[scuderiaferre]

For a long while now I’ve wanted a membership to Liberty Classroom. I finally bought a membership and excitedly expected to be blown away by my first lecture. Perhaps I set the mental bar too high because I was not blown away. Now about 5 lectures in for 2 subjects I would like to suggest a few things that might make it easier and more enjoyable for students like me.

First and foremost I am not a strong audio-only learner. I’ve noticed a lack of visual aides in all of the lectures. I understand that the lectures are developed with on the go learning in mind (namely in the car) but I learn much more efficiently when I can use more than just one sense. Ideally sight, sound, and touch. I suppose I don’t feel very engaged in the whole process and my eyes tend to glaze over and I have to go back 30 seconds to re-listen to the lecture. As a side note the lectures are in a fairly low resolution as well. 1080 would be ideal but even 720 would be much more acceptable.

Secondly I would like to suggest a look at the Mises University course page user interface. Each course is broken down into individual lectures/weeks and accompanying resources with required and recommended reading for those lectures/weeks. It is very easy to read/watch the out of lecture content and most of the resources are on the Mises.org site itself and are free. For comparison in the Intro to Logic course the resource page has 21 books listed in the bibliography. I’m sure Prof. Casey doesn’t expect me to read them all but as they would have to be purchased (unless I can find them online for free or at a local library) I will likely not have the time or resources to read any of them. As this website is directed at people who want to learn austrian economics in the car I’m curious on how many follow up on the resources outside the lectures themselves.

My nitpicking aside I do like LC. With more opportunities for engagement and simpler, easier to access interface for the courses I think LC can be improved for the students who are looking for more than just audio lectures while commuting. Kudos to you and your team Dr. Woods. I have the utmost respect for your work here and in other mediums.

Just my 6.22g of copper.

[hheathman]

I would agree with the audio assessment given above. I find I’m a much more visual learner than auditory learner, especially when it comes to complicated subjects like math and economics. I need pictures to understand concepts. Still love the site and the overall concept, but Mr. Slagle is not alone in his opinion. Will the market respond??? Haha, time will tell…

[saadiabenji]

The powerpoint presentations should be more pleasing to the eye. Only Casey’s is nice looking at the moment. Still, I love LC.

[a_spencer]

The main thing I would really like is quizzes/tests that you can take, and retake whenever you want, after each lecture. Something you can use to help ingrain the key points and facts into your brain.

Everyone I’ve talked to agrees that this is really necessary for learning. It’s the one thing LC is lacking.

[maester_miller]

Have you tried any of Dr. J’s lectures on Western Civ yet? He incorporates his powerpoint into his video, making it easy to reference without having to flip back and forth. Each lecture also does in fact have a quiz at the end (although very short and simple, still useful).

[scuderiaferre]

I did a few days after I had made this post. I’ve only seen the first two lectures and have liked them thus far.

[rt]

I like LC a lot, especially the Forum!
I like listening to LC-Lectures during bus/train rides on the way to school and when I’m going for a run. I’d suggest to improve the audio and video quality which could be a lot better. I’m happy with the content and everything else!

[porphyrogenitus]

Each lecture page sometimes includes “recommended readings,” some (sometimes many, depending on the course in question) do not have them for that class; sometimes they’re linked in the powerpoint, but sometimes not.

Each lecture in each course covers enough that their could be/probably should be “recommended readings” links added for each, something relatively easy to do on a webpage “retrospectively.”

Still, on the “adding value,” for $100, in many cases $70, I think we get a lot of value for our coin (especially given that we get to pay in near-worthless Bernak$; – just wait till Tom starts charging us in gold-equivalents! Oh, wait; I shouldn’t give him any ideas. . .).

[mfigaro]

With respect to my own benefit, the material has greatly enhanced my awareness of knowledge and provided an empowering corraboration of my Western instincts. Thank you. I am assuming that as in any university lecture series, you must put in the reading to achieve the full benefit. The difference here is that the order is lecture then read instead of read then lecture. This works for me since I do not have time to do all the reading. At the moment I am thrilled to learn to learn basic material and of the existence of things which my high school and university educations denied me. The powerpoint slides have been adequate for me to organize the information in my mind as a lecture progresses.

[msickmeier]

I agree with you, Clint, on many aspects. It seems the earlier lectures were the trial-n-error, phase (Early American history) but as they progressed, they get much better. I found it best if you approach LC as an additional learning source. Some lectures seem to require a certain amount of prior knowledge. Not much different to how college and university courses are. For example, the lectures on Civil war focus mainly on the political aspect and not so much the battles fought. Though, I have to say, the political aspect was what I was mostly interested in anyway.

I do find the forums board rather cumbersome. Software like Vbulletien would allow more editing and less “bare bones” approach to discussion boards. But this is how things go with newer sites. I think with time, and an ear to the consumer, LC will get better each year. I plan to continue purchasing subscriptions as long as it seems that things are improving, and not staying stagnant.

[scuderiaferre]

After going through the entirety of the Constitutional history course I can say that I enjoyed it.
A few positives about it:

-The videos seem to be much a much smaller size versus the older lectures, as well as being a different format. Having moved to a very rural area since my signing up at LC, the smaller size is nice for quick downloads whenever I can nab bandwidth.
-I like having a Powerpoint to follow as well as a video of the lecturer in the lower corner.
-This format works very well with mobile devices (I use a kindle fire) as it takes up less hard drive space and the Powerpoint is in the video itself

-The only downside is the video of the lecturer is relatively small, but worth the tradeoff of having the Powerpoint included.

I am 2/3s of the way through the Us History to 1877 course and can compare it to the constitutional course:
-The video of the lecturer is easier to see, but the data size can be quite a bit bigger. If you have a reliable internet connection (I do not and am writing this at the library 15 minutes away from my house) the size aspect is negligible.
-I prefer to watch these lectures on my PC if there is a Powerpoint I can reference because having multiple applications open is much easier than on my Kindle.

-Out of the two different formats I would prefer the Constitutional course format over the other.

-I know server space can be pricey but a zip folder of video lectures (appropriately numbered and labeled) with the available resources included would also make gathering the courses much user friendly.

Again, overall good work and I look forward to the newly released lectures.

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