Re: [tlug] Corona and schools in Japan

[Raymond Wan <rwan.kyoto@example.com>]

Hi Yasu,


On 29/4/2020 7:05 am, Yasuaki Kudo wrote:
> I have always wondered since my elementary school days (30 year ago!)  why the can't the educational institutions get together, produce high quality explanatory videos, just let the students watch them at their pace and let the classrooms be full blown Q&A sessions all the time.  I can even imagine having a multiple tutors vs multiple students setting where the tutors can offer answers from different angles to help students develop understanding.

I presume that getting primary school students to sit down 
and pay attention to a video would be difficult.  Geez, I 
taught university level students a few times and I couldn't 
get them to pay attention to me.  ("Uhhhh, maybe you suck at 
teaching, Ray?" -- ok, let's not look under that rock! :-) )
I think having videos that you can play any time offers the 
convenience of pausing and taking a break.  But I don't 
think it helps you learn; it may supplement live teaching 
but I don't know if it can replace them.
Many years ago I was starting out as a university TA.  And 
the professor asked me [semi-rhetorically] why do we still 
have lectures and tutorials if there's a textbook.  Of 
course, I've had awful lecturers who really did just follow 
the textbook.  Anyway, I think that was my first time 
teaching and he probably didn't want me to walk into a room 
of dozens of faces knowing I can be replaced with their 
textbook!
If you're looking into setting up a business, it's probably 
worth pondering what face-to-face education offers and 
instead of competing with them, consider what they don't do 
well and focus on that?  Just a thought...
Ray