I had a mentor a long time ago who would say “it’s not getting it that takes the time, it’s the NOT getting it that takes the time.” I have seen this over and over again. I remember when I was learning design patterns 20+ years ago I spent 6 months NOT getting it. Then, in one 15 minute (imaginary) conversation with Chris Alexander I had the epiphany that led to my truly understanding what patterns were (they are well beyond “solutions to a recurring problem in a context” and was the basis for Jim Trott and my Design Patterns Explained book).
6 months NOT getting it.
15 minutes GETTING it.
Most of the 6 MONTHS of NOT getting it was studying and thinking about patterns. The 15 minutes of GETTING it was preceded by 6 HOURS of working on my problems.
The insight was not based on information but came from a slight mind-shift.
Maybe we need to learn by doing and not by being in a course where we are not working on our own tasks. This is the basis of scaled, flipped classroom learning.