motivation and interest, which allows us to learn even more and with less frustration.

4. Learning in practice and failure

So, what’s the solution that could work? My personal answer: do your own thing. Create your own projects, solve your own problems, find your own interests.

Learning is not something static and set in stone, it’s something you need to discover and keep adapting to yourself. You need to own your unique learning methods. This is a continuous process. We need to keep learning how to learn in order to learn anything. It’s a skill, just like any other skill you can think of. Imagine it like a cycle: experiment, try to understand, fail, try to solve, learn, and repeat.

Learning is not a one-time thing, and this is another lie we often fall for without even realizing it. You might feel like you can solve calculus equations, implement Dijkstra’s algorithm, or do a backflip, but you’ll forget how to do it sooner than you realize if you don’t keep practicing periodically. However, keep in mind that everything is different, and you need to adapt. But always, always keep focus on your objectives and ask yourself if what you’re doing and learning contributes to them. We can’t learn everything about everything.

Conclusion

Learning is a skill, like any other. We need to practice it, fail trying, and keep improving. Don’t be afraid of failing, of trying what you think could be right, or even doing the smallest thing differently, but actually do the things. You will feel frustration, make a lot of mistakes, and even feel like quitting. I know you will, just like I did (and still do). But if you know it’s something you want, need, or that contributes to your objectives, keep doing it. It will help you way more than you think and in ways you might not even imagine. We are the only ones responsible for our learning and education. Don’t give up, keep going, and take a break from time to time.

Thanks for reading.