For the last four years, Robert DiGiovanni, aka “RobertMathGuy” on YouTube has been taking his lessons beyond the classroom.
About 75,000 views later, he helps his students understand Calculus I, II and College Algebra through the step-by-step lessons he posts on YouTube.
Robert says recording a class really isn’t as time consuming as one would think.
“I show up to class about eight minutes early and setup a tripod with a camera on it. After class, I take the unedited video and upload it to YouTube from my PC. The upload takes about five minutes. Now my other resource videos, like the homework solutions, take many hours to create since I just use an empty room and work through all the problems. The setup and upload are the same but I have to do this on my own time.”
The extra time Robert has spent recording outside of the class has paid off for his students. Many have commented on RateMyProfessor.com that they appreciate the time he puts into the videos because it aids in their learning.
With over 1,600 videos, Robert has created a learning environment for not only his students but anyone in the world with an interested in math, said NVC Math & Engineering Chair Qiaoying “Joy” Zhou.
“His YouTube channel averages about 130 daily views by people from all over the world,” Joy adds. “It allows students review the lectures after the class and even after the semester in a click away.”
Joy said more recently Robert developed a shared Excel file which allows the Math faculty to make their course selections each semester. This file gives 26 math faculty members the ability to edit and save their class selections in real time. Course selection conflicts are identified and resolved quickly.
This file has dramatically improved the efficiency of this selection process. Joy adds if your department is interested in adopting the technique of course selection, call Robert at Math & Engineering Department.
