Hacker News Reader

Single-person made animations and applets became available only ten years ago and still require a programmer. We collectively lived under a rock for ages and entered the world of computers and smartphones few minutes ago. Considering the inertia, you had no time to check if this particular solution works at scale. Why are you so pre-opposed to it?

I can only think of: because nothing works at scale in education and it’s generally slow as hell.

View on HN

I’ve done things like this. Back when Flash was around and Captivate was first out I created interactive lecture videos. One in particular was, I thought, really good. It was an explanation of how progressive tax systems work and how the amount of tax paid is a piecewise defined function of salary. Included in the videos at various places were concept questions. The video would stop at such a question and when you answer it would continue.

What was the result of this? Most didn’t watch the video and those that did didn’t finish it. Students largely don’t watch lecture videos or videos of any kind regarding math. For online courses students are using AI programs to do their work. They answer questions that should take minutes in seconds.

Most of the people I’ve responded to on the thread I started have no idea what they are talking about.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com