RE: Alaskan ClassroomLearning how to identify what you're looking at is definitely the key to fine and micro-fine recovery. Although I am an amateur prospector, I learned long ago that just because you cannot see it with your naked eye doesn't mean it isn't there. Learning how to smelt concentrates turned completely unproductive trips for my family into "how many grams came out of the melt today Dad?".
Like you, watching the first episodes (when the prospectors had their families with them) was actually painful to watch for me. I taught my kids how to pan 'blondes" (miscellaneous sand and lighter material) down to concentrates and heavies very easily and it bothered me that those guys on the show did not involve their families until buckets of cons had been sitting around for weeks.
Another one of the tricks I learned about prospecting streams is to tie a lead fishing weight to a balloon with fishing line and let it float downstream. Where ever the weight hangs up on the bottom is marked and reviewed thoroughly for indicator minerals. I completely agree that digging down to the bedrock, in a lot of cases, can actually be counter productive in any placer. The dynamics of fluid mechanics, past and present, will move gold bearing strata great distances. finding the areas of concentration is what works.
The work the Ruby team is doing should, IMO, be a model for any gold exploration company and/or serious prospector.