Students also need to write down questions about the lecture they didn't understand, which mandates some effort towards integrating understanding before practice the following day.
If the work is assigned in the beginning, what's stopping them from skimming it to make sure they understand it, and if they do, simply not bothering to watch the lectures?
Turns out, recording video lectures so that they are lively and watchable is hard.
The students loved the couple of videos I posted, but then I burned out making them - since doing that was in addition to actually being in class, grading, and working on my thesis.
So I went back to the more traditional (and ineffective setting) - one thing I regret about that semester.
However, looking back, I'd need an entire semester just to develop the materials. Of course, that was not an option.
Seems like we are missing the whole potential of the digital (infinitely scalable one to many lectures) by constantly reinventing the wheel.
Or why people still write books.
Teaching is a performance art as well.
That aside, as a graduate student I didn't have that much freedom (or didn't understand how much freedom I actually had) in making changes - and also, it was my first time as an instructor of record, so I was trying different approaches. If I teach again (currently I'm in the industry), I'll know how to direct my efforts better.