Comming to Terms with Lecture Recording

Dona, Gregory and Pechenkina (2017) analyzed survey results from 66 students and 53 lecturers at a university as to their views of lecture recording. The results indicate that students find the recordings useful for revision. Also the  lecturers concern that students would be less likely to turn up were not justified. Definitive conclusions can't be drawn from such a small study, but it may help alleviate lecturers concerns.

What I found more interesting were the assumptions as to what a "traditional" student is (full time, on campus, not employed) and the implicit assumption that lectures are a primary learning technique. The authors reported that 42% of student respondents were not employed, but concluded that therefore the majority were not employed (it looks to me like the majority are employed).

The authors characterized scripted concise videos as being used for MOOCs and blended learning, in contrast to long unscripted lecture recordings. The implication appears to be that conventional university courses are not blended. However, I suggest the tipping point, where most Australian university courses are blended has been passed. Part of the typical university course is now delivered on-line, along with some recorded video material.

Live face-to-face lectures are still provided for most Australian university courses, but most students do not attend these lectures, regardless of if these are recorded, or not. Lecturers remain in a state of denial about this situation and are wasting time and effort on a technique which students voted out, with their feet, long ago. "Lecturers" need to invent a new sense of identity, and learn new teaching techniques.

Reference

Dona, K. L., Gregory, J., & Pechenkina, E. Lecture-recording technology in higher education: Exploring lecturer and student views across the disciplines. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology,  Vol 33, No 4 (2017). URL https://ajet.org.au/index.php/AJET/article/view/3068