"Better late than never"
- Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick did not actually say that. However, He was known for making a lot of movies in his days, and what are cousin of movies? Videos. Videos, being relatively recent development given the expansive history of pedagogy, have in my opinion had a shaky time for the most part. At best, videos in a classroom, when thoughtfully implemented, can provide meaningful contextualization and learning opportunity for visual learners, especially for complex ideas. At worst, videos can be a clunky waste of time, that allows the attention of the students to wander away from whatever it is they're supposed to be receiving reinforcement on. In total, videos are hard and most teachers don't want to put in the time or effort for vetting videos for meaning, whether or not it's effective, and accessibility on the part of the students.
Now, I enjoy myself some YouTube at the end of my days, I find it relaxing. However, the videos that I personally remember watching in school are only memorable because it showed of how out of touch my teachers were. Particularly, In 10th grade chemistry my teacher would show these videos that had to be from the 1970's with the most socially awkward scientists showing chemical interactions. I couldn't tell you one thing about the content of those videos, but I remember every awkward, way-too-long pause between sentences the one scientist would make. One episode had the boom mic casually dipping in and out of the top of the screen and I've never seen a class of people act more ape-like than cheering for that boom mic. The point is, while the teacher believed that the video series was fantastic and that the class was just enthusiastic about chemistry (that's a real kicker), the absurdity of the media we were consuming was what we were collectively focused on.
Not everything works for everyone, but I think some things are designed to work better for certain types of individuals. For example, I don't care for Bill Nye, I always thought (even at a young age) he was very pandering, and I don't really recall anything I learned directly from him. Many people love Bill Nye, but I have to question their devotion, is it the cult of personality or the science. There aren't any wrong answers, it's just a curious thing.
In total, I think videos are just okay. It's difficult to take the time to figure out what video would work best in each situation. Personally, I'll keep my media for entertainment.
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