[jonahx]

I've had math instruction at the undergraduate and graduate level at top universities, with good instructors that I liked, and I can say without question YouTube is superior. There are many channels with outstanding content. This video is not an outlier.

[impendia]

I am a math professor, and I try to do a good job teaching. Any topic that 3b1b covers, the video will give a better presentation than I would in a lecture hall!

It is part of our job to lecture, but that's not our only job as an instructor, and I wouldn't even say it's the most important one. Our job is to assemble a coherent course -- typically involving lectures, homeworks, exams, etc. where everything is tied together, and where I try to chart a coherent path through the material, so that the students have learned a subject by the end.

Once I was teaching vector calculus, a subject which 3b1b covers, and I showed a couple short clips in class. I also shared additional links with my students and encouraged them to watch. As instructor I try to make good use of any and all helpful resources which are available, and 3b1b is certainly one of them!

[dingosity]

You clearly don't teach at MIT, where the professor's role is to be a glorified test proctor.

[inetknght]

I thoroughly enjoyed watching 3b1b's videos. They're very intuitive for me.

> This video is not an outlier.

I would argue: this video is an outlier in that it's "best of the best". I've seen other videos. While they're usually "good", they're also usually very dry.

[dingosity]

And I've absolutely seen some "meh" videos. Apropos of nothing, I met Jim Blinn a month ago which got me thinking about "the mechanical universe" (from '85-'86) which was one of the first videos I saw that really "nailed it" in terms of using video to teach technical concepts.

So good videos aren't a new thing. But I think there's MUCH more decent and excellent content coming out these days.

[remus]

Personally I don't think it is so clear cut. The value of in-person instruction is in being able to ask questions, and a good instructor will then adapt the content to help answer your questions and give you a rounded understanding of the material. Youtube videos are amazing in several respects (thinking of the reach and production value of 3b1b, for example), but being able to ask questions of a knowledgeable expert is valuable imo.

[beambot]

From my experience at a R1 school, this is only true for late-undergrad and grad classes, not early-stage coursework with massive student-to-teacher ratios. In those courses, you are more likely to get Q&A time with a TA during office hours. So perhaps a YouTube+TA would be better model. Bonus is that you can rewatch lectures again & again until things click.

[chrisweekly]

See also https://betterexplained.com

[SPBS]

Because educational YouTubers only get one shot at bringing their point across (once the video is created, it's there for good) so they really polish every aspect of their video.

Also there's the part where they can't assume their target audience is a bunch of students who have to learn a subject so they really do try to make it as layman as possible.

[veltas]

It's much like open source vs corporate, but not quite. The bazaar really is better than the cathedral.

[analognoise]

Could you share a list of favorites you've collected?

I wish there was a big list that had links to the best lectures and the accompanying book for so many things.

[jhanschoo]

Have a look at 3b1b summer of exposition https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3Qixy-r_rQ