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Is there any value to those lectures, nowadays? I can see a PhD lecture on the fundamentals of virtually any academic topic, for free and at my leisure, on you

Is there any value to those lectures, nowadays? I can see a PhD lecture on the fundamentals of virtually any academic topic, for free and at my leisure, on youtube and similar sites. Waking up at 8am to attend an in-person Geology 117 lecture with 300 other freshmen is probably as outdated as a fax machine. Perhaps the next step is, education that isn't based on personal instruction isn't rare enough to be worth paying for.

mdorazio 3y ago
The value is the degree you get at the end of your coursework.
- cooper_ganglia 3y ago
  Ah, I see, so no value then.
  - goatlover 3y ago
    Very much depends on the field you're in. It's a requirement for some careers.
kjkjadksj 3y ago
The value of lecture is to see what you are expected to know for the exam. Khan academy isn’t necessarily covering the same things in the same order or level of detail as your professor.
godelski 3y ago
As a PhD candidate (post classes) I honestly use those lectures a lot. No, I do not find a massive classroom better than an online lecture. Actually worse. The advantage of a classroom over a video lecture is the ability to interrupt and ask questions. To have the expert in front of you. In this day and age, sitting in a classroom and not participating is an entire waste of money and you're doing yourself a disservice by not participating. I actively remind my students this when I teach, who honestly are less active post pandemic. It is something I worry about. And though my account is "anonymous", if you ever show up to my lectures, not as a student but just sitting in (I don't take attendance, idk if you walk off the street and want to sit in), you too are welcome to participate. (Fwiw, there aren't really "PhD level lectures" so much as graduate lectures. Generally you stop taking classes at the end of year 2 in your PhD, which is equivalent to a masters. The distinction of the PhD is that you are learning to learn on your own. This does add extra context to why grad students ask for higher pay, especially at the non-conditional and candidate levels, as they're actually taking less resources from the school. E.g. I pay the school $10k/term (big round) for research credits, which requires no involvement from anyone. There no longer is the "student" part to my "51% student, 49% employee" split)
- lovich 3y ago
  >And though my account is "anonymous", if you ever show up to my lectures, not as a student but just sitting in (I don't take attendance, idk if you walk off the street and want to sit in), you too are welcome to participate. Good on you for allowing auditing. I had only one teacher in college who allowed people to audit my classes and he even fought the administration to give me credit for the class after I sheepishly approached him and asked if he would mind letting me taking the exam to make sure I understood the material. One of the most insightful classes I took my entire time in college
- ineptech 3y ago
  Ah, I meant the lecturer is a PhD, which was supposed to be juxtaposed with the 1xx level course to indicate that it's probably a waste of time on both sides. I'm sure there are huge lectures that aren't useful, but Geology 117 (which I really took) was obviously a waste of money when I spent a pittance per credit hour on it in the 90s; charging someone for it today just seems like highway robbery.
beej71 3y ago
The value is the interaction. I try to have a discussion about the topic. You can read all about it on the website, but here's where I can ask you questions to see if you get it and we can discuss and clarify. (Now, I grant you, in a room of 300, interaction is severely limited. I'm lucky my classes tend to have fewer than 20 people.) If I give a lecture that you could have just watched a video of, I fell short. It's tough to get right. I'm still working on it.
bo1024 3y ago
Lots of people pay to go in to their weekly workout class where they just do exercises they already know how to do at home. A well designed class session can be (can be) similar in that it provides a space and guidance for you to do 60 minutes of improving your brain, that let's be honest, you would otherwise half-ass at home. (Of course, the classroom is only part of what you're paying for, there are also assignments, feedback, etc.)
OkayPhysicist 3y ago
> Is there any value to those lectures, nowadays? Absolutely. Even in the largest lectures, people can ask clarifying questions, live, from the subject matter expert. Likewise, the professor can look at the students' body language and realize that they've lost a significant portion of the class, and stop, slow down, and maybe prompt the class for questions. There is an art to a good lecture, and it's definitely harder the larger the class, but good lectures cannot be replaced by recordings.
EvgeniyZh 3y ago
There are many reasons to attend classes (roughly in order of importance) 1. Real life lecturer that can be asked questions 2. Peers that you can meet and discuss both study-related and unrelated topics. 3. Language. Not relevant for intros, but advanced topics can be explained in more than one way, and as a student you not necessarily will be able to map between them. 4. Schedule. Self-pacing 6 different classes for 12 weeks may be harder than it looks. Instead, you can just attend classes. 5. Advanced topics. Online resources, especially videos become scarcer as you advance in your studies, more so if you are not in hot topic (e.g., CS). I still have some notes from classes I took as undergrad as a best source for the learned topics. Good luck finding video lectures about diagrammatic approach to real time dynamics of open spin systems. Same goes the other way around, sometimes attending class is just not worth it, even without tons of online courses. I learned my E&M by just reading the official book during the lecture time (see 4.).

mdorazio 3y ago

The value is the degree you get at the end of your coursework.

cooper_ganglia 3y ago
Ah, I see, so no value then.
- goatlover 3y ago
  Very much depends on the field you're in. It's a requirement for some careers.

kjkjadksj 3y ago

The value of lecture is to see what you are expected to know for the exam. Khan academy isn’t necessarily covering the same things in the same order or level of detail as your professor.

godelski 3y ago

As a PhD candidate (post classes) I honestly use those lectures a lot. No, I do not find a massive classroom better than an online lecture. Actually worse. The advantage of a classroom over a video lecture is the ability to interrupt and ask questions. To have the expert in front of you. In this day and age, sitting in a classroom and not participating is an entire waste of money and you're doing yourself a disservice by not participating. I actively remind my students this when I teach, who honestly are less active post pandemic. It is something I worry about. And though my account is "anonymous", if you ever show up to my lectures, not as a student but just sitting in (I don't take attendance, idk if you walk off the street and want to sit in), you too are welcome to participate. (Fwiw, there aren't really "PhD level lectures" so much as graduate lectures. Generally you stop taking classes at the end of year 2 in your PhD, which is equivalent to a masters. The distinction of the PhD is that you are learning to learn on your own. This does add extra context to why grad students ask for higher pay, especially at the non-conditional and candidate levels, as they're actually taking less resources from the school. E.g. I pay the school $10k/term (big round) for research credits, which requires no involvement from anyone. There no longer is the "student" part to my "51% student, 49% employee" split)

lovich 3y ago
>And though my account is "anonymous", if you ever show up to my lectures, not as a student but just sitting in (I don't take attendance, idk if you walk off the street and want to sit in), you too are welcome to participate. Good on you for allowing auditing. I had only one teacher in college who allowed people to audit my classes and he even fought the administration to give me credit for the class after I sheepishly approached him and asked if he would mind letting me taking the exam to make sure I understood the material. One of the most insightful classes I took my entire time in college
ineptech 3y ago
Ah, I meant the lecturer is a PhD, which was supposed to be juxtaposed with the 1xx level course to indicate that it's probably a waste of time on both sides. I'm sure there are huge lectures that aren't useful, but Geology 117 (which I really took) was obviously a waste of money when I spent a pittance per credit hour on it in the 90s; charging someone for it today just seems like highway robbery.

beej71 3y ago

The value is the interaction. I try to have a discussion about the topic. You can read all about it on the website, but here's where I can ask you questions to see if you get it and we can discuss and clarify. (Now, I grant you, in a room of 300, interaction is severely limited. I'm lucky my classes tend to have fewer than 20 people.) If I give a lecture that you could have just watched a video of, I fell short. It's tough to get right. I'm still working on it.

bo1024 3y ago

Lots of people pay to go in to their weekly workout class where they just do exercises they already know how to do at home. A well designed class session can be (can be) similar in that it provides a space and guidance for you to do 60 minutes of improving your brain, that let's be honest, you would otherwise half-ass at home. (Of course, the classroom is only part of what you're paying for, there are also assignments, feedback, etc.)

OkayPhysicist 3y ago

> Is there any value to those lectures, nowadays? Absolutely. Even in the largest lectures, people can ask clarifying questions, live, from the subject matter expert. Likewise, the professor can look at the students' body language and realize that they've lost a significant portion of the class, and stop, slow down, and maybe prompt the class for questions. There is an art to a good lecture, and it's definitely harder the larger the class, but good lectures cannot be replaced by recordings.

EvgeniyZh 3y ago

There are many reasons to attend classes (roughly in order of importance) 1. Real life lecturer that can be asked questions 2. Peers that you can meet and discuss both study-related and unrelated topics. 3. Language. Not relevant for intros, but advanced topics can be explained in more than one way, and as a student you not necessarily will be able to map between them. 4. Schedule. Self-pacing 6 different classes for 12 weeks may be harder than it looks. Instead, you can just attend classes. 5. Advanced topics. Online resources, especially videos become scarcer as you advance in your studies, more so if you are not in hot topic (e.g., CS). I still have some notes from classes I took as undergrad as a best source for the learned topics. Good luck finding video lectures about diagrammatic approach to real time dynamics of open spin systems. Same goes the other way around, sometimes attending class is just not worth it, even without tons of online courses. I learned my E&M by just reading the official book during the lecture time (see 4.).