Am I any better than YouTube?

I have been looking at student evaluations the other day and I noticed the following comment: "I could have learned what he taught us in class by simply watching YouTube videos". Obviously, the student who wrote this felt that being in class was a waste of time. She could have stayed at home and get on YouTube (or in a MOOC) and listen to someone lecturing on the same topic. That made me wonder as a teacher: "Am I any better than YouTube?" A decade ago this question could have been: "Am I any better than the textbooks?"

I know you are already thinking of an answer: "Of course I am!! In class, I interact with my students! We discuss! We solve problems ... ". So, what made the student say such a "insulting" thing? Is it because:

• there was not much or not at all additional material from what was offered in YouTube of textbook?
• the lecturer just used the ppts offered as a supplementary tutor material by the textbook publisher?
• the exercises or the examples were not authentic but lifted from textbooks?
• there was no variety in teaching methods?
• there was no stimulation to "see" further?
• the interaction s-s or t-ss was not engaging?

I will focus on two points. Firstly about interaction. Yes, I do interactive classes alright, but  "How much time I devote in class hour to interact with the students?" Five minutes (1/10th of the class hour)? Ten minutes (1/5th)? Twenty five minutes (1/2nd)? And most importantly: "What do I do with the time left? Deliver knowledge?" That naturally leads me to the second point: "What is the aim of a class hour? To deliver the material and cover the syllabus?" You realise it is more than that; "to facilitate learning". Nonetheless, the issue remains "Do we?"

Unless we believe we are the best in the world, there are (few 😊) others (in YouTube or textbooks) who do it better than us: better flow, better examples, better slides, better English etc. They have invested time (and apparently money) and they have tried over and over again until they are happy with the result. And it's good! As an analogy, it is like a film versus a theater play. 

Some colleagues who read this may already be thinking "Do you actually suggest a flipped classroom?" Roughly, a flipped classroom is when you let students study the material before hand and then come to the classroom to discuss it with the lecturer. The main problem of course is that the students may not be mature enough to work and prepare alone. But how do we nurture them to become independent learners and responsible for their own learning? Another biiiig issue.

Going back to the original question: "Why should students prefer us (performers at a theater stage) instead of watching a video lecture at their own leisure?".  Or, if you allow me, I could rephrase the question as follows "What makes someone to watch a theatrical play if they have already seen the same story in an action movie?"  If we answer this question, then I think we can adapt our classroom hour in such a way that we, beyond any reasonable doubt, facilitate student learning.

Petros Kefalas

IF Director of Learning & Teaching