A new approach to ANA education

RogerB · July 10, 2018 1:28PM

Good, continuing collector education is vital if we are to have a vibrant hobby. (It's the same for anything else, also.) So, here's my suggestion for pubic consumption and comment.

One thing ANA could do if they wanted to more effective and less nematode-like, would be to sponsor a traveling education team. Two or three people, with high quality, properly researched presentations that would attend all the major shows and provide 3 different educational seminars. Clubs try to do this through their members, but most do not have the expertise to prepare and present a professional seminar, answer in-depth questions, or provide follow-on resources.

The cost: a little equipment, training supervision, program development, travel and related overhead, and a stipend for the team.

The benefit: meaningful, organized, high quality education available free to a broad cross section of collectors throughout the country.

bidask · July 10, 2018 1:43PM

Excellent idea!

Actually I don't think their presentation has to necessarily coincide with a coin show.

MikeInFL · July 10, 2018 1:48PM

I agree as well.

specialist · July 10, 2018 2:15PM

No, the ANA needs to become and ONLINE university-where it can educate far more people. I have preached this for years. Sadly, the ANA can not get out of its own way

Sonorandesertrat · July 10, 2018 2:22PM

Online education doesn't work all the time. In numismatics, coin grading and advanced counterfeit detection must still involve hands-on inspection of coins. Many other topics (minting, intro to numismatics, errors and varieties, etc.) can easily be handled online.

JBatDavidLawrence · July 10, 2018 2:23PM

@specialist said:
No, the ANA needs to become and ONLINE university-where it can educate far more people. I have preached this for years. Sadly, the ANA can not get out of its own way

I think an online university would be a fantastic addition, but in-person instruction at shows and the Summer Seminar are also vital to the mission. There's nothing like hands-on experience.

Have you ever checked out the University of Rare Coins?

Insider2 · July 10, 2018 2:36PM

The ANA already offers a traveling seminar. Most of the time thy are before a big show.

Smudge · July 10, 2018 2:51PM

I like both. Online as far as it can go, but hands on is still very important. Like GTG here, fun but without the coin in hand very difficult to be accurate.

BStrauss3 · July 10, 2018 3:34PM

It's a nice idea, now do the fund raising...

For CPE, an organization I'm part of allows 1 hour of prep for 1 hour of 'class'.

So 3 people, 1 hour, 24 shows/year means 75 hours of prep. Or basically get your team together for two weeks.

Travel & Entertainment-

Airfare, $800-$1,000 pp
Hotel, 2 weeks at $190/night or $2,500 pp (taxes)
Rental Car, 2 weeks at $800 pp
Meals (US Government M&IE allowance) $59/day, 649 pp

Day rate per person - call it $65/hour - 12 days, 8h/day 6,240pp

or $11,200 x 3 = 33,600 just to get started

Per show (24x year) - fly in Friday, leave Sunday

Airfare, $800-1,000 pp
Hotel, 2 nights at $190/night or 500pp
Rental car, 2 days at $75/day or 150pp
Meals $59/day, or 177pp

Day rate as above, 3 x 8 x 65 $1,560pp

$10,200/show

So there you go... $278K ... with a 25% contingency, $348K

You can pick away at the #s, but I used to do this kind of project planning for a living and it ALWAYS costs more than you think. You might get some donations to help with some stuff, but I know the budgets of my local clubs and if we had to cover the 10K, we'd say thanks but no.

EagleEye · July 10, 2018 3:37PM

Central States did that. I participated in a few of their educational presentations. It is costly and now that Ray Lockwood is gone they will not resume it.

Stork · July 10, 2018 3:46PM

@RogerB said:
Good, continuing collector education is vital if we are to have a vibrant hobby. (It's the same for anything else, also.) So, here's my suggestion for pubic consumption and comment.

One thing ANA could do if they wanted to more effective and less nematode-like, would be to sponsor a traveling education team. Two or three people, with high quality, properly researched presentations that would attend all the major shows and provide 3 different educational seminars.

....

@specialist said:
No, the ANA needs to become and ONLINE university-where it can educate far more people. I have preached this for years.

....

I agree with both of you. In my professional/real life I do quite a bit of online annual educational maintenance, but sometimes there is no substitute for on hands learning and in-person interaction.

Most people learn in a variety of ways--hearing/reading/seeing/touching/manipulating or whatever. Both styles are effective, and either can be more effective for different content.

A solid online program with a formal curriculum would be most excellent for those of us living in numismatic hinterlands. I see a few correspondence courses listed on the ANA site, but it's nothing prominently featured on the website, and it seems like there is quite a bit of room for expansion.

Also being able to have in person discussion, examples in hand etc are also invaluable to reinforce or to teach from a different perspective.

I also see a few 'traveling' type courses on the ANA site, but limited in scope. More akin to 'training' type learning vs. 'education' type learning. These are good topics of course, but having a more programming in an educational series would be welcome.

An extensive online educational series coupled with more involved 'live' events would be cool--thus I agree with you both.

That said, I've signed up for the Ancients course just prior to the show. It will be interesting to see how that plays out. Would have loved to have taken the photography course too, but oh well. Too much real life to be able to play so long in Philadelphia.

ShadyDave · July 10, 2018 7:24PM

@specialist said:
No, the ANA needs to become and ONLINE university-where it can educate far more people. I have preached this for years. Sadly, the ANA can not get out of its own way

PCGS is doing a pretty good job of touching on certain subjects. They have a decent number of videos etc. Counterfeit detection and doctoring are the most important things I want to learn and I think those have to be done in-person.

If anyone is interested in seeing some of the videos PCGS has created, here is a link to their youtube page:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl_KgPYhGBCD_5iHXu09wNg

CuKevin · July 10, 2018 7:29PM

The ANA already has traveling seminars. They also announced this year that they are working on online education.

illini420 · July 10, 2018 7:42PM

These travelling in-person courses could be co-hosted by local clubs which could help to defray costs by providing local meeting space and help to get local dealers to sponsor the events.

We all hear how great the Summer Seminar is, but for most it isn't practical or even possible to take vacation time to go to coin camp for a week.

astrorat · July 10, 2018 7:56PM

Quite frankly, the ANA* does not understand education. The ANA equates attendance with learning. The ANA is afraid of assessing whether or not students learn ... they prefer that students have fun. They are afraid to ensure their seminar instructors know how to teach and assess student learning. The ANA embraces the inane concept that a 'content expert' equals competent educator. Some ANA instructors are good educators and some are just dreadful. Smart, nice people ... but dreadful teachers.

I am sure many competent teachers are ANA members. I bet some even have significant expertise in curricular design and outcomes assessment. Why not ask them for help in assisting the 'content experts' in becoming better instructors and crafting methods to assess whether or not the students who pay for an education actually receive an education?

What the ANA does not understand is there is more to educating people than talking at them for hours and allowing them to play with coins. Sure it may be fun, but is it education?

*And by ANA, I am mostly referring to the elected Board of Governors.

TwoSides2aCoin · July 10, 2018 8:16PM

Good outlook and solution to our existence here and on the bourse floors.

I'm reminded of the words a gentleman told me once, when he said: " Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care ".

acloco · July 10, 2018 8:50PM

As stewards of our hobby, does it matter HOW we reach the next several generations of collectors?

THE single item that is not taught to every teacher........at every level......HOW to reach EVERY student.

ColonelJessup · July 11, 2018 4:54AM

.> @astrorat said:

Quite frankly, the ANA* does not understand education. The ANA equates attendance with learning. The ANA is afraid of assessing whether or not students learn ... they prefer that students have fun. They are afraid to ensure their seminar instructors know how to teach and assess student learning. The ANA embraces the inane concept that a 'content expert' equals competent educator. Some ANA instructors are good educators and some are just dreadful. Smart, nice people ... but dreadful teachers.

I am sure many competent teachers are ANA members. I bet some even have significant expertise in curricular design and outcomes assessment. Why not ask them for help in assisting the 'content experts' in becoming better instructors and crafting methods to assess whether or not the students who pay for an education actually receive an education?

What the ANA does not understand is there is more to educating people than talking at them for hours and allowing them to play with coins. Sure it may be fun, but is it education?

*And by ANA, I am mostly referring to the elected Board of Governors.

Having taught grading at Summer Seminar for almost a decade, I am curious as to where you get your information. Which classes have you attended?

astrorat · July 11, 2018 5:28AM

@ColonelJessup said:

Having taught grading at Summer Seminar for almost a decade, I am curious as to where you get your information. Which classes have you attended?

Fair enough. I also taught at the ANA Summer Seminar for a number of years in classes varying from the minting process to grading (and taught the 'roadshow' grading course for a few years for clubs and conventions). I was also on staff at the ANA for a few years in the education department. Prior to my departure, to return to higher education, I was spearheading the effort to have the ANA parter with two different colleges to develop a program to secure college credit for ANA educational programming.

Admittedly, my time at the ANA was probably before you started teaching at Summer Seminar and we did not overlap. So, the ANA's approach may have changed for some classes, but in my conversations with Summer Seminar students over the past few years, nothing much as changed with respect to curricular design and assessment.

ColonelJessup · July 11, 2018 5:29AM

Re: disagree PM from @astorat …. discuss it out loud. What classes have you taken there and how were you disappointed?

The former Director of Education, Susan McMillan, knew very little to nothing about coins, whereas I have taught Grading 101 with the new Director, Rod Gillis, numerous times and found him an excellent numismatist and educator. He is under-staffed and under-budgeted for any project you might suggest, as anyone familiar with any internal ANA operations already knows.

BTW, "online university" is so budgetarily DOA it doesn't bear discussion.

ricko · July 11, 2018 6:09AM

I have been an instructor in my professional career, classes conducted in a classroom atmosphere with books, visual aides and lectures. I am presently an instructor in a subject that includes both classroom and field activities. I have also taken online university courses. Effective education requires a skilled instructor, organized presentation of material, tactile contact and participatory exercises. Without these ingredients, it is much like drinking beer through a sock... you get beer, but both the taste and experience is far from reality. Cheers, RickO

ColonelJessup · July 11, 2018 7:29AM

@ricko said:
I have been an instructor in my professional career, classes conducted in a classroom atmosphere with books, visual aides and lectures. I am presently an instructor in a subject that includes both classroom and field activities. I have also taken online university courses. Effective education requires a skilled instructor, organized presentation of material, tactile contact and participatory exercises. Without these ingredients, it is much like drinking beer through a sock... you get beer, but both the taste and experience is far from reality. Cheers, RickO

While the hands-on approach is valid in many areas, it is the Prime Directive in firearms and coins.

Jim' Halperin's seminal NCI Grading Guide and John Dannruether's PCGS successor give us all the clues any student of grading needs. Endless examples of images can be found online. Holographic projection technology will serve us up VG IHC and 67+FBL Frankies with ever-increasing granularity of detail.

Theory and data abound.

But the visceral experience of appreciation is in the gut, the hand-to-eye. It's psycho-neuro-biological, and no tutorial on YouTube can substitute for a good range of "teaching" coins from dreck to gem in the hands of a group of motivated students.

Numismatic education in the grading domain will always be a cottage industry.

Kkathyl · July 11, 2018 7:45AM

This reinforced a thought I was having about associations and organizations. I was thinking about starting my own thread but I don't have the depth of knowledge that you all do. So here it goes. Who's responsibility is it to grow the hobby. Many of use have all the right club memberships in hand, many just do it to have it on the "business card". But what benefit are we really getting from them? I will be the first to admit I get frustrated just trying to login to some of the websites.

Perhaps you or someone else can talk about this. I received a notice said hurry up renew your xxx membership now only 495. don't wait next years rate going up up up. OK rate increases happen but is it a result of less membership to cover the load. Made me think why bother if next years rate will take almost twice the effort to absorb. why not cancel now? And why would anyone not increase rates a little all along? Not good business decision in my mind. Now all freak out over a 40% increase all at once.

I know rambling here. But I think to your point activities like this would be nice. Further reading above responses and it sounds like a lot of this already happening but we are not at all realizing or taking advantage of it. Maybe when a show is going on we all rather just gaze at the coins instead of sitting in a seminar thing someone is out at that very second snatching a million dollar coin we could of found.

RogerB · July 11, 2018 9:52AM

All of the ANA "education" efforts suffer from the same kind of problems: inconsistency and absence of professional education standards. Rather than have skilled adult education people in charge, course development and presentation are farmed out to whatever staff member happens to be given the assignment. Then, ANA does little to evaluate effectiveness and respond to evaluations with meaningful improvements. That some actually learn is more credit to the students than the 'teacher' or presentation.

Further, having subject matter experts (SME) develop materials and make presentations is usually one of the worst ways to train or educate others. SMEs provide content, accuracy and authority, but are rarely good teachers.

On-line presentation is great, but it is different than in-person interaction. Style, approach and content has to be adapted to the medium.

How often do we, as coin collectors, read comments about "buy quality?" The axiom and results apply to numismatic education as well.

Sonorandesertrat · July 11, 2018 9:57AM

Roger B, I agree with much of what you wrote. However, there is another axiom: learn to teach yourself. Can't do this with respect to grading or counterfeit detection (at least, not well). But it should work for most other topics that I have noticed were offered in past ANA Summer Seminars. Assemble a working numismatic library, pertinent to what you want to collect, and use the internet to learn about what is available and in what grade.

RogerB · July 11, 2018 10:05AM

RE: " learn to teach yourself."

While this is good, self-instruction can also lead to incomplete or misleading knowledge. We don't know what we don't know. Good course development avoids unintentional gaps and also presents unexpected connections - connections that individuals are unlikely to make on their own.

RogerB · July 11, 2018 10:06AM

RE: " learn to teach yourself."

While this is good, self-instruction can also lead to incomplete or misleading knowledge. We don't know what we don't know. Good course development avoids unintentional gaps and also presents unexpected connections - connections that individuals are unlikely to make on their own.

ShadyDave · July 11, 2018 10:13AM

@ColonelJessup said:
Re: disagree PM from @astorat …. discuss it out loud. What classes have you taken there and how were you disappointed?

BTW, "online university" is so budgetarily DOA it doesn't bear discussion.

I'm a "younger numismatist" at 30 years old. I joined the ANA for a total of 1 year and then let my membership lapse, and I lost nothing. My ANA membership was effectively useless outside of having NGC submission privileges and getting the free magazine. Their site is garbage and doesn't have anything useful to me as a collector. I want to be involved in the hobby, but I can't tell you a single thing that the ANA is doing to get me involved, to get me educated, to get me excited to share this hobby with others my age... so instead I use forums, social media and other methods.

I have tons of ideas and ways to reach younger audiences, but PCGS, NGC, the ANA and others are either inept or don't see the benefit of spending the time, energy or money to do so.

Why doesn't the ANA host an inclusive registry for all collectors regardless of the TPG that graded it?

Why doesn't the ANA work with the NNP or ask for grants from Eric P. Newman's foundation instead of struggling with a "DOA budget" so they can create educational youtube videos "infographics", or have traveling exhibits or exhibits in museums containing coins from the Smithsonian or elsewhere?

Why isn't there representation for younger people at the ANA?

Why isn't there an ANA rep posting information, promotions or benefits on this Forum, on Reddit, on Facebook, on Instagram? They can't hire an unpaid "YN" intern for a summer to do that? Is it really that hard for the ANA to come up with these simple solutions?

Sonorandesertrat · July 11, 2018 10:14AM

Gaps will happen anyway---one cannot be really thorough in a course that runs 1 week. This is why some people have taken the same course multiple times, particularly when the instructors have changed.

RogerB · July 11, 2018 10:19AM

ShadyDave makes some good points and presents clear challenges to ANA. Today is far more dynamic that 1990.

astrorat · July 11, 2018 3:55PM

@ColonelJessup said:
Re: disagree PM from @astorat …. discuss it out loud. What classes have you taken there and how were you disappointed?

The former Director of Education, Susan McMillan, knew very little to nothing about coins, whereas I have taught Grading 101 with the new Director, Rod Gillis, numerous times and found him an excellent numismatist and educator. He is under-staffed and under-budgeted for any project you might suggest, as anyone familiar with any internal ANA operations already knows.

BTW, "online university" is so budgetarily DOA it doesn't bear discussion.

The 'disagree PM from me' was asking you why you disagreed with my post. My perspective is not that of a student, but as an educator.

Yep, Rod is a good teacher. I know ... I hired him. Spend more time with him and ask him about assessing student learning and the critical role it plays in educational programming.

illini420 · July 11, 2018 4:33PM

Remember that education doesn't always have to be hands on and related to grading. There are many collectors out there willing to learn all sorts of things and just sitting back and listening to lectures/presentations is ok too.

Each year, the California State Numismatic Association (CSNA) holds an educational symposium where they have 4 speakers each give hour long presentations on various subjects. The symposium is held on a Saturday and is free for attendees, they just have to pay for lunch at the event. Sure it costs a bit of money for the association to rent out the hotel meeting room for the presentations, but the expense isn't totally unreasonable. The speakers and those putting on the symposium volunteer their time.

The most recent symposium was held in April and attendance was very strong, so much so that they ran out of seats and the room as standing room only... I'd guess there were 75-100 in attendance. Here was the lineup of this year's presentations:

Mike Kittle: The Lure and Lore of Collecting Indian Head Cents
Jeff Oxman: Silver Dollars--Treasures in Your Collection
Brad Yonaka: The Pillar Fractionals of the Mexico City Mint--Varieties and Abundances
Cliff Mishler: Our Hobby Community--Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

I was happy to volunteer my time to give one of the educational presentations, especially when there were so many in attendance, some of them even traveled from neighboring states just for the event. I'm sure similar events could be held all over the country. If you can bring in decent speakers and especially if you make it free or low-cost to attendees, there is demand for this sort of thing out there.

DMWJR · July 11, 2018 6:09PM

The ANA should do it in non-coin forums. The people going to coin shows are already interested. When non-collectors find out I collect, they generally ask me why the interest? After a few quick stories/reasons, they usually find it very interesting all of a sudden.

RogerB · July 11, 2018 7:41PM

Having a vast knowledge does not equate with being able to teach to adults. Education is a communication and organization set of skills through which others can learn. ANA, and many organizations, do not seem to understand that.

BLUEJAYWAY · July 12, 2018 2:23AM

@RogerB said:
Having a vast knowledge does not equate with being able to teach to adults. Education is a communication and organization set of skills through which others can learn. ANA, and many organizations, do not seem to understand that.

Very much agree with this thought. When I was in high school we had a great creative writing teacher with excellent communication skills. The class learned a lot through her comm. skills. We liked her so much so we never skipped her class. On the other hand the business law teacher with his abrasive skill set was a turn off for many. He may of meant well. Although he was highly intelligent book smart wise he lacked the proper delivery skill set. So many in the class "shot the messenger" and never got the message.

Justacommeman · July 12, 2018 3:48AM

Online makes so much sense that you know the ANA will never go that route. Someone else needs to get the ball rolling I’m afraid......... as mentioned before I would be so interested in a Podcast of Pioneer Gold or Colonials etc etc on a pay per view class basis. I know little to nothing on these genres and who knows a spark could set me off in one of these directions.

m

Nap · July 12, 2018 7:48AM

I don’t quite understand why people think the emphasis of numismatic education should be grading.
The technical grading of coins seems one of the least important parts of numismatics, and one of the most likely things to scare off new would-be collectors.
Authentication and counterfeit detection is important to someone who wants to collect but not critical to educating the majority of those interested.
I think numismatics lends itself quite well to remote education and online classes, if the focus is on history, coining, engraving, metallurgy, and trade.
I think the absolute toughest topic is integrating numismatics with history. This is particularly important with ancient and medieval/early modern coins where numismatics make up a large part of the original historic record. Numismatists and archaeologists tend to make lousy historians, and vice versa. I would love to see courses “numismatics for the historian” and “historical study for the coin collector”.

BillDugan1959 · July 12, 2018 8:11AM

@ShadyDave Had I never attended the ANA Summer Seminar (and I attended several times), I doubt that I would have paid the dues for Forty years. I might also point out to a certain somebody that the Summer Seminar has had very few "professional educators", yet has served a very great purpose.

The big ANA convention is pretty great too, but there are a lot of other significant coin shows too.

Whatever the paid staff thinks they are doing out in Colorado Springs right now, it is certainly not clear to this long-term member and I doubt that it is enough. The ANA is clearly dying.

For most of the last decade, I have fought myself internally about whether or not I will pay next year's dues.

Sonorandesertrat · July 12, 2018 8:29AM

Integrating numismatics with history has seriously interested me for decades---it's what caused my interests to shift from twentieth-century to 17th- and 19th-century US numismatics and caused me to begin building up a personal numismatic library. I would love to see courses “numismatics for the historian” and “historical study for the coin collector”. Alan Stahl (Princeton) has offered a course on numismatics for the historian to Princeton students. I think the ANS has also offered short courses on this topic too.

BillDugan1959 · July 12, 2018 8:33AM

Most facets of Western History are near and dear to my heart, but I do have to concede that the ANA MUST offer the grading and authentication classes or the education program as a whole would likely lose money.

Sonorandesertrat · July 12, 2018 8:50AM

"I don’t quite understand why people think the emphasis of numismatic education should be grading.
The technical grading of coins seems one of the least important parts of numismatics, and one of the most likely things to scare off new would-be collectors.
Authentication and counterfeit detection is important to someone who wants to collect but not critical to educating the majority of those interested."

I will disagree on this point. Plenty of the attendees at ANA Summer Seminars are dealers. Most collectors place a premium on getting value for their money---this means that they have to learn how to grade what they are collecting. The courses on grading and counterfeit detection frequently fill up quickly, unlike some of the other courses. These are topics that do not lend themselves well to online education (rather like learning how to synthesize organic compounds, play the piano, or physically build electronic circuits by just watching videos). I have attended several Summer Seminars, and was an academic before starting my own biomedical engineering company. Most of the courses I took were not particularly well taught (too disorganized), but I nonetheless found some of the subtopics and answers to questions quite interesting.

One final point: Historical ties to numismatics tend to be things that are of peripheral interest to most collectors whom I have talked to. Most collectors will not spend a meaningful percentage of their hobby funds on numismatic literature--this is a good indicator of what drives many collectors today. The Newman Numismatic Portal will give people access to heretofore largely inaccessible literature--it will be interesting to see how frequently the website is accessed during the next decade.

CaptHenway · July 12, 2018 9:11AM

I used to do the traveling education seminars as part of my job at ANACS. I was young and single and the airlines had real seats with space between them.

Nowadays I will only fly if I can get a First Class seat because I cannot get in and out of the seats back in steerage. You could not pay me enough to travel for a living.

We will not mention airport security, a sadly necessary evil.

ShadyDave · July 12, 2018 10:54AM

@illini420 said:
Remember that education doesn't always have to be hands on and related to grading. There are many collectors out there willing to learn all sorts of things and just sitting back and listening to lectures/presentations is ok too.

Each year, the California State Numismatic Association (CSNA) holds an educational symposium where they have 4 speakers each give hour long presentations on various subjects. The symposium is held on a Saturday and is free for attendees, they just have to pay for lunch at the event. Sure it costs a bit of money for the association to rent out the hotel meeting room for the presentations, but the expense isn't totally unreasonable. The speakers and those putting on the symposium volunteer their time.

The most recent symposium was held in April and attendance was very strong, so much so that they ran out of seats and the room as standing room only... I'd guess there were 75-100 in attendance. Here was the lineup of this year's presentations:

Mike Kittle: The Lure and Lore of Collecting Indian Head Cents
Jeff Oxman: Silver Dollars--Treasures in Your Collection
Brad Yonaka: The Pillar Fractionals of the Mexico City Mint--Varieties and Abundances
Cliff Mishler: Our Hobby Community--Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

I was happy to volunteer my time to give one of the educational presentations, especially when there were so many in attendance, some of them even traveled from neighboring states just for the event. I'm sure similar events could be held all over the country. If you can bring in decent speakers and especially if you make it free or low-cost to attendees, there is demand for this sort of thing out there.

That sounds like a fantastic way to teach people about various topics. Hopefully these presentations were recorded? If so, it sounds like it would be a good way to gain traffic on the CSNA's website or get subscribers to your youtube channel. If not, that would be a good thing to think about the next time you present or the CSNA holds presentations. That would be a great way to spread the word about the coin club and it can archive all the work each presenter puts into these hour long seminars/presentation.

All coin collectors, coin clubs, shows and related organizations and companies should be leveraging TECHNOLOGY. If you're not tech savvy, find a Young Numismatist to do it for you!

Elcontador · July 12, 2018 11:48AM

@Sonorandesertrat said:

I will disagree on this point. Plenty of the attendees at ANA Summer Seminars are dealers. Most collectors place a premium on getting value for their money---this means that they have to learn how to grade what they are collecting. The courses on grading and counterfeit detection frequently fill up quickly, unlike some of the other courses. These are topics that do not lend themselves well to online education (rather like learning how to synthesize organic compounds, play the piano, or physically build electronic circuits by just watching videos). I have attended several Summer Seminars, and was an academic before starting my own biomedical engineering company. Most of the courses I took were not particularly well taught (too disorganized), but I nonetheless found some of the subtopics and answers to questions quite interesting.

One final point: Historical ties to numismatics tend to be things that are of peripheral interest to most collectors whom I have talked to. Most collectors will not spend a meaningful percentage of their hobby funds on numismatic literature--this is a good indicator of what drives many collectors today. The Newman Numismatic Portal will give people access to heretofore largely inaccessible literature--it will be interesting to see how frequently the website is accessed during the next decade.

This. If you are buying what for you are expensive coins, you need to know how to grade them. You need to know where you think a particular coin is on the continuum of its grade, or if you don't agree with the grade on the slab, or the sticker or no sticker, as applicable.

While you get an insurance policy of sorts from the major TPGs re counterfeit detection, people grade coins, and I don't care how good they are, people do make mistakes. I remember on of the TPGs attributed a 1796 Large of Half Cent variety that didn't exist. Mistakes happen.

While you also get an insurance policy of sorts by buying coins from a reputable dealer who is honest and stands behind his product, mistakes get made here as well. In many years of collecting, I bought two recommended coins which were 'mistakes,' and I should have known better, even though the sources were fully trustworthy and were not intentionally trying to sell me a bad coin.

A new approach to ANA education

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