Weekly Topic How do you Prefer to Learn?

This week lets take a look at how you prefer to digest learning content! We have a team actively working on new content for our community and they would love to hear your preferences on digesting learning material. Do you prefer videos, or text? Maybe it depends on the subject matter? Toss a vote on the poll above and elaborate in the thread!

What are some resources that you've found valuable when working on furthering your game development skills? Apart from our official "Learn" resources there is great content out there, feel free to share your favorites with everyone here!

 

Text and images by far. I've yet to encounter a video where I didn't end up skipping up to thirty minutes of preamble, only to have to constantly pause and skip around because people think that, for some reason, video is a good format to present code in.

 

Personally I agree video isn't the best format to present code in, but I would argue it's a great place to provide bitesized learning. This channel does a great job of using video to present concepts to you, while also tackling some of the code.

How do you feel about video content that is supplemented with a transcription @Murgilod?

 

Hate 'em, honestly.

A transcript only does half the job when video is involved because you lose out on key visual information. You end up having to scroll through the video regardless to get all the information you need.

To be completely honest, the only benefit of video I see over text and images (both static and animated) is that it's easier on the person making the tutorial or guide.

 

Video is fine if it's high level and more about the theory. The moment I am trying to follow along or am coming back to look something up, it's useless. At that point I would much rather have text that I can actually search.

 

I agree with video being mainly for a nice overview of what you can do.
The way I think I like to learn is to first see many different possible things that can be done, and when the time comes, hopefully I'll remember something I saw and start searching in greater detail.
Videos can be a great way to just show off things, and then have a link to a more detailed text guide on everything that was talked about. I think it would also be more relaxing for the video maker to make the videos since the video is just to demonstrate and they can use the text guide as a fallback for anything they missed in the video.

Dont get me wrong, video can be great for explaining things in detail. It might just depend on what kind of mood I'm in for whether I want to read or watch something =/
It can also depend on the topic and how visuals might help explain the topic. If your text guide is trying to explain something that requires motion, such as explaining collision penetration/resolving etc..., then a video might help bring the point across better, either that or use a gif in your text guide.
It also really really depends on how good the speaker is in the video and how smoothly the video goes. Text might be easier to do in that regard.

 

Videos - but they have to be structured in a good way. The split up in the respective chapters that are currently on the YouTube channel are pretty good, IMO. A video simply can't leave out as many steps as a written tutorial can. Too often I saw explanations where a step was missing or not explanied well enough. IN video I can see what happens even if it's not explicitly said. Also, personally, I am a visual learner.
Yet the most ideal thing to have would be a video along a short written summiraization to revisit the things from the video. I know that this at least doubles the work, though. Watch the video for overview and the way it's done. Then work the written tutorial along the way. After all you do have an overview and know what the goal is. More learning hooks for your brain to attach to.

Either way I have to comend the whole Unity learning team for the material they provide.
It's super cool to have access to so many things. To see from the creators how features are intended to be used. To have access to this without a paywall. Of couse this is ultimately to promote Unity but it works very well and I would hope other companies did the same thing for their products.

 

Text and images. Having video segments in additional or in place of some of the images might work well too.

 

It depends on the stage of learning. I don't think a user interface can properly be taught without video. At the beginning I found the pre-recorded tutorial videos to be by far the best learning resource. I probably still prefer it this way, although text and images would probably be enough now for most things, since I know where everything is by now.

 

Text and images for me, as well. Especially as a main source. I do enjoy videos, and live training some times, though. Learning is always good, and having a good teacher/presenter can be a nice bonus.
Projects have their benefits, too.

 

Text and Images for me too, It's faster

 

I agree with @Billy4184 that it depends on what exactly is being covered. For an interface small focused videos would be good I think.

For covering "how to do [this] or [that] in Unity" from a game dev perspective I would appreciate it if the material covered each way of approaching the "problem" along with the pros and cons of using each method.

I'm as (maybe more so) interested in the "why" as I am the "how". I think having a deeper understanding of the thought processes at work behind the engine / api would be beneficial in general to everyone. "This is what we were thinking when we implemented this. This is how we expected this to be used. However there is an alternative... for example you can also use this next approach and here are a few reasons when it may be the better choice in Unity". That kind of thing.

 

For most topics, I prefer text and images because I read faster than most people can talk. Also, it lets me search to the proper place when I want to refer back.

Videos are a good supplement when you are showing off something visual. Shaders, UI, lighting are the type of things where a single static image may not convey enough information.

I tend to think of the learning in a university setting. The video works as a lecture to introduce you to the topic, but when you're out actually doing and getting into the nitty gritty, that meaty text book is what you need by your side.

Additionally, I think videos work well for presentations such as the GDC archives, but that is because those lectures are to educate you about a specific area. They rarely have detailed technical information; just high level concepts.

 

This is how I learn for Computer Science and Game Programming. I have re ordered my list from my favourite to my less favourite ways of learning.
1. Ask a Friend that will understands your question and your problem the most, because some university programming theory is very hard to understand.
2. Text and Images from a textbook that is written for a university format. Usually, those university format textbooks have more harder stuff to learn with. Also, understanding your textbook can help you in a computer science written test by a lot. Many people prefer textbook, because usually your professor cannot teach more harder stuff or more clearly within a too short hour lecture.
3. Reference Code Samples or Project, I usually need the reference code samples to know what should I do to make my project will work properly. But, you should never use your code reference if you do not know what will your code reference suppose to do with.
4. Online videos and online resources, because you can easily find some online video tutorials to quickly learn some basic programming. Also, online video tutorials can be easier to understand than a textbook.

 

well actually live Videos. I better take some time and learn that slowly than produce non sense code or build small Errors, which i can't find them in first eye catch. Many of the Videos arent that quite good. But on unity i see only Videos which are related to their stuff. Udemy and some youtuber like Brackeys catch These all round up. So thats why are Live Videos or catchs better then text with some Pictures.

 

Personally, I prefer text and images. I love documentation, but I understand that a lot of people find it dense and somewhat hard to understand. Videos are great when code is typed on-screen. However, videos tend to err on the beginner-end; it's difficult to find anything for more complex topics.

Wikipedia is good for concepts and theory if you can get through it. It's got some phenomenal explanations; I wrote my Dijkstra's Algorithm implementation almost entirely based off Wikipedia's explanation of it. Textbooks are great, too, and some of them may have code snippets.

I try to avoid StackExchange and forum code, because half the time I have no idea what I'm copying/pasting. I prefer slow and understandable to fast and unintelligible.

 

I must be the only video lover here. Whenever i try to read text 20 minutes in i'll be dozing off, must find the willpower to read extremely long volumes of text lol.

 

Then, go to a library to study your volumes of texts, because it will help you focus in your studying like me even though I already passed my 1st year computer science, I will still go to library to study a head in case I will fail school at fall 2017.

 

There are different learning types. I am more of a video learner myself.
Though it also really does depend on the subject.

As I said earlier - I think if possible the two-fold approach of videos and accompanying written form would be ideal. At least for subjects like Programming. As soon as it's visual I think videos are often better than text.

 

If you leave me in a dark room with documentation I'll work it out

Eventually...

 

I can't say that I hate any of the options. Good reference documentation is the first I'd reach for, then videos if I want an overview rather than something specific. Figuring out an existing project falls somewhere between those and is helped by documentation and having an overview. I've used all in the past and will again in the future, but I voted for text and images as I think those provide the foundation for the others.

 

He's so good.

Shaders is in a bad place. There's no real spec for the language that's available, the docs are piss poor, and it's hard on top of all that. Dan Moran helps a lot to get over the inital hurdle with his videos.

I think that's the core for me - something I consume passively (video or text explanation) to get the high level concept of what the goals are and generally which directions to get to them, and then I'll have to do it myself. Moran's stuff is great not just becasue it's well presented, easy to follow and informative, it's also great because it's short.

I never want to follow a video tutorial, for the same reason many have posted - going back in time is a major pain. If I'm trying to do the same thing as (or a similar thing to) the tutorial, being able to jump back and forth quickly is a neccessity. I often post the link to the tutorial for reorderable lists when people ask about that feature, because it's a really well made text tutorial for showing people how to do a thing in a way that's practical to follow. '
Funny, that tutorial is from 2014, and the feature still hasn't gotten itself out of internal.

 

Text and images, please. I'm a programmer. Also helps search engine exposure.

Why not do a well written guide with images but at the bottom (or top) have a video called TLDR, which is a brief overview that's fun.

 

Personally I've found the Unity videos with the code underneath VERY useful! I'm very much a kinesthetic learner though! I have to see and do something to pick it up!

 

Go jogging with a laptop? sounds dangerous!

 

I cannot stand texts and images; I learn better when it's someone who tells me things.

 

I also have a strong preference for text with images, because I can easily skim, search, skip ahead, and consume it at a pace that neither bores nor overwhelms me. Also I can copy and paste code from text. Videos usually ask for too much of my time with uncertain payoff, or bore me so much that I start to fight against falling asleep.

I think it is good practice for text tutorials to have 2 layers of information, e.g. through use of something like spoiler tags, where related and deeper information and reasoning over the "why" questions is provided, that can be skipped if one just wants to achieve a certain goal or learn the basics.

There may be some topics that are better explained through video, but those are the exception I'd say.

 

Text/code and images to show, that have been edited to show step by step stuff is also good along with text and source but more editing..

Speaking of text and images unity website isn't so good, everything except the xenforo forums..not sure what is going on with the site design but its all over the place. Large oversized fonts/padding etc wtf going on, is unity's target dev audience the under 10s and over 65s or something?

Video if its something that is just easier to visually demonstrate.. like hooking up animation stuff, laying out ugui components.. etc.. overall video is better if it always short and to the point, or where each video is covering some specific things, instead of just the author sitting down for an hour and recorded some stuff (which is ok if its new and interesting coming soon etc)... if its like 15m+ then I'd already be put off unless it was covering a project I was particularly interested in, setup, code demonstrations.. and less covering stuff I was already aware of.. then those longer videos are annoying because you're just wanting to skip to very specific areas within them that you weren't aware of in doing something etc.

If I was only left with Unity docs, I wouldn't get very far before hitting some roadblock in figuring something out... bad api's(not all but def some), with little in example usage.

 

You know, it's the future. That's right Unity, the cool kids are more important than old things that remember paying by the minute for internet access. This means that learning materials need to be quite entertaining. I don't see a downside to NOT being serious when presenting tutorials. Laughter is medicine, and focus. It's appreciating that games are actually supposed to be fun. And this is a fun way you can do <insert tutorial topic here>.

Documentation is another (serious) matter, but tutorials? supposed to engage the world, really.

 

I like it when the Unity sales rep stands over my shoulder and teaches me how to do something. The last master class we had on shaders taught me more then any number of videos, text and documentation had shown me. I ended up actually writing a shader.

Failing that, I say videos for beginners and basic topics. Text and images for anything intermediate to advanced.

If you have never encountered a concept before, getting to grips with the terms in a text tutorial can be painful. Videos have the advantage of actually showing the really basic things, like dragging and dropping a reference in the inspector.

On the other hand once you get familiar with a concept, videos really are too slow to be practical. Its almost impossible for a video to cover exactly what I need in the exact right order. Once I get the idea, I really don't need to see a component set up in the inspector again. I don't need to waste time watching someone click play and then watch their results. I do need something that's searchable.

 

By example. Video and/or code samples.

As an example, take a look here:

https://docs.unity3d.com/ScriptReference/Rendering.CommandBuffer.DrawMesh.html
https://docs.unity3d.com/ScriptReference/Camera.AddCommandBuffer.html

Immediately I ask: when, where and how do I use this?
Whenever I see docs like this, my next step is load up Google and hope someone else has figured it out. Not great.

 

Of course everyone's assuming vids would have subs, right? because vids without subs for hard of hearing and non-native speakers (who often do learn how to read english) would just totally justify vids only...

 

All the subtitles in the world won't make a video where some nerdlinger types out a bunch of code any good.

 

Vids should have subs and a full transcript.

Actually that's not a bad idea, I might go ahead and do that to my own videos to improve accessibility to more veteran developers.

 

Looks like many people are biased regarding videos; I suspect that they had a negative feeling about them at first and never gave them a real and honest try.

 

I'm a YouTuber. I make these videos. I still think video is an extremely slow medium for learning anything beyond the basics.

But ultimately I get paid more for videos then I do for text tutorials. So I go where the market is willing to pay.

 

Or, you know, we've been forced to use videos because they've become the dominant teaching form for things like Unity and recognise how fundamentally flawed they are.

 

Hard to read the text when there is missing info or info is repeated. Treehouse makes a great job, as well as the Unity video course, are fast condense and are specific. Live Traning are good but slow and looks like youtube video tutorials (2% vote). I wish more shortcut videos explanations for each function in unity, each new feature, that include an example.

I can consume text with images only when is well done ( a good example is PHP). What I feel Unity is forgetting is users example! Unity can open the documentation and APIs section to include in each page a section in the footer where Users can make questions and users can answer. Also, a section [on the same page in each page] where users make examples and an upvote system. the examples can be text code and video tutorials. Similar to PHP. If I'm a beginner this page is completely useless[ https://docs.unity3d.com/ScriptReference/WWW-isDone.html ]

 

yes php doc pages still helpful... relevant code snippets and examples right in the help area you are looking into.. instead of all over the internet and everywhere but the online doc pages. if you can find it.

 

No, I think that the question is good but the result is not relevant in this case.
To obtain a better result probably must be divided into 2 or 3 groups of users.
Beginners and pro or guru.
So this two users skills conflict with the question of this week topic.
And intermediate like me are in the middle and probably will choose the beginner side.

Looking thread users joined data average, there are more advanced to Pro users.

Actually, Hippo is a guru...with a funny cut in his back! looking for last code implementation. I can't imagine a pro looking a live training section and that is probably the reason live training pick 2%

User group beginner probably will pick more votes in videos.

But actually, new users are too busy looking live training videos section and probably are not subscribe to this forum yet. I try to look the API section when I was a beginner but I feel like it was an empty jock. Like for example, a boolean is a boolean but with no meaningful explanation of what boolean means (as a beginner).

Conclusion:
Users with less than 500 Post love VIDEOS
Users with more than 500 Post love TEXT

 

I preferred videos before writing my first post here.

 

Reading is a better way to learn than watching. When reading you actively seek and get the information. Watching, on the other hand, you just passively receive the given information...

 

I like videos. It's not true.
And I use Unity since the days when it was Mac only. (/elitism)

 

You don't just watch videos, you listen to what the instructor says and you look where he wants you to look; pretty much like in school, when you listened to what your teachers said and did what he told you to do.

 

I'm less than 500, and not really fond of videos...

but he told me to read books

 

There are different types of learners (that's knowledge so old that even my school books had something to say about it), some indeed learn better by one way than the other. If videos are optimal for you, then that's cool. Ideally UT should offer both for all topics covered.

Watching and listenling at a slow pace never did it for me, neither back in school nor now. I used to sit through my math classes really trying to listen and learn this stuff, but I always caught myself zoning out and daydreaming and missing the important parts, because the teacher took way too long to get there. Then 3 days before the next test I'd meet up with a friend, take the textbook and we figured the stuff out at our own pace. Worked fine for us.

Claiming that we just never gave the video format a chance is ridiculous. I've watched over a dozen long video tutorials (mostly professional ones like from Gnomon) in my life and during quite a few I actually fell asleep. I really tried, it doesn't work well for me. And by the way, I hate reading. I'm a slow reader, reading always feels like work to me, and I don't really read books for the fun of it. Yet I have to accept, that reading is just a so much more effective way for me to learn stuff.

 

Spoiler

You touch on this perfectly! I have a background in training people and learners can mostly be categorised into four groups, auditory, kinesthetic, visual and read/write. Video caters for two of them, and if you're doing it at the same time three... While text and similar does the same.

Depends on the audience, for example, casual programmers. As it stands the current docs could do with a lot more examples and fleshing out to help those who read/write best, case in point, VR recentering was the last spot I got stuck!

If we're talking about a full on course, then the. Tricky part comes with appealing to those who learn by doing, (engineers like myself are pains for this one!! I can't learn unless I'm breaking things with a hammer myself ). Maybe there needs to be some kind of exercise using the webplayer for these people, so they can write their code using guides, and watch it come to life in front of them. At least at the complete noobie level this was the most rewarding thing for me using the engine!

 

I prefer text and images.

 

Text and images if they're sufficiently detailed. if they don't include all detail (which they typically don't), a video in my opinion is "better" because it kind of has to by default (if a person is actually doing whatever they're teaching in the video).

In both cases it's basically me figuring out how to do something by myself (rather than listening and learning "from" someone). I just need to have all the information available so I can do that.

 

The documentation manual is hard for me to go and read it.
Is missing that enthusiasm me for reading it. Can it be the interaction? can be that there is no questions test with points and user classification? Is not that fun to read. I do not know why annoying reading it.

API: After the introduction of Visual Studio included in Unity installer, I stopped reading the API section of the manual, because in VS pressing Cntrl ' do not work. I wish to have the back the Cntrl ' as it was in MonoDevelop. Or have in VS a pop up the Unity API web page inside VS!

I do not know how the pro gets the info about what part of the API is new or was modified.

The Unity video section convinces me in practice that Unity is an interesting well-done product growing well and fast. Especially the Unity pay course. Now that I'm more advanced and certified I'm looking for the latest code modification in the API section. In the Documentation section about last version improvement, there is not much. Is almost black with no API reference. And in the API section is missing something that tells me what code is new or was improve. What are this new functions? There is no API RSS feed . I read the version note but also there is missing the code. I believe that is possible to make a new page list of API modifications (in the API section) that contain each new vr and functions. Is missing a new page (API) with a list of all Unity versions and inside the new function or modification. So that it can hold an RSS feed to keep the enthusiasm. Also later in a short video explanation of that improvement can help the more vid user. Is nice and fun to experiment with new features! Probably is a lot of work but help us playing and understanding with this wonderful engine always in evolution.