As someone who deeply believes in the importance of life-long learning and concurrently derives a great deal of overall personal satisfaction throughout the learning process, I consistently look for new opportunities to sharpen my skills and learn new things throughout my life. To me, there are few things more rewarding than learning or mastering a new skill – especially if I struggled at one point or another throughout the learning process.

Upon watching the video by Derek Muller I was reminded of one of the most exceptionally rewarding learning experiences I’ve had to date. 

Growing up I never considered myself to be particularly brilliant or exceptionally well-versed in mathematics, and in particular calculus. Throughout high school I struggled immensely trying to understand basic mathematical concepts, often leading to a general feeling of panic which set in as I realized I was falling further and further behind my classmates throughout the semester. I would come home after high school math class (sometimes in tears!) and spend my weekends before big exams trying to cram an entire semesters worth of educational material into my adolescent brain. I would do this by watching educational videos like Khan Academy on YouTube for hours, only to realize by Exam Day that I had actually learned any of the material.

It is safe to say that by the time I reached university and realized that I would need to successfully complete an undergraduate level calculus course in order to graduate with a BSc, I was full of anxiety and fearful that I wouldn’t be able to learn and succeed in the course. That was a huge confidence bummer for me, and despite the fact that I had developed a huge fear of failure I eventually worked up enough confidence to register for the university level Calculus course one summer. I even quit my part-time job to ensure I could dedicate every possible waking moment towards learning the course material and succeeding. It was a humbling experience, to say the least, but through this learning experience, I actually realized exactly what Derek Muller was expressing in his video – watching educational videos tended to only reinforce the incorrect beliefs I had about the subject material, instead of allowing me to actually learn the correct beliefs.

To make a long story short, I worked exceptionally hard all summer and actually ended up scoring a final grade that placed me in the top 5% of all Calculus students at my university! The dean of Mathematics actually emailed me and suggested that I consider switching my major to Mathematics. To say this experience was rewarding would be a serious understatement, but it taught me so much about myself and who I am as a student and learner. It really forced me to nail down which learning techniques worked for me, and encouraged me to adjust my learning habits as needed.

Simply put, 16 year old me did not have the insight and understanding that I do now about my needs as a student and learner. Throughout the summer that I spent learning university level calculus I recognized that, although watching these educational videos may have led to a boost of confidence (aka me assuming that I had actually learned the material), I actually was just reinforcing my incorrect understanding of certain concepts. Despite the fact that I perceived these videos to be a more enjoyable learning experience, in comparison to in class lecturing, they didn’t typically provide me with an opportunity too deeply engage with the subject material.

Through trial and error I realized that what did help me to actually learn the material, was when I would take the concept being presented in the enjoyable and easy-to-digest videos, and then verbalize out loud the concept correctly. Often times I would do this by watching a video, breaking it down into manageable segments, and then verbally teaching the concept to anyone who would listen. What I recognized early on during the calculus course was that I cannot simply learn by diffusing the knowledge directly from the video into my brain, no matter how simple the video may have made the concept seem. This reminds me of the Constructivism belief which, as suggested by Siemens (2018), “assumes that learners are not empty vessels to be filled with knowledge. Instead, learners are actively attempting to create meaning” throughout the “messy” learning process.

Ultimately we learn by actively engaging with the subject material. Although how we actively engage with the subject material will differ depending upon the student’s learning style, the key to learning alongside the use of educational videos is to find a method that allows students to actively engage with the material as they are learning it. Only then are students able to recognize that the existing beliefs they once held about a particular topic, differs from what is actually being taught, and in turn, allows students to correct their beliefs as they learn.

References:

Siemens, G. (2018). Connectivism. In R. E. West (Ed.), Foundations of Learning and Instructional Design Technology. EdTech Books. Retrieved from https://edtechbooks.org/lidtfoundations/connectivism