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by AKluge 621 days ago
The traditional lecture does have a lot of value, however, we are also quite certain that the instructional experience can be improved through the addition of visualizations and simulations. This is especially true for interactive visualizations where the learner can ask, "What if ...", experiment, and see the results of their interactions.

The lecture format is very old and would not have persisted if it didn't provide a good value. At the same time, it's age also implies that there is room for improvement.
2 comments
skhunted 621 days ago
The vast majority of students never ask, “what if…” The vast majority just want to know the mechanics of doing the problems well enough to pass the test. At the time a student is taking Calculus 1 they don’t ask questions about why it works. They just want to know, for instance, the rules of differentiation. Later in life, when they have intellectually matured, videos like 3Blue1Brown are interesting and fascinating. The vast majority of students would not learn well from 3Blue1Brown type videos.
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ChadNauseam 621 days ago
Those students will not learn no matter what form of pedagogy you use. But 3blue1brown lectures are great for those who do want to learn
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skhunted 621 days ago
Yes. But in the classroom most students don’t want to learn. Hence my statement that it wouldn’t work in the classroom.
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wruza 621 days ago
The goal of education is to educate that unvast minority and for them to become deeper specialists faster.

To hell with the majority which will forget it next week and go management or delivery. They are unimportant for the key idea of education.

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taneq 621 days ago
The lecture format has only been competing with high-production-values video for a decade or two, and with interactive examples for much less than that.
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BlueTemplar 620 days ago
Interactive examples using Macromedia Flash or Java applets are straight in the "a decade or two" time frame.

(The 3B1B one is of course also among the best :

https://eater.net/quaternions )

And, while it was before my time, universities might have had some before the World Wide Web ?

Video has been around for much longer than that too.

I'm also not sure why "high production values" is supposed to matter, aren't Feynman's video lectures good enough for you ?

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