My Least Favorite Kind of Instructor

[@scouthanamura2380]

oh this one's getting printed on a business card to hand out physically

[@kidyuki1]

Oh my god. It even has a watermark.

[@TVBenSifka]

I had a stats professor who taught exactly like this and half the class either dropped or failed because it was an hour and a half twice a week. Genuine hell

[@noobkin997]

Same, but with “Survey of Western Culture”. It became a test of wills between students and professor to see how long he would let a seemingly rhetorical question hang in the air until some weak individual felt so awkward that they had to break the silence.

[@newworldotter8583]

After watching this I realized that I focused so much on the pauses, that I didn't process any of the information between pauses. I have no idea what exactly you were trying to say but I feel like that was kinda the point.

[@Fiebich]

Flashbacks to some of my worst college professors, topped only by those who didn't actually know their material well. Unless we're doing review, this kind of teaching is needlessly stress-inducing.

[@Acc_Expired]

I love walking away from an hour long lecture with only 30 words of notes

[@willfleischer]

Whenever I have to give feedback for my professors I feel like I don’t know how to articulate a description of their teaching style very well and why it wasn’t working for me- this helps a ton, thanks netshaq as always

[@Hofstetter17]

Thank you so much for calling this out for what it is.

[@TastySnackies]

This really is the worst type of teaching. Like, why are you expecting me to answer questions as the lesson is going on? Teach me the damn lesson and let me answer the question on a test

[@connor1586]

I always knew some uni lecturers were bad but never pinpointed how until I watched this. Great video!

[@astridriver]

I had to take a professional training certification course for work once and not only did she teach like this, we never got her answers right. We’d be sitting there guessing and guessing and no matter how close we got to getting it right, if we didn’t say the exact words she was looking for she’d act like we were nowhere near the point she was trying to make. We’d all be guessing and guessing just so she’d get to the point but she just kept making us guess. It was a terrible two days.

[@321erup123]

Instructors should leverage the projector to play some Subway surfers gameplay

[@urd3adnow]

i can visualize shaq in my head watching an annoyingly paced ted talk while scarfing down some chips and salsa and angrily spittling tomato juice across his screen

[@MarleyMe95]

Former high school teacher here, definitely not a good way to structure an hour plus of content but I do think these Q&As have their place. At the start of lessons, and peppered throughout after content is shared. These should be quick checks for understanding so a good teacher can clarify what a class isn't getting. Not so much about conveying info in the moment, more about informing what the instructor will do next. If you're getting blank stares on these, that's a hint you haven't given enough context and need to reteach. If half your lesson is this, that's a hint you don't have enough information to teach in the first place.

[@caman225]

Idk my experience was always that that type of question was a really bad way to check if something was understood. Even when I knew I didn’t want to respond to questions like that because it puts you on the spot and makes you risk looking like an idiot with no potential benefit if you get it right. That meant it was always either someone who knew and liked answering questions who answered (over representing the class’s level of understanding) or someone would be called on and only begrudgingly respond. When the second thing happened it was interesting that even when that person got it wrong it wasn’t taken as indication that material wasn’t understood by the class but rather was taken as a sign of a lack of enthusiasm ie as an indicator of attitude and not understanding. The only thing that would happen in that instance was the intended answer would be given by the instructor, often they would become slightly frustrated and then the lesson continued without any further genuine inquiry into a broader level of understanding among the class or significant review of the material at question. You could certainly imagine a great teacher who wouldn’t fall into that trap, but to my mind that would require a way of asking those questions that’s fundamentally different from what’s portrayed here. In fact I’d say most of the time questions like that were being asked at the first introduction of new material and not in review of what was presented at all

[@ReaperStarcraft]

Shaq I'd honestly love more videos on instructional design, or even just a recommended list of resources. To this day I still feel the uselessness of my classes in teaching and this takes me right back to sitting there mad as hell at them wasting my time.

[@ronanmcintyre]

I dislike my instructions like I dislike my salads: lacking density

[@MarcusRobertsonTwo]

I never noticed that I did this in work presentations. Thank you! I’m sorry! I will improve!

[@AnthemUnanthemed]

in the first 3 seconds bordom hit, I felt like I was back in highschool math and the teacher just told me to shut up, then jane stood up and said to the teacher that they should really watch the way they should talk to students, me and jane were both sent out of class that day for no reason, but thats ok because the teacher didnt know that the time out of class taught me a lot of math. It would have been impossible to get away with a double homicide without the fundamentals that I learned because of that class, good times. Edit, miss you jane, Im sorry but you were going to talk and I couldnt have that.

[@Pigmedog]

me taking the L and snap answering all the questions instantly so it doesn't slow down for everyone else

[@agent0422]

This reminds me of one of my psychology professors who had a seemingly different but still similar style. He used to to spend like 90% of his lectures telling us "stories"* about his patients which were somewhat entertaining but ultimately useless at teaching us the concepts he was supposed to teach us. He was great at capturing attention in the classroom and a surprising amount of students liked his lectures but his information density was insanely low. *"stories" is in quotes because I'm 99% sure he made those stories up.

[@kidyuki1]

Thank you! Even aside from the information density argument, this move is annoying and disruptive. Especially like the "close, feedback" part. So often, presentations are brought to a grinding halt for minutes on end while the instructor picks on 3, 4, 5 people to guess, only for the "right" word to be something no one in the room was thinking of.

[@bean2562]

So many flash backs from this video, you really nailed the vibe and it hurts my soul.

[@RageKroc888]

The combination of protracted pause after asking a question and second-hand embarrassment at the classmate who just got a finger wagged at them, despite you knowing you would have guessed wrong too. just makes me yearn to be anywhere else.

[@jkubed95]

I've had classes with like 7 people and the professor would just stare at all of us waiting for someone to answer several times per class, but none of us had a response. it was hell.

[@ashton1860]

Because a class with 7 people is the perfect place to have some back and forth and academic discussion. This consumerist view of higher education as 'buying knowledge' (with time or money, as Shaq says here) is asinine. What about skills? Critical analysis, high-level communication, collaboration, questioning, embracing and synthesizing perspectives.... Unless it's a recorded lecture going out to 100+ people, I'll always want a bit of thoughtful pacing and student participation.

[@cooberr]

oh my god suddenly im in first year university

[@tomv8952]

God damn, had a dog trainer come over one time and employ this technique and kept it up even after it was obvious we were getting the answer wrong 3-4 times every time. Maddening

[@daybrake2]

i would intentionally start saying ridiculous answers

[@oryxthemad]

oh hey this was almost the class I dropped just this past wednesday. The instructor would show us a powerpoint, and ask us questions to which the instructor basically required one single person from the class to read the text directly on the powerpoint.

[@Acc_Expired]

One time i was in a class and the fill in the blank word was "energy". It was a particularly obvious one, so a student pretty quickly piped up with the answer. Somehow, the teacher misheard and said that was incorrect... we spent the next 20 minutes with 0 information density.

[@wombatconrad]

I had a teacher who used this method over Teams. It did not work, no one ever wanted to be the one to answer, but he kept doing it anyway. It was painful.

[@nobodysanything2330]

Information density is an amazing concept. I had never heard of it but now I can name the exact reason why I feel disappointed everytime someone tries for profundity when they are giving Information

[@Infantry12345]

I'm not sure what training teachers get for providing engaging and effective teaching styles but it does sort of seem like most people just wing it and end up in these sorts of styles. Thanks for doing your part in lending a critical lens on how teaching functions :]

[@acg1189]

I firmly believe all lecturers should watch both of these videos kzbin.info/www/bejne/mnOzY5ycZdFgl5o kzbin.info/www/bejne/i3uagpZpl9iroKs I have zero background in law or geology. Have little interest in both. I have not only watched both but feel like I can fundamentally understand as a layman, these complex topics because both professors are excellent and breaking down complex information to explain their expertise.

[@cg1906]

Honestly there was basically no public speaking training in teachers college and everyone walked away with wildly different approaches to how to speak to a class, for better and for worse. Most of the training was grounded in educational theory, practice, construction of lessons and units, how to break down dense material, those sorts of things. But specific feedback on the theatrics of teaching was rare

[@Jmcinally94]

Understanding that you have a passion for Instructional Design explains A LOT about how your videos are so short and to the point compared to the rest of the platform.

[@ashleywilson3814]

Please god download this info into every instructors brain

[@magicvibrations5180]

This is main channel material

[@heyitsmort7744]

Studying professional writing is so fucked cuz you learn the exact ways to write information densely and effectively and watch as every textbook fails to meet those standards

[@willdbeast1523]

I think it's fine for in person teaching when the group size is say 1-3 students, so they can actually target the specific questions they're asking/gaps they're leaving to the level of the people being instructed. More than that you just get no-one or the same subset responding.

[@aisha.a]

Genuinely going to use this

[@zaxxoid]

Please everyone be brave enough to do this

[@csttornado3965]

Painful, but point taken

[@sumlem]

This type of instruction only works during review sessions mid semester BUT THAT'S NOT HOW ITS IMPLEMENTED

[@Jopes17]

I don't think I've ever had a teacher that wasn't like this

[@danielcavazos4802]

In law school they do something similar, but it works because the readings are information density 1k and everyone actually does the readings. Low info density lectures allow for unpacking the high info density readings.

[@SpoonMe]

My least favorite instructor has tenure and been at the same institution over 25 years contributing to the bloat they peddle as rounding out the student. The current widely accepted accreditation and credit hour degree style system goes back to the 1800s. Why not use mastery of a subject and field with micro credentials along the way. Not every degree has a true 120 credit hours of degree specific facts that are need to be learned across 4 go 5 years. Rant complete ish

[@kalfares]

Ty for making this and will be reposted

[@ThoseMetalingKids]

Nah I’d probably end it all if someone sent this to me

[@UncleBalthasarGelt]

Holy shit i haaaaate that, thank you.

[@cooljammer00]

So Ben Stein from Ferris Bueller? I assume the asking questions thing is to try to engage the audience. Does it work?

[@yuordreams]

THANK YOUUUUU love you sleep well tn Internet Shaq, you're the best 💙

[@mike10240]

It's bad to overload the lecture with a lot of questions like this. But in one-on-one, I actually find it can help to start things off by asking what the person knows or thinks. I consider it more useful as a warmup or prompt to get the person to shift mental resources into the topic at hand. Like the answer itself isn't even particularly relevant, its more for focus and to inform you what needs clarification.

[@melinapiccolo3526]

breaking the cycle. thank you

[@jaredt.murphy8257]

I will be saving this. thanks Shaq

[@limelad37]

The worst part is whenever they sprinkle in rhetorical questions with the same cadence and act surprised when you try to answer them. Actually, it's worse when they're covering a nuanced topic but are vague with their lead-up and still expect a one-word answer. You don't know what they want, so you often end up saying the opposite answer because either way, it's technically correct; it depends on the interpretation!

[@websterwing8225]

I think that there is a reason to do this, but possibly not a good one. Information density isn't everything, especially if the learners just go on forgetting it immediately afterwards. By being asked a question, the audience will notice that they don't already have the information that the instructor is presenting. This I think is supposed to make the learner place a higher value on it, increasing retention. I can watch high-density youtube videos all day, but it doesn't matter if I can't actually recall or incorporate it.

[@emeraldbonsai]

Some people can only handle a certain density so they have to lower it to the lowest common denominator

[@JohnDoe-yq9rt]

dont fucking ask me questions i dont know any of this

[@Semiicolin5]

Thanks for this. I will actually use this now.

[@guacamolen]

Absolute savage. I'm out of college now, so can't do this with the professors who went this way, but I'll send it to my little bro. 10/10

[@MickySarge]

Painfully accurate.

[@livershi]

i dont think asking the students or whoever to stop and think is a bad thing necessarily but only for small groups for groups larger than idk 10 lets say you just wait for that one smart guy (or hell frankly empty silence) to answer for you

[@dorianthegray]

The silence always made me anxious so I always tried to answer so that it would end. It always read as a refusal, which is a form of hostility. Plus I ended up in a lot of rooms with folks that really hated responding, so it turns out this style probably upset every single person in the room. The only thing worse that I've encountered is a Sunday School teacher that would literally wait as long as necessary for someone to answer. I counted out a full minute once.

[@squib308]

public school, college, etc "Ok, so does anyone know _why_ the babblespeak works this way?" (looks around) (finally the one or two people that are on top of their education will answer because it's an uncomfortable pause, and either the other people don't know it, or don't want to speak up, they hate being That Person who ends up always answering the question and feeling awkward) that's great you're trying to eliminate that :)

[@stirfryjedi]

you forgot the part where you take a break and then gloat about your hobbies and accolades during the break time

[@epictehninja]

I have heard that this technique can help keep the audience engaged as well as helping them to retain the information afterwords. It does kind of make sense, you are more likely to remember something if you had to actively think about it as opposed simply being told the right answer. Not sure if there's any research to back it up but information density is not the only thing to consider when teaching, information retention is also important.

[@ThePrimevalVoid]

This technique however is a bastardization of the actual thing that it's attempting to emulate, which is active participation and active learning environments. The instructor here isn't asking for answers, they're asking students to fill in the blanks. And without any context, there is no critical thinking happening while it's happening because taking in information and processing information are two different modes. But processing information and discussing it out loud/engaging in the form of a quiz for instance are intertwined. TL;DR : This gives the feeling of audience engagement, but ultimately falls short because the engagement is superficial.

[@Acc_Expired]

There is a big difference between audience engagement and "someone finish my sentence please"

[@zionklinger2264]

​@@Acc_ExpiredI was trying so hard to articulate what is different between this and asking questions to the class, and that absolutely hits the nail on the head. I teach at a university and I ask questions to my students all the time, but it's "how would you all solve this problem" or "what's wrong with the solution that I showed you." And I try to make it clear that answering wrong is okay and even valuable, because it helps me to guide people away from answers that seem right but aren't. (I teach a senior level programming course(

[@garrettmillard525]

Ehhh I really hate the stupid questions that just waste time as no one wants to answer the blatantly obvious question BUT in some academic settings, typically history or literature where theres not just one right answer, this format can be useful for having people connect things themselves, building the critical thinking skills, and also introduce new perspectives that the lecturer may never have been able to provide. As well as making it obvious to the instructor when the class isn't drawing viable conclusions from the material.

[@Quate32]

this sort of teaching is why almost every "video essayist" pauses after every 5th word. it's maddening and i've been whining about it for a decade now and don't foresee stopping any time soon

[@RemotHuman]

devils advocate: lower information density could give you more time to process the info you do get. this style of speaking could also let you explain related concepts your audience thinks you mean, could also help you and the audience to get to know each other or at least know who is "smart" / already knows the topic, and also get to know the overall knowledge level of the room and what concepts you need to explain in more detail

[@seanmulvihill1501]

I do like your videos because of their density. That said, working as a math tutor if I taught subjects going for density my students wouldn't learn a thing lol. I think slower pacing is necessary for more abstract concepts. Even some of the most popular math lecturers/video creators on youtube have slow pacing with pauses for students to interact with presented ideas. I have a feeling this video is more a reference to concrete subjects though.

[@netshaq2]

I said that instructors "should consider" information density, but plenty of comments are responding as if I positioned it as ~the~ most important factor. Why is that?

[@seanmulvihill1501]

@@netshaq2 ah fuck I can't answer this without murdering your whole joke but it's probably because you're mocking the style of instruction and when the "0 density" joke section came up it sounded like the implication was that "0 density = bad". Depending on the complexity of the subject I find those low density moments crucial in my work. Although, if that wasn't your intent I guess it proves the entire point of the video lol Also, I'm pointing it out because MAN did this video attack me. I end up with a very similar pacing and (because I work in smaller lesson environments) level of interaction with my students.

[@pipichi8441]

@@seanmulvihill1501imma be honest, as a person studying math, i have to say that the pauses are a requirement. Often times going through proofs you will get lost. It takes a bit of self contemplation to figure out what the one step you missed was and then figure out why it works. Plus, idk if its just me but on first impression it seems like to me that the video was basically saying pausing is bad. I didnt get this nuance on how it was “important to consider other factors too”. This vid i guess was a miss in the message but as always the presentation is great. Edit: on rewatch i think i kind of get it. In math, often times the information density is surprisingly low. Often times class will be one proof that you probably will forget the details of in a quarter or semester. It seems though that this happening is totally fine, and expected actually. The actual learning is done in the methodology and the patterns you pick up in learning the proofs. Even if you forgot the actual lesson, you learned how to research it to yourself if you need to. Perhaps in another course like botany or anatomy this video would apply to more.

[@aaron-kirk]

best video king has ever made

[@CD_Rhoms]

fuck iv been so online i forgot theirs actual people talk like this irl.

[@bingus1651]

Now THAT'S a shirt! Boy howdy!

[@rollandsimus]

Thank you so much :D :D

[@Maazin5]

"The scare floor will be..." "...painted?"

[@Zimodo]

this is a great video and i enjoyed watching it

[@giuliagiuliana]

brb gonna send this to my uni physiology professor (if he is even still alive?)

[@MattCroushorn]

For the next lecture could you make up some acronyms to describe your teaching style which you then have to use an entire lecture to explain

[@Will140f]

This is how I taught because I didn’t need to spend as long preparing for each class. Suffice to say I am no longer teaching these days.

[@douglasdollars]

If you've been sent this video, you need to get better and I hope you reflect on how much life you've wasted (both yours and others') by holding to this approach for so long. You should feel terrible, but you can feel better.

[@jeziel675]

Who do you think you're emulating but in reality you're a low-rent, uninteresting version of? ... That's right... Steve Jobs **clicks remote**

[@jman2816]

Oooof, so I teach High School and what this feels like is a bastardization of what's called the Socratic method. Ideally, you could make instruction like this work by using it in situations where students benefit from sort of reverse engineering the solution. There are a whole lot of ways to do a shitty version of this though, like hoping that the audience makes the correct leaps of logic or by adding to the stress of speaking up and participating in a class. Plus, you really have to be judicious about meeting the audience "at their level" and about how much participation you're trying to get out of your students to get your point across, because you can get the students and people with anxiety to feel drained FAST if the questions are non-stop.

[@muffitytuffity5083]

Gonna have to at least partially disagree here. Leading questions with definite answers are bad but “information density” is something you should be worried about for a KZbin video not a lecture. Good questions are crucial to helping students organize new knowledge and understand the implications of what they are learning. If you don’t ask good questions and allow silence to persist while students think because you’re worried about information density then you’re probably not giving your students the time they need to actually learn and are feeding them too much too fast. Most KZbin video are giving people too much too fast, but that’s because most KZbin videos are concerned about viewer engagement first and the audience can control the pace with the pause button if needed.

[@siiiiiiiiiimo]

SHAKKY theTedX BOOYYYY

[@its-sirap]

i retained 0 information from this 😳

[@Wosat]

What is the difference between the bad type of "always asking questions" instruction and the Socratic method? Or is this a complaint about the Socratic method?

[@purpleblah2]

Socratic method called out?!?!?! Internet Shaq taking shots at pedagogy?

[@keithmcbrayer9896]

To play devils advocate: what about engagement, encouraging interaction and questions and keeping the groups attention?

[@netshaq2]

there are more effective ways to improve engagement, but they are harder to implement

[@EricGonzalo]

Great (Just riffing off your funny mention with this piece of feedback. 🙃)

[@Appollochan]

Reminds me of my driving instructor. 🥲 him: "ok what gear should you approach the roundabout in?" me: "umm it's my first lesson can you just tell me?"

[@leprechaungiant1]

Could have had longer pauses, I was struggling to keep up…

[@sighcology]

i'm having such a visceral reaction to this. shut it down!!!

[@MonaLisaHasNoEyebrows]

Failure mindset right here

[@RVMendoza]

I literally stop listening when people talk like this, a health professional did this to me once, it was terrible.

[@ndylion]

Do you think there's any correlation between this style of instruction and how some religious speakers talk?

[@realfunnyman]

This is like the lazy way of getting engagement. A lot of pedagogy is interested in getting students to think about questions and answers them, but this style always asks dumb questions and doesn't yield enough of a response to actually get a feel for what the audience knows. At best it could be useful for a brief review before diving into a bigger topic

[@miat.4442]

As an instructor I avoid this at all costs, but that's mostly because I have never felt so uncool and unworthy as when greeted with blank stares and silence from college freshman

[@seraphdiscgolf]

You went to ASU, didn't you?

[@Arcturus5]

sending this video to Dora the Explorer

[@brandonpuryear1543]

yeah but doesn’t this style of teaching encourage critical thinking and engagement? in a classroom environment, students can be prone to stop paying attention and start getting board if they aren’t engaged, they also get practice thinking of solutions and answers on their own rather than it being plainly stated for them

[@wadball]

hahaha yes

[@eggplantglue7433]

not to be shitty but my least favourite kind of instructor pronounces the L in folks (I think its an American regional accent thing)

[@Khyrberos]

Thanks i hate it xD

[@seanfarrell2107]

While no one likes a teacher who wastes students’ time with meaningless jargon and pointless theatrics, information density does not seem to be a good indicator of instructional value. We cannot teach students as one would feed livestock. Education, being a human act, always ought to be a relational act.

[@netshaq2]

i read the first 10 words and got what i needed ty

[@seanfarrell2107]

​@@netshaq2 😂Fair enough

[@StrikingCrayon]

This helped me figure out why I hate this, but do it myself IRL, when needed. It's manipulative-A-F and disrespectful. But it's playing to the lowest common denominator.