==Motivating Analogy == In the space shuttle the liquid Oxygen fuel is pumped round the exhaust cone where it cools the exhaust and prevents the exhaust duct from ablating away. The warmed liquid Oxygen enters the combustion chamber already at a higher energy level than it would be were it to have come straight from the storage tanks. By this design the energy in the fuel is used better.

==Application Area == Teaching of skills. Potentially everyone can become a teacher but their teaching skills will be at different levels. We wish to get maximum effectiveness from the overall teaching structure.

==Forces: ==

Experts in an area, particularly in using various software packages, generally do not like being swamped by thousands of e-mails from newbies asking simple questions. However they generally are interested in dealing with a far smaller number of questions which require their special expertise, including possibly fixing bugs in the package or adding enhancements.
The ability to teach is a learned skill. If you are already an expert in an area it generally takes more skill to teach newbies than it does to teach other people at or near your level.

==Therefore: ==

Grade both your learners and your expert teachers by level. At each level learners attempt to teach each other with a teacher monitoring the 'forum'.
Only the most experienced teachers, those who have learned to teach people at all levels, should be allowed to have teacher status in the most newbie forums. In the more experienced fora, people still gaining experience at teaching can be allowed to have teacher status.

Yes, I know this may seem counter intuitive, but look at the flows of information and it starts to make sense.

==Points to consider: ==

Learners should initially self-select their level of experience.
The system should be adaptive so that the system detects learners and teachers who have initially placed themselves at the wrong level.

'See Also:' VirtualClassroom

The Information Heat Exchanger concept has general application in InformationPhysics. In the physical universe we can only approach zero entropy, but in the information universe we can arrange exchangers to have positive feedback loops, or self synergy which perpetuates the growth of the system. Collaborative learning in the VirtualClassroom is a good example.

==Discussion: ==

Wouldn't a system wherein individuals that are honest in their abilities allow more then the topmost experts teach beginners? After all, beginners generally are after the most basic of issues and information. Therefore a system in which the honest journeyman looked after the beginners would allow for the maximum of workers. When a question or issue comes up that the journeyman cannot handle/doesn't know comes up, they forward it to those that know more (masters/experts). As you point out, very few experts want to teach, and you have a very limited number of experts in any field to begin with. By limitting so that only the best teach the beginners, you limit the new individuals that can join/learn about that field extremely.

The fundamental problem is a shortage of experts.  If we had more experts (who had completed the full cycle including learning how to teach====), then the argument against an InformationHeatExchanger on shortage grounds breaks down.  As I see it the problem is one of bootstrapping the whole process so that there is no shortage.  I think you are describing a good bootstrap process.

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Side Issue: The Shuttle Engines is not the best example for what you after, IMAO. The designers want to keep the engine itself cool to cold, rather then melting away in the heat of combustion. The fuel happens to be very, very cold. By making use of this guaranteed cold material while the combustion is being very hot, they help to keep the engine from melting. It's not an exchange of information... it's using what is on hand to solve/offset a problem.

Please provide a better example of regenerative heat exchanger.  I agree that the shuttle's system achieves other desired design goals too, but it is also a striking example of a contra-flow heat exchanger and extracts more energy from the fuel than not pre-warming the fuel would.

(Questions and side issue by StarPilot)