Split view sounds self-explanatory — video on one side, document on the other — but its value depends entirely on how you use it. This guide covers the mechanics in two minutes, then the three study workflows that turn the layout from 'convenient' into 'how did I study before this'.
The mechanics #
- Open any lesson, then tap the split view icon and choose the paired document (or PDF page range)
- Drag the divider to rebalance panes — the video keeps playing while you resize
- Annotate the PDF directly; playback auto-pauses on writing and resumes after
- Timestamped notes taken in split view attach to the video moment and the PDF location
- The layout is remembered per lesson — tomorrow opens exactly as you left it
Workflow 1 — Follow-along (the classroom pattern) #
The instructor works through a document — a worksheet, case, code file or derivation — and you mirror their steps in your own copy. Split view makes the mirroring literal: their cursor on the left, your pen on the right. The moment you fall behind, pause; the document doesn't reset while the video waits. This is the closest digital equivalent to sitting beside someone while they teach, and it's the pattern that converts 'watched a tutorial' into 'did the tutorial'.
Workflow 2 — Reference mode (the dictionary pattern) #
Keep the course's reference material — formula sheet, statute book, API documentation, glossary — docked on one side permanently. Whenever the lecture references something, your eyes move, not your windows. Learning with a persistent reference in view is how experts actually work: the textbook isn't a place you visit, it's a surface that stays visible while you operate.
Workflow 3 — Compare mode (the critical pattern) #
Pair the lecture with a document that contradicts or extends it — the regulator's current guidance, a newer framework, your own previous work. Studying becomes comparison: annotate where the two disagree, and mark timestamps of the instructor's claims you want to verify. This is the mode that builds judgment rather than recall, and it's the one no lecture-hall format ever supported.