> I wonder what the research actually says about this sort of homework vs your more standard variety.

I have a vivid memory of one of the question on a final being basically “sketch the outline of this important thing we studied”. I couldn’t do it. I took the class but didn’t see the forest for the trees.

Later I met people who talked about things with each other, including the big picture. That’s the community I was missing when I took the class solo.

In retrospect, I could have gotten something more out of those problems that I thought were so hard.