What is The Best Way to Teach a New Skill?
Continuing on yesterday’s question about why we still like to read even though we have all the videos we could ever need available to us, take a look at this list of a wide range of skills taught in different ways, collected by Tim Ferris.
Watching the videos got me curious. I wanted to learn the skills and practice them. But very soon, I also remembered why I so often prefer to get my information in written form (with photos): It is very hard to get a big picture from a video.
You can skim through a step by step tutorial or magazine article quickly before digging into the details. To do this in a video, you have to fast forward or jump back and forth — and when you do that, it is hard to collect the important steps.
A video is great for showing you how to do things. For example, explaining how to juggle three balls with only text is very hard. Similarly, explaining the correct kneading technique for bread making would be easier done in video than text.
But when you need to reproduce the steps in the video, you will need simple visual cues to guide you. At this point, a bullet list of the important steps is better for reminding you of the steps to take.
This is how the best way to teach a skill depends on situation, but most often is a combination of the different methods: text and pictures, supported by video when needed.
I think that the best way to teach does depend on the skill and the person. As you say text, picture and video are helpful. Actually doing it is critical – not just hearing that you are suppose to do x if it every comes up, but actually doing it yourself.
Some people (including me) benefit greatly from understanding why certain aspects are important, how certain actions can impact something else you didn’t think of. Others don’t care about that as much.
Thanks for the comment, John! I agree, doing yourself is critical. Even when it comes to skills that are more mental than manual, you need to do a lot of thinking to actually learn.
Also, I have noticed that teaching a skill helps you learn it. Maybe it’s because it forces you to understand what is important and why — as you say.
I agree videos are a cumbersome way to “get” instructions. Friends of mine built an app called HowDo that uses still photos and audio to deliver step-by-step how-tos. Check it out, I’m sure you’ll find it interesting. http://www.how.do
Just installed the app, seems great! Next time I make bread, I’ll definitely try to make a how-do out of it :) Thanks for the tip!