Conceptual Question about Layers

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INSTRUCTOR NOTE:

Why did we create the pen-under-tablet technique for recording notes?

Sebastian Thrun and Peter Norvig wrote and annotated notes with pen and paper in the original AI course, which actually predates Udacity. Pen and paper works because they're both righties. As righties who write in a language that reads from left to right, their hands never cover the words they have just written. Instructors can write easily, students can read easily and everyone is happy.

University of Virginia professor Dave Evans taught Introduction to Computer Science, Udacity's first real course. Unlike Sebastian and Peter, Dave is a lefty. Lefties cover words with their hands as they write, which means that students can't read Dave's handwritten notes as he's writing.

We developed the tablet technique described in this video specifically so that Dave could teach. If you compare Introduction to Computer Science to this course, you'll also see that our teaching style has actually changed quite a bit over the years (for the better, I hope!), all thanks to the flexibility of computer tablets.

I feel like there's a lesson here: solving novel problems leads to unexpected advances.

Thanks for being a lefty, Dave!

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