I think the pace was too fast. Not in the sense of saying the stuff, but it lacks structuring. It goes in a hurry from open the file, count the words, and so on. Maybe an idea is to do the typing only for new concepts to save time, using some kind of copy and paste for code that is supposed to be know. Other is to introducing pauses between concepts.

Still have to go through the other videos, but nice work!

I am really ambivalent about this screencast. My initial reaction is similar to Tiago’s. Watching all of the code being typed adds a layer of distraction that is similar to that of taking very precise notes in a math class. By trying to follow every keystroke it becomes difficult to follow the bigger picture and makes the screencast feel like the pace is too fast to keep up with. Based on this initial reaction my suggestion would be similar to Tiago’s, with my emphasis being on minimizing the total number of new text chunks that are added to the screen, but then walking the student through each chunk. In other words, paste in 5 lines of code and then talk about them, rather than typing them out.

I then had two thoughts that made me think that maybe the current format would work quite well (hence my ambivalence). The first was that the current approach shows us a programmer actually writing a program. This provides all kinds of subtle value by providing someone for the students to emulate in actual practice. Second, I wonder if this format of watching someone else type in code just requires a little getting used. I have a feeling that maybe if I watched half a dozen of these that it would become a natural way to learn about programming and might actually lead to the speeding up of my own work as it trained my brain to think in a way that seems similar to actually writing code. It might lose more people up front, but it might be a better experience for those who stuck it out.