As a course creator and university instructor, I become immeasurably frustrated every time I try creating engaging video lectures and spend hours on recording, lighting, background etc., and then spend even more time on post-processing, only to do most of it again when I want to change or update some small detail in the recording.
I'm honest enough to admit that the entertainment value of my "amazing" lectures (A.I., Analytics and I.T. for Management) is probably horribly low, but I still want the learners to be interested and enjoy exploring the topics that, one day, will benefit them greatly.
Therefore, it makes me sad to no end when I know the learners are just skipping through my lectures, fishing for some key points to put in their notes instead of learning and comprehending.
But, I do sympathize with their situation too, being a lifelong learner myself, and knowing they probably have other equally "amazing" lectures to go though, or some other work to do, until they get enough of sitting in front of the screen, and have to get away to do stuff around the house, exercise, commute or attend to family and friends.
I believe that the learning environment can be considerably more accommodating to both instructors and learners, whether it's online, onsite or remote.
That's the vision behind Atlas Primer, a solution that allows lectures to be created and revised in minutes, instead of hours and days, using only a smartphone.
Courses made easy
Imagine the convenience and availability of audiobooks and podcasts, applied to courses, but supplemented with visuals where necessary.
That's what inspired Atlas Primer to begin with and now it helps us create lectures that can be delivered by a Digital Assistant, on all Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant devices, also when the learner is away from the screen.
Atlas Primer also supports quizzes and FAQs, and its conversational A.I. allows the learners to converse with it about the subject, asking and answering questions, much like they would do with a private tutor.
The unknown unknowns
I know from personal experience that there isn't enough time for me to discuss everything that's unclear with each and every learner, and I know that for every learner that does ask me, there are probably 10 more that never dare to ask. This makes teaching large courses a daunting challenge and somewhat discouraging, and I'm sincerely excited about the promise of improving this with Atlas Primer.
Knowing that a private assistant is available at all times and never gets tired, students are more likely to ask questions about the subject, also when "someone may have asked this before" or when "it's probably a stupid question."
And having access to information about what topics the learners most frequently ask about, is incredibly valuable for me as an instructor, as it helps me improve my course where it matters.
To summarize, the benefits we're most proud of are:
Reduced production time and better insights for instructors
Increased reach by making courses available across all devices
A more conversational, flexible and individualized learning environment
If you want to try it out or just learn more, you can reach me on our website, through hinrikjosafat@atlasprimer.com, or on Twitter as @MyAtlasPrimer.
Happy teaching!