📘 Part 3: Online videos and learning

This episode's vocabulary

To cater to (phrasal verb) -to provide what is wanted or needed by (someone or something).

Country-specific (adj.) - used to describe a product or service that is designed for a particular country, rather than for many countries.

Ubiquitous (adj.) - present, appearing, or found everywhere.

Adaptable (adj.) - able to adjust to new conditions.

Frivolous (adj.) - not having any serious purpose or value.

Attention span (noun) - the length of time for which a person is able to concentrate on a particular activity or subject.

Pace (noun) - speed in walking, running, or moving.

Readily (adverb) - quickly, immediately, willingly, or without any problem.

Electoral (adj.) - relating to an election.

To supplant (verb) - supersede and replace.

To opt (verb) - to make a choice.

In-person (adj.) - in one's bodily presence.

Questions and Answers

M: What kinds of videos are most popular in your country?

R: I'm not sure, to be honest, though, I imagine the ones that cater to people's interest or catch their eyes somehow, like those by their favourite YouTubers, or focused on a hobby or focus they have, like exam preparation. I honestly can't think of anything country-specific, though.

M: Why might many people watch online videos a lot?

R: Well, the internet is pretty ubiquitous these days, and you can get access to just about any kind of content you can imagine. And when you add that to how adaptable these things are with subtitles and other AI features, it's not hard to see why they might want to watch them, like very often.

M: Do you think people spend too much time watching short videos?

R: I mean, who decides how much time is too much? And surely the idea of short videos is that they save time. So I'm not so sure about that. Maybe they could waste time watching something frivolous when they could be doing something else, but that seems unlikely. I doubt anything needs to be done that badly.

M: Why are so many young people obsessed with short videos?

R: Well, young people tend to have shorter attention spans, and short videos cater effectively to that. And the range is wider, since you can cover more things in shorter time, and they're more easily made and could cover just about anything.

M: What are the advantages of online learning?

R: Well, generally, it's easier to access if you have a decent internet connection, and you can personalize it in terms of pace and investment more readily. At least more readily than if you were in a shared space with other people, like electoral.

M: Do you think online learning will replace face-to-face learning?

R: Well, it probably won't supplant it entirely, since the reasons people might opt for in-person classes are pretty strong. But assuming Internet access continues expanding and the market for education keeps growing, it seems likely that it will reach a greater number of people in comparison to the alternative.

Discussion

M: Baby shark... That's it guys. Oh, my God.

R: That's our face-to-face and online learning.

M: Yeah, I thought I'm free of it, but from Turkey, we really sang it like every day.

R: Oh, wow.

M: Online videos, dear listener. So again, we're talking about YouTube videos or videos on Facebook, on different social media. Tik-Tok. So pretty much any online video. But not films, right? Not like series. So usually kind of short videos, reels are also online videos, right? Stories on Instagram.

R: But I don't know anything about what's popular now.

M: Well, fun videos are popular. Cats, babies.

R: Yeah, but that's not like anything specific to your country.

M: No, they're kind of popular everywhere. Baby Shark is popular, dear listener, as we know. Or globally, all over the world. Even adults watch this video. And again, the video is, well, it's not that interesting. It's the music that kind of gets into your soul, kind of you are sleeping, singing, baby shark. Baby shark. Amazing. Sorry, dear listener. Now you're going to be singing Baby Shark. And if you haven't been singing...

R: Then you will be now.

M: Yeah, you will be now. So videos which cater to people's interests, so videos which address people's interests are popular. Videos which catch people's eye. So if something catches my eye, I kind of, ooh, it attracts my attention. I notice it. And videos by popular YouTubers are popular, fun videos, stupid videos about cats. And if you don't know, you can say, I can't think of anything country-specific. So kind of in my country, I don't know, right? I can't think of anything country-specific. So which would be specific for my particular country? The internet is pretty ubiquitous.

R: Yeah, it's everywhere.

M: It's a formal word, dear listener. So to be everywhere. The internet is ubiquitous. The Instagram. Instagram is ubiquitous. So what else could be ubiquitous?

R: Well, books are pretty ubiquitous. I mean, you've got them everywhere.

M: And you can get access to just about anything in the world. So you can get access to any kind of content, any kind of video you want at any time in your life. And you can have subtitles, you can watch videos in any language you want. You can generate your own video using artificial intelligence, right? So anything you want. People could waste their time watching something frivolous. So if we watch something frivolous, what is it?

R: That just means it's not important.

M: Frivolous. Yeah, frivolous, behaving in a silly way, not taking something serious or a frivolous activity, something silly, not important, not serious. So kind of, I feel like doing something completely frivolous today, so completely like, like, very silly, not serious. And usually, we waste our time or money on frivolous things, on not serious things, like watching stupid videos on Instagram or on YouTube till like 4 am in the morning, right? Some people are obsessed with short videos. They are obsessed with social media, short videos, reels. So it's their obsession. It's kind of like too much. They can't stop. They watch and watch and watch every day. And you can say that young people tend to have a shorter attention span. So their attention focus is quite short. So that's why short videos are fine. Like, you know, like, five seconds. Next video. 10 seconds, next, next, next, next, like this. So if the video is 10 minutes long, it's like it's far too long. I can't watch it. And short videos reels, stories cater to that. So short videos cater, address this attention, short attention span. And you can cover more things in a shorter time. So you cover different topics, you cover different videos, you watch different content in a shorter time period.

R: And if you cover it, that just means that you talk about it or focus on it.

M: Yeah, you can talk about TikTok here. For example, Instagram, social media, usually, or YouTube, yeah. And Rory, in Scotland, like, where do people usually watch videos? YouTube?

R: I think usually on their phone, and then from there they'll watch it.

M: But YouTube?

R: Yeah, or, well, we have various streaming services as well, to be honest. So you can also talk about that.

M: Okay. Like local streaming services, right? Then, dear listener some questions could be about online learning, because kind of online videos. And very often people watch educational videos. So they learn online. They watch educational like course videos. Right? As part of their online learning. And again, if you have a decent internet connection, it's easy to learn things online. You can personalize your learning in terms of pace. Speed. How quickly you cover the material, you learn, and investment. So usually, online courses are cheaper than offline. Online learning could replace face-to-face learning. So kind of we have offline learning, traditional learning, offline and online learning, online education, online video courses. And then you used a synonym. So we can say replace, or we can say... What did you say?

R: Supplant.

M: Ooh. Supplant is a formal word.

R: But that just means replace.

M: Yeah, which means replace. So, for example, printed books will soon be supplanted by electronic books. Face-to-face learning could be supplanted by online learning. Or you can say like online learning won't supplant face-to-face learning, because, still, people opt for face-to-face classes. They choose face-to-face classes, opt for, they prefer, they choose. So you can say that face-to-face learning is still popular, but online learning is an effective alternative. Alternative to face to face learning. Baby shark...

R: Or just listen to things with catchy tunes all the time.

M: It got into my head. Rory, that's it. You can't stop it. Dear listener, you too? Come on, with me. Baby shark... And what do you reckon, Rory, how will online learning change? Will it change somehow in the future?

R: Well, of course, because I teach online, I benefit from telling people, oh yes, it will all be fine in the future, and everyone should get a teacher online. So I'm hardly one to talk about this, but if I give an objective opinion, probably what will happen is you will have more people getting access to more online learning, because it's just easier to access. Really. Compared to sending like someone to school for a fixed amount of hours every day, which might not necessarily be helpful for them.

M: Yay! Dear listener, thank you very much for listening. We love you and hug you, sending lots of love, and we'll get back to you in our next episode. Okay? Bye! Baby shark... Rory shark. Oh, I can make up a song about Rory.

R: Oh, no. Let's stop there. Bye!

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