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I typically don’t have the patience for most videos. I want information, and much of the time, the information bandwidth or payoff is too low. I think video can

I typically don’t have the patience for most videos. I want information, and much of the time, the information bandwidth or payoff is too low. I think video can be great auxiliary, supporting material, but there should usually be a textual component when trying to inform.

__s 9y ago
I get around this by watching videos in fast forward
- deleted 9y ago
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- deleted 9y ago
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pdkl95 9y ago
> there should Or, we could accept that different people learn better in different ways. It's wonderful that a variety of learning resources are being made, so more people have the opportunity to learn complex and interesting topics. > the information bandwidth or payoff is too low Perhaps consider that you might not be the target audience?
- laretluval 9y ago
  > Or, we could accept that different people learn better in different ways. No evidence for interpersonal difference in learning styles: https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/mar/12/no-evidence-to-back-idea-of-learning-styles https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/mar/12/no-evidenc...
  - mjw1007 9y ago
    That's saying that some recently fashionable, and fairly elaborate, theories about teaching children are basically junk science. That includes the ideas that there are left/right brain learners, children who are holistic as opposed to serialists, and children who are inherently "verbalisers" or "visualisers". I don't doubt they're right. But I think it would be a mistake to read that article and conclude that adults who simply say they do much better with videos than books, or vice versa, are mistaken about themselves.
  - PhasmaFelis 9y ago
    It's trivially obvious that some people get more from reading than from watching, and vice versa. If you think a study disproves something trivially obvious, odds are that either the study is flawed or you've misunderstood it. I'm guessing the latter, as mjw1007 points out.
    - posterboy 9y ago
      > If you think a study disproves something ... That wasn't the comment. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. So, I don't really know why the parent posted that. Or why you try to imply counter evidence, but don't name any. > trivially obvious It's something you see on a street intersection? I'm kidding, but i don't agree. I don't even agree that the problem is framed correctly. Somebody mentioned "isomorphism" in this thread, which is a very important notion. Different methods of learning are used to learn different things. The things are in principle in different domains. The things might be isomorphic, ie. readily transferred from one domain to another, but they are not equal. A painting of a square is not the same as a verbal description of it. On the one hand, nobody is equally skilled in all domains. On the other hand, there should be some basic skills that are necessary to solve certain problems. So, either everyone who isn't comfortable with a given "learning style" will inherently fail to solve corresponding fundamental problems, or there are multiple ways to solve a problem effectively -- which ideally would mean the student can choose the problems of interest and capability. In conclusion, both hypothesis are true at the same time, but you are assuming a misguided context. Of course there might exist different ideas of what's elementary or fundamental.
  - jehlakj 9y ago
    Uneducated individual here. What is the proper term for arguing against a claim that was never made or incorrectly assumed, but ambiguous enough to become a target? I see this a lot in political debates. Something more technical than a misunderstanding. Anyway, I think that’s what’s happening here. It’s not a simple matter of different learning styles, but rather the strength of stimuli that are involved when learning something new. Some people may find text sufficient, but a lot of people prefer videos because it’s far more engaging. Breaking down learning styles into visual, audio, etc is meaningless imo.
    - hexane360 9y ago
      I think this falls under a strawman argument. I don't think there's any requirement that strawmans have to be deliberate.
edanm 9y ago
I usually agree with you, but lately, I have seen amazing advances in using video as a medium to teach ideas. I think the standout for me would be the channel 3Blue1Brown on Youtube, which teaches math concepts with animated videos, in a way that is just amazing. I highly recommend it if you're at all interested in math. (And no, this doesn't replace the kind of textbook learning you need to actually understand math. It's more about concepts and ideas. But it's still amazingly valuable).
- sillysaurus3 9y ago
  To illustrate just how good 3Blue1Brown is: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15003510 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15003510 That was one of the other videos Deemed Worthy. There are so many more. I wasn't able to visualize higher dimensions until watching that. And now it seems totally obvious how to do it.

__s 9y ago

I get around this by watching videos in fast forward

deleted 9y ago
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deleted 9y ago
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pdkl95 9y ago

> there should Or, we could accept that different people learn better in different ways. It's wonderful that a variety of learning resources are being made, so more people have the opportunity to learn complex and interesting topics. > the information bandwidth or payoff is too low Perhaps consider that you might not be the target audience?

laretluval 9y ago
> Or, we could accept that different people learn better in different ways. No evidence for interpersonal difference in learning styles: https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/mar/12/no-evidence-to-back-idea-of-learning-styles https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/mar/12/no-evidenc...
- mjw1007 9y ago
  That's saying that some recently fashionable, and fairly elaborate, theories about teaching children are basically junk science. That includes the ideas that there are left/right brain learners, children who are holistic as opposed to serialists, and children who are inherently "verbalisers" or "visualisers". I don't doubt they're right. But I think it would be a mistake to read that article and conclude that adults who simply say they do much better with videos than books, or vice versa, are mistaken about themselves.
- PhasmaFelis 9y ago
  It's trivially obvious that some people get more from reading than from watching, and vice versa. If you think a study disproves something trivially obvious, odds are that either the study is flawed or you've misunderstood it. I'm guessing the latter, as mjw1007 points out.
  - posterboy 9y ago
    > If you think a study disproves something ... That wasn't the comment. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. So, I don't really know why the parent posted that. Or why you try to imply counter evidence, but don't name any. > trivially obvious It's something you see on a street intersection? I'm kidding, but i don't agree. I don't even agree that the problem is framed correctly. Somebody mentioned "isomorphism" in this thread, which is a very important notion. Different methods of learning are used to learn different things. The things are in principle in different domains. The things might be isomorphic, ie. readily transferred from one domain to another, but they are not equal. A painting of a square is not the same as a verbal description of it. On the one hand, nobody is equally skilled in all domains. On the other hand, there should be some basic skills that are necessary to solve certain problems. So, either everyone who isn't comfortable with a given "learning style" will inherently fail to solve corresponding fundamental problems, or there are multiple ways to solve a problem effectively -- which ideally would mean the student can choose the problems of interest and capability. In conclusion, both hypothesis are true at the same time, but you are assuming a misguided context. Of course there might exist different ideas of what's elementary or fundamental.
- jehlakj 9y ago
  Uneducated individual here. What is the proper term for arguing against a claim that was never made or incorrectly assumed, but ambiguous enough to become a target? I see this a lot in political debates. Something more technical than a misunderstanding. Anyway, I think that’s what’s happening here. It’s not a simple matter of different learning styles, but rather the strength of stimuli that are involved when learning something new. Some people may find text sufficient, but a lot of people prefer videos because it’s far more engaging. Breaking down learning styles into visual, audio, etc is meaningless imo.
  - hexane360 9y ago
    I think this falls under a strawman argument. I don't think there's any requirement that strawmans have to be deliberate.

edanm 9y ago

I usually agree with you, but lately, I have seen amazing advances in using video as a medium to teach ideas. I think the standout for me would be the channel 3Blue1Brown on Youtube, which teaches math concepts with animated videos, in a way that is just amazing. I highly recommend it if you're at all interested in math. (And no, this doesn't replace the kind of textbook learning you need to actually understand math. It's more about concepts and ideas. But it's still amazingly valuable).

sillysaurus3 9y ago
To illustrate just how good 3Blue1Brown is: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15003510 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15003510 That was one of the other videos Deemed Worthy. There are so many more. I wasn't able to visualize higher dimensions until watching that. And now it seems totally obvious how to do it.