Recorded Lectures: A License to Skip Class?
November 10, 2009 | Todd G.
Found this article over at insidehighered.com about the recent movement to have professors record their lectures and make them available online. Although many professors see inherent risks involved with utilizing this type of technology, educational researchers believe it’s the future of the classroom. One of the biggest issues that came up was whether kids would skip class if they could check out the lecture online. The article cites a few individuals claiming that won’t be the case according to surveys. Who are they kidding?
The subject of capturing lectures is one that I think should be left up to the professor and not mandatory. In today’s media world, too much is taken out of context and distributed quickly over the internet. Professors have enough to deal with without having to police their own online reputations. But beyond this discussion, the question of whether kids will be less likely to attend a class that’s being captured seems pretty obvious to me. They can cite all of the surveys they want, my own common sense tells me that enabling students to access lectures online will reduce attendance. It has nothing to do with whether the professor is dynamic enough, rather it has to do with the busy life of a student.
With online access, students can view the lecture on their own time from the comfort of their dorm rooms. They can start and stop and rewind, etc. If they have a question, they’ll just email the professor afterwards and get the answer. As priorities get overloaded, having the option to view a lecture online will become a godsend for students, but an attendance drain for the professors. Of course, that’s just my opinion. What do you think? If your professor made their lectures available online would it make you less likely to go to class?
Why yes, yes it is a license.
I found one of my professors online lectures were even better and watching them (they were powerpoints with voiceovers) right before a quiz did the trick!