4 ms·

While completely anecdotal I have realized I learn dramatically better by reading the material as opposed to listening to it (except for physical tasks like tyi

by s0rce 8y ago

While completely anecdotal I have realized I learn dramatically better by reading the material as opposed to listening to it (except for physical tasks like tying a knot where having someone show you is helpful). Over the years, especially in graduate school I basically stopped trying to learn in lecture and read the material afterwords. Maybe this has been incorrect or I'm an outlier. Regardless, I'm not sure what to make of the last statement in the article being no longer true, "I can’t learn subject X because I am a visual learner", was this ever true, seems like simply an excuse, you should be able to figure out how you need to learn best and then determine how to get the material in an appropriate form.

adamnemecek 8y ago
I feel like all people learn better his way. The current system is a remnant of a time when books were expensive and a farmers son might have a hard time affording books.
- _rpd 8y ago
  There are subjects so specialized that there is no textbook, and the time of the lecturer is so valuable that prep time for teaching is always going to be minimal. In these cases, lecturing is justifiable, but they are vanishingly rare. If there is a textbook then lecturing is pointless at best and probably harmful.
  - adamnemecek 8y ago
    Sure however this isn’t how the system is set up.
    - anonymous5133 8y ago
      We can change the system, or replace it with something better.
      - randomdata 8y ago
        Can we? We've built the system to replace it have seen it transition into widespread use. However, it turns out that there are strong emotional ties to the old system and few want to let it go.
- davidmurdoch 8y ago
  Honest question here: are textbooks not expensive anymore? Circa 2003 I'd pay ~$600/semester for course textbooks.
conistonwater 8y ago
Lectures are a notoriously inefficient method of teaching, though, so you probably aren't comparing "merely" listening vs reading. One simple way to introduce a difference is if you're just passively listening to a lecture vs actively studying material when reading (conventional theory says the latter is better, because of it being active, IIUC). You might have decent study skills of your own. Learning styles are a surprisingly specific idea (i.e., it refers to specific differences between people and makes specific predictions about how well they'd do when learning in specific ways, which is what doesn't turn out to exist), so you could totally have learning styles turn out to be bunk, yet have plenty to say about different teaching methods. Education research literature is full of stuff by people trying different things, that's where inverted classrooms came from, but that's not anything to do with learning styles.
- mamon 8y ago
  Lectures as a form of teaching made sense at the time when they were first introduced: the Middle Ages. That was before printing press was invented, books were rare and expensive items so the students would gather in a big hall and the professor would read the book aloud, which for most students would be the only chance in their life to learn from it. Now that we have invented not only the print, but also computers, ebook readers, tablets, the lectures as a form of teaching are complete waste of time - trading them for more classroom/lab time is the way to go.
  - faceplanted 8y ago
    You're forgetting the most important selling point of lectures: Anyone can give them with little to no preparation if they know the material. Lectures are basically the "default" teaching method, you take something you already know and explain it piece by piece. putting knowledge down in any form of media is almost inherently harder and more expensive than just explaining it in person or on camera. Back in university, every time I had to find an explanation for something online on YouTube, recorded lectures were usually the worst choice, if I had a choice, because there was often no produced video explaining something, but there were always lectures recorded from somewhere. Because lectures are easy. I did actually find one place where lectures were better than directly reading the material, and it was mathematics lectures, just because amount of symbols and obscure language that often goes into putting something mathematical down in text over just explaining it can be ridiculous to someone like me who has never managed to learn the latin and greek alphabets however many times I tried.
nol13 8y ago
Yup. I might read one section over a few times before moving on, and/or spend way less time in others. Reading I go at the pace I can digest it, not the pace of the lecturer.
anonymous5133 8y ago
I am working on an educational related project. Pretty much what I do is have traditional textbook type materials for students to read. I also have the same materials in a visual interactive type lecture that basically explains/shows how to do something followed by some sort of interactive exercise where the student can apply the previously taught materials. The interactive exercises also act as a way to teach material as well. By analyzing how the student interacts with the exercise I can determine how well they understand the lesson. Nothing is locked in. If students don't want to read the textbook then they don't have to. Likewise, if students don't want to listen to the lectures then they don't have to either they can skip to the exercises. After learning about 10 of these lessons that compose the chapter they can take a skills quiz to see how well they know the material. I intentionally make all the skill quizzes extra hard just to make sure students know the material before progressing to the next chapter. If you have ever used codecademy then it is very similar. The only difference is my project is focused on entire college courses. If you took MIT OCW and combined it with codecademy then that is basically what I am working on. I am combining the formal structure of a college course with the technological innovation seen in codecademy.

by s0rce 8y ago

adamnemecek 8y ago

I feel like all people learn better his way. The current system is a remnant of a time when books were expensive and a farmers son might have a hard time affording books.

_rpd 8y ago
There are subjects so specialized that there is no textbook, and the time of the lecturer is so valuable that prep time for teaching is always going to be minimal. In these cases, lecturing is justifiable, but they are vanishingly rare. If there is a textbook then lecturing is pointless at best and probably harmful.
- adamnemecek 8y ago
  Sure however this isn’t how the system is set up.
  - anonymous5133 8y ago
    We can change the system, or replace it with something better.
    - randomdata 8y ago
      Can we? We've built the system to replace it have seen it transition into widespread use. However, it turns out that there are strong emotional ties to the old system and few want to let it go.
davidmurdoch 8y ago
Honest question here: are textbooks not expensive anymore? Circa 2003 I'd pay ~$600/semester for course textbooks.

conistonwater 8y ago

Lectures are a notoriously inefficient method of teaching, though, so you probably aren't comparing "merely" listening vs reading. One simple way to introduce a difference is if you're just passively listening to a lecture vs actively studying material when reading (conventional theory says the latter is better, because of it being active, IIUC). You might have decent study skills of your own. Learning styles are a surprisingly specific idea (i.e., it refers to specific differences between people and makes specific predictions about how well they'd do when learning in specific ways, which is what doesn't turn out to exist), so you could totally have learning styles turn out to be bunk, yet have plenty to say about different teaching methods. Education research literature is full of stuff by people trying different things, that's where inverted classrooms came from, but that's not anything to do with learning styles.

mamon 8y ago
Lectures as a form of teaching made sense at the time when they were first introduced: the Middle Ages. That was before printing press was invented, books were rare and expensive items so the students would gather in a big hall and the professor would read the book aloud, which for most students would be the only chance in their life to learn from it. Now that we have invented not only the print, but also computers, ebook readers, tablets, the lectures as a form of teaching are complete waste of time - trading them for more classroom/lab time is the way to go.
- faceplanted 8y ago
  You're forgetting the most important selling point of lectures: Anyone can give them with little to no preparation if they know the material. Lectures are basically the "default" teaching method, you take something you already know and explain it piece by piece. putting knowledge down in any form of media is almost inherently harder and more expensive than just explaining it in person or on camera. Back in university, every time I had to find an explanation for something online on YouTube, recorded lectures were usually the worst choice, if I had a choice, because there was often no produced video explaining something, but there were always lectures recorded from somewhere. Because lectures are easy. I did actually find one place where lectures were better than directly reading the material, and it was mathematics lectures, just because amount of symbols and obscure language that often goes into putting something mathematical down in text over just explaining it can be ridiculous to someone like me who has never managed to learn the latin and greek alphabets however many times I tried.

nol13 8y ago

Yup. I might read one section over a few times before moving on, and/or spend way less time in others. Reading I go at the pace I can digest it, not the pace of the lecturer.

anonymous5133 8y ago

I am working on an educational related project. Pretty much what I do is have traditional textbook type materials for students to read. I also have the same materials in a visual interactive type lecture that basically explains/shows how to do something followed by some sort of interactive exercise where the student can apply the previously taught materials. The interactive exercises also act as a way to teach material as well. By analyzing how the student interacts with the exercise I can determine how well they understand the lesson. Nothing is locked in. If students don't want to read the textbook then they don't have to. Likewise, if students don't want to listen to the lectures then they don't have to either they can skip to the exercises. After learning about 10 of these lessons that compose the chapter they can take a skills quiz to see how well they know the material. I intentionally make all the skill quizzes extra hard just to make sure students know the material before progressing to the next chapter. If you have ever used codecademy then it is very similar. The only difference is my project is focused on entire college courses. If you took MIT OCW and combined it with codecademy then that is basically what I am working on. I am combining the formal structure of a college course with the technological innovation seen in codecademy.