@dabjacksonyang lol some of us have been doing lecture capture for a few years already 🙂#mscedc
— Eli's inane rambling (@Eli_App_D) March 23, 2017
It’s always interesting how some TEL initiatives are pitched, sometimes we get it right, sometimes we get it wrong.
Lecture capture is one of those oops moments. Â It’s not new, it’s not something we are suddenly going to be doing, but because it’s just a part of teaching which has worked away quietly in the background for those who have chosen to use it, it feels like such a big deal now because so many parts of the institution staff have never been involved with or aware of the work that has been going on. The marketing pitch that has been used to “sell” things hasn’t helped, making it out to be so much more than it is. Â The big deal is more about the technical aspect of how we will make this available for those who chose to use it on such a large scale, how we will teach our students to make the best use of this as a learning tool and how as educators we will make the best use of it.
If all we do is record lectures and make them available, we are wasting a valuable opportunity to create new learning opportunities and work on new methods.
If we want to control how a technology is being used (pushed on us), we have to take ownership of it, we have to test it, tweak it, find areas where it is a benefit and show areas where it doesn’t work as hoped.
I’ve been arguing that lecture capture is so “old-hat” that those who haven’t already adopted it should be looking to leap-frog the technology entirely. From a pedagogical perspective, I might expect you to agree with that, though I’m not entirely sure what the alternatives would be, I think they would involve some sort of lo-fi portable recording as per MSCEDC weekly intros, or maybe hi-tech virtual reality or AR lectures, streamed online… anything that improves attendance virtually or in-person would be a productive project to pursue!
I think you’ve hit on one of the biggies, lecture recording doesn’t have to be all about recording a standard 50 minute lecture.
I’ve been involved in using it in so many ways with great successes. Standard lectures for students to use as revision material, short “talking head” pieces like our weekly videos, communication from tutors explaining things which have become apparent as problem areas for the class etc. Then you can get into the whole flipped classroom thing and using video for that.
In my experience people get hung up on a very basic concept and don’t see the bigger picture, but…. it also gets imposed by the powers that be and then not implemented properly or staff not supported or trained in possible use and so then becomes a bad tool which doesn’t add anything to teaching or the student experience, like every other tech, only use it if it’s beneficial and use it well.