Hi everyone,
I’m working out a concept for a ‘learn-to-code’ organization which we want to launch online as well.
My question to you was if you prefer to read instructions, or that you get them via a video. The benefits of a text-based learning experience is that you can do it anywhere, without headphones. The benefits of a video-based learning, could be that you’ll learn better.
What do you guys think? Something like teamtreehouse.com or codeacademy.com/dash.generalassemb.ly ?
Would love to hear from you!
I almost always prefer text-based tutorials. I can work at my own pace, don’t have to worry about buffering, and it’s easy to come back to a particular spot.
Video tutorials seem to be more popular however, so keep that in mind when making your decision.
good question! Do you have experience in learning online?
I would say both too.
I understand the need to work on my own pace but videos can also be used like that.
I also understand the need to see how it looks with your own eyes, meaning having some pictures showing that you are doing right on the things you are unsure off since the text isn’t enough to give you a picture of it.
I also understand what videos aren’t enough when you can’t read what the author is writing or the voice is all mumbling or weird because the microphone was bad.
So if it can be done both then that’s optimal.
I do have experience in learning online. I hate it when there’s no uploaded video later because I missed part of what the tutor said while being live…or when I totally don’t get what the heck he’s saying because he decided to turn away from the mic.
I like the unity learning stuff from the live, specially when they show how to make a game. It gives me ideas, explain to me the possibilities and later gives me an experience of having something done that works…a sense of fulfillment.
I hope that covers your question well enough. ^^
I appreciate both for learning, but when I teach it’s almost 100% video simply because I can get more accomplished that way. Plus, as was mentioned above, when you do video the people watching can see exactly what you’re doing, so it’s less likely for them to get to the end and the sample doesn’t work.
However, if you do video tutorials, your job is about half done when you hit Stop on the recorder. For video tutorials to be really effective, you need to cut out most of the crap, such as:
- Showing something in a browser and it takes 20 seconds to load – chop it out.
- Rabbit trails that really have nothing to do with the topic – chop it out.
- Most of the “um” “ah” “er” things that we all do when talking while thinking – chop it out.
Also, Unity is most useful when you have a large monitor, but that makes it hard to see when you’re doing some operations. Zoom in on sections of the screen (usually during editing, not recording) so people can actually see what you’re doing. Then zoom back out afterwards.
Most tutorial videos I see drag on way too long. In most cases people are not there to visit with you, but to find out a specific technique and then get back to their own project.
Just some thoughts. 
Jay
1 Like