1. I think the research shows that increasing the cognitive load increases the retention. So in general, when it is harder to learn something, you retain it better.

2. When I struggle with books it is because they do not present the motivation behind what they are doing. Videos and "more popular" articles can both provide the big-picture motivation and overview. Sometimes, you have to construct a motivation for yourself, based on what you read. That's hard. Maybe you even invent something new in order to understand a concept better. This approach is slow, though. It's easier if someone explains to you why a certain concept is "hard" or a point of view from which the concept is "easy".

3. I think students who build on a partial understanding are not going to have a better time with videos. They are in greater need of learning how to learn something than they are of facts, but school does not teach that skill (afaik).

I've suggested to college students that they leave their laptops behind and attend lecture with pen and notebook, and take notes. It makes things a lot more sticky in the mind.

And do the homework problems. You'll never understand the material without doing the problem sets.