Uploaded November 2023 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
Some viewers asked for a video on learning from lectures. So I finally made one.
Join my online learning community: benjaminkeep.com/community
00:00 Starting with a question
00:53 Lectures and learning
2:10 On the popularity of the lecture format
2:56 Preparing for a lecture
4:38 Making the most of reading assignments
6:33 The goals of preparation: cognitive load
7:37 Create relevant prior knowledge
8:10 Get relevant practical experience
8:29 Begin the organizational process
9:06 Going to the lecture
10:54 Good attention
11:47 Attention drops during lecture
12:29 Dealing with online lectures
13:37 Reviewing after the lecture
14:42 Creative ways of reviewing
16:20 Fundamentals are key
17:26 Frameworks to help you review
19:50 Review vs doing homework
21:38 A little goes a long way
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The scrolling text when I was talking about cognitive load comes from an excerpt from an old Vanity Fair magazine, written by P.G. Wodehouse, available here: vanityfair.com/culture/2014/10/physical-culture-peril-pg-wodehouse-best-of-early-vanity-fair.
The green screen Youtube video (talking about stopping at 10 minutes, 30 minutes) came from here: youtube.com/watch?v=q-7LExVpU4g
I used an example lecture from Scott Page’s Model Thinking on Coursera, found here. The specific excerpt, was taken from the first lecture on aggregation. coursera.org/lecture/model-thinking/aggregation-UWXGF. I definitely recommend Scott Page’s work, especially if you’re interested in social science and social dynamics.
The "taking a test" example came from an MIT course on differential equations: https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/18-03-differential-equations-spring-2010/resources/mit18_03s10_ex1/.
REFERENCES
On attention during lectures. The basic take-away is that passive learning during lectures is similar to a vigilance task (asking people to monitor for low frequency signals from a background of noise - radar monitoring for instance). 10-30 minutes in, steep attention decrements.
Young, M. S., Robinson, S., & Alberts, P. (2009). Students pay attention!: Combating the vigilance decrement to improve learning during lectures. Active Learning in Higher Education, 10(1), 41–55. doi.org/10.1177/1469787408100194
If you are a teacher looking to improve student learning during lectures, this piece from almost 40 years ago still holds up. If you’re a science teacher at the undergraduate level, I recommend visiting the Carl Wieman Science Education Initiative.
Gibbs, G., Habeshaw, S., & Habeshaw, T. (1987). Improving Student Learning During Lectures. Medical Teacher, 9(1), 11–20. doi.org/10.3109/01421598709028976
This is a more modern piece covering some of the same ground:
Cerbin, W. (2018). Improving student learning from lectures. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Psychology, 4(3), 151–163. doi.org/10.1037/stl0000113
Some viewers asked for a video on learning from lectures. So I finally made one.
Join my online learning community: benjaminkeep.com/community
00:00 Starting with a question
00:53 Lectures and learning
2:10 On the popularity of the lecture format
2:56 Preparing for a lecture
4:38 Making the most of reading assignments
6:33 The goals of preparation: cognitive load
7:37 Create relevant prior knowledge
8:10 Get relevant practical experience
8:29 Begin the organizational process
9:06 Going to the lecture
10:54 Good attention
11:47 Attention drops during lecture
12:29 Dealing with online lectures
13:37 Reviewing after the lecture
14:42 Creative ways of reviewing
16:20 Fundamentals are key
17:26 Frameworks to help you review
19:50 Review vs doing homework
21:38 A little goes a long way
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The scrolling text when I was talking about cognitive load comes from an excerpt from an old Vanity Fair magazine, written by P.G. Wodehouse, available here: vanityfair.com/culture/2014/10/physical-culture-peril-pg-wodehouse-best-of-early-vanity-fair.
The green screen Youtube video (talking about stopping at 10 minutes, 30 minutes) came from here: youtube.com/watch?v=q-7LExVpU4g
I used an example lecture from Scott Page’s Model Thinking on Coursera, found here. The specific excerpt, was taken from the first lecture on aggregation. coursera.org/lecture/model-thinking/aggregation-UWXGF. I definitely recommend Scott Page’s work, especially if you’re interested in social science and social dynamics.
The "taking a test" example came from an MIT course on differential equations: https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/18-03-differential-equations-spring-2010/resources/mit18_03s10_ex1/.
REFERENCES
On attention during lectures. The basic take-away is that passive learning during lectures is similar to a vigilance task (asking people to monitor for low frequency signals from a background of noise - radar monitoring for instance). 10-30 minutes in, steep attention decrements.
Young, M. S., Robinson, S., & Alberts, P. (2009). Students pay attention!: Combating the vigilance decrement to improve learning during lectures. Active Learning in Higher Education, 10(1), 41–55. doi.org/10.1177/1469787408100194
If you are a teacher looking to improve student learning during lectures, this piece from almost 40 years ago still holds up. If you’re a science teacher at the undergraduate level, I recommend visiting the Carl Wieman Science Education Initiative.
Gibbs, G., Habeshaw, S., & Habeshaw, T. (1987). Improving Student Learning During Lectures. Medical Teacher, 9(1), 11–20. doi.org/10.3109/01421598709028976
This is a more modern piece covering some of the same ground:
Cerbin, W. (2018). Improving student learning from lectures. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Psychology, 4(3), 151–163. doi.org/10.1037/stl0000113
