next »

[11272784]

I just finished this article:
http://chronicle.com/weekly/v54/i36/36a00103.htm

And it seems to me that faculty members are missing the point. Their objective is NOT to make students attend class - it's to help students learn and succeed. If they're recording their lectures and student attendance drops, it should not matter - because attendance isn't the measure of their success as faculty members.

They're asking the wrong question (why aren't students here?) instead of the right one (how can I help students succeed?).  The answer is to make sure those recorded lectures are really good quality and contain every bit of content and information needed. If students succeed without coming to class, the faculty member is still a success!!

I know we have seats and rooms and all that - but once you start recording lectures, you're changing the medium of the class - and you should design the class to account for that. Otherwise, don't record.  It's possible to do a good job or a lousy job of teaching in amny medium - and a lousy recording is lousy teaching.  A good recording is a great medium for teaching!

[daurousseau]

I think helping students succeed is a service more appropriate to the self-help gurus who come to your local sports arena than to academics.

Teaching them is worthwhile. But why do they have to sit in classroom and watch ennui drip slowly down the latex-painted walls? If your subject can be taught via images of yourself, not to mention all the digital magic that can be conjured, why not? And suppose you manage to get off a bon mot that you are proud of--they can watch it over and over, and so can you.

Then give them a final, pass or fail.

[kmellendorf]

Some professors teach better in lecture format, while some teach better in discussion.  Interaction is more beneficial for some students and less for others.  Know the purposes of your institution and of your specific courses.  If attendance is important in order to meet these purposes, then inspire attendance.  If not, then don't worry about it.  If lecture is enough, then a film may work well.  If the class learns more from participation, then students that don't attend will lose out.  Just be sure to warn them at the beginning of the semester.

[barcrossliar]

They're asking the wrong question (why aren't students here?) instead of the right one (how can I help students succeed?). 

I agree.  However, what will help most students succeed is interaction.  I'm not saying that we should force them to go to class, only that we should make attendance worth their while.  If someone is going to drone at me for a couple of hours, I'd just as soon get the notes.  I can read them faster on my own.  However I'd probably learn more and be more engaged if I were doing something with the material.

If students succeed without coming to class, the faculty member is still a success!!

At least the student is a success.  The faculty may just be irrelevant.

Recorded lectures are basically like on-line education, which The Academy has already accepted as valid.  The question is probably whether the student should pay full price (CD/download vs. concert ticket), and what happens when a lecture is pirated, but that's another thread...

[11272784]

It appears to me that most of the comments so far are on the same page. My additional comments:

Interaction is perfectly possible outside the classroom. In the online courses I teach, there is more interaction across all class members than in any face to face course I've ever taught. In computer terms, "it's not a bug, it's a feature"! 

The comment about making attendance worth their while is right on target. If droning at students is what you call "teaching', then the "teacher" might as well be a textbook or a recording. There's not much interaction, and darn little value, in the presentation.  Unfortunately, sometimes it does happen - and it shouldn't.

Faculty are never irrelevant when the course moves into streaming or video delivery. Faculty must create the course - delivery the course, update the course - and interact with students.  There is no lack of relevance, but there is often a lack of understanding about the changes in the faculty role.

[barcrossliar]

Faculty are never irrelevant when the course moves into streaming or video delivery. Faculty must create the course - delivery the course, update the course - and interact with students.  There is no lack of relevance, but there is often a lack of understanding about the changes in the faculty role.

No offence intended, I said may be irrelevant.  We probably all took courses where the instructor wasn't relevant to our success, even when hu was right there in the room.  I was just being (needlessly) picky about the logic. 
-+LR

[11272784]

MAY be = great point, and a good distinction. I am prone to remind faculty that every one of us probably had at least one instructor who was a complete disaster in the classroom.  Some read from the text, some were motionless and monotone...and some just didn't have a clue how to teach.  All were pretty much irrelevant to the learning process. It's possible to be a great teacher or a lousy one in any medium.

[mountainguy]

My concern about recording classes is not that students will stop showing up. Instead, I fear that it privileges lecture as the dominant mode of instruction over discussion and other learning formats. Already, my students beg me to lecture more, and I suspect that recording classes would make this pressure even greater.

I'll admit that my concerns may be less relevant for extremely large classes (say 70 or more seats) where lecture is the only practical mode of instruction available. But I'm not on-board with this idea.

[larryc]

I just finished this article:
http://chronicle.com/weekly/v54/i36/36a00103.htm

And it seems to me that faculty members are missing the point. Their objective is NOT to make students attend class - it's to help students learn and succeed. If they're recording their lectures and student attendance drops, it should not matter - because attendance isn't the measure of their success as faculty members.

Exactly. I could not agree more.

[daniel_von_flanagan]

The best thing about recording the lectures is that if a faculty member retires or is denied tenure you don't need to pay for a replacement; just go ahead and keep using the video. - DvF

[monsterx]

I don't like recording lecturers because I always look fatter on camera. 

[rt_firefly]

My concern about recording classes is not that students will stop showing up. Instead, I fear that it privileges lecture as the dominant mode of instruction over discussion and other learning formats.

Heartily agree. I fear that this wave of technology will overshadow many faculty's sense of need to truly engage students, or to even try other more effective learning technologies. A bad lecturer will still be a bad lecturer, but they will say - "Hey look at me using all the gee-gaws!"

[daurousseau]

My concern about recording classes is not that students will stop showing up. Instead, I fear that it privileges lecture as the dominant mode of instruction over discussion and other learning formats.

Heartily agree. I fear that this wave of technology will overshadow many faculty's sense of need to truly engage students, or to even try other more effective learning technologies. A bad lecturer will still be a bad lecturer, but they will say - "Hey look at me using all the gee-gaws!"

Aren't the arguments turning circular here? So what if the students don't show up? Is there something special about being there face to face?

[immigrant]

My concern about recording classes is not that students will stop showing up. Instead, I fear that it privileges lecture as the dominant mode of instruction over discussion and other learning formats.

Heartily agree. I fear that this wave of technology will overshadow many faculty's sense of need to truly engage students, or to even try other more effective learning technologies. A bad lecturer will still be a bad lecturer, but they will say - "Hey look at me using all the gee-gaws!"

Aren't the arguments turning circular here? So what if the students don't show up? Is there something special about being there face to face?

IMO, absolutely.

If we see college education as *only* about learning, I see some sense in using technology in this way. Speaking as a person who was pretty shy, socially unskilled, and would have killed for the chance to not have to interact with others...well, I'm glad I needed to show up to class!

I'm not saying I think universities should prioritize social-relations issues over pedagogy, but I think a lot is lost when students don't meet together.

[mended_drum]

Aren't the arguments turning circular here? So what if the students don't show up? Is there something special about being there face to face?

I don't usually lecture, but when I do, and I ask, "Are there any questions?" I'm pretty good at noticing that some students are, in fact, confused, but too embarrassed to speak up.  I can say, "You look as if you might have a question..." and the student responds.

That doesn't happen on video.

Of course, I don't teach courses larger than twenty.