Thanks to Val, I spent some time last night pondering Java and Physics specifically as they relate to video learning, and I want to make a point about another reason I am hopeful for video learning.

Videos can be more than just a lecturer with a writing implement drawing things and commenting. Videos can include visual learning aids. Physics often deals with bodies in motion, which lends itself nicely to animation and video representation. I can't remember any specific physics lecture from high school, but I remember watching this video with Paul Hewitt in class:


At first I thought Java didn't lend itself well to visualization, but I realized that's not true. It depends what you're doing with Java. For instance here's a video showing how a binary search tree responds to insertions.


As a visual learner, I could say that 99% of schooling was problematic for me, but I'd be lying. I already mentioned that I picked things up quickly despite the fact that they weren't presented in my preferred approach. So why is that? I think it's because good teachers break things down into their simplest components. When something is simple enough, a student can compensate for concept presentations that are less than ideal for them. Students do this all the time, and shifting which students are doing it to what degree is a trade-off, with costs and benefits to be weighed and balanced.

Last edited by DAD22; 07/10/13 10:58 AM. Reason: made it clear that my physics teacher chose to show me a video, which ended up being the only specific lecture I remember.